Colin Jost Hilariously Reacts To Wife Scarlett Johansson Becoming World's Highest-Grossing Actor

Scarlett Johansson has been acting professionally since she was 9 years old, with her film debut in North in 1994. Since then, she's appeared in movies that span practically every genre and garnered two Academy Award nominations.

With such a long and diverse resume, it's not completely surprising that, at age 40, Johansson just became the highest-grossing actor at the worldwide box office ever, with $14.9 billion of box office revenue for her 68 films.

So how did her husband, Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost, react to the news?

Entertainment Tonight asked Jost—who has five films on his IMDb profile—for his thoughts on his wife's success.

You can watch the moment here:

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ET host Kevin Frazier asked Jost:

"How cool is it that Scarlett is now the number one actress in the world, as far as box office?"

Jost—tongue firmly in cheek—responded:

"When you think about it, combined, me and her are probably one of the top couples at the box office ever. You know what I mean?"

"And she’s probably doing a little bit more of that lifting, but combined? You know what I mean? That could be a huge record, too."

Frazier replied: 

"Your box office right now. Let's––don't make me pull up Box Office Mojo. I will pull it up."

Box Office Mojo is a website owned by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) that tracks and analyzes box office revenue for movies.

SNL "Weekend Update" co-anchor Jost responded:

"I've been in several number one movies."

He hasn’t.

"I basically only do number one movies."

He doesn't.

He then listed three of his five definitely not-number-one-at-the-box-office films.

"'Tom & Jerry.' Perhaps you saw 'Coming 2 America.' 'How to Be Single.' I think those may have all been number one movies. Yet––"

Jost then cracked, and stepped away from the camera as he started laughing at the absurdity of comparing his film career to his wife's, with 63 fewer films to his name. The two films he didn’t mention were Staten Island Summer and Fly Me to the Moon. Jost was a writer on the former and the latter starred Johansson.

When he had composed himself, Jost told Frazier:

"I don’t think the internet has information like that."

Frazier replied:

"Oh, the internet does. Don't worry. You'll see it across the screen on 'Entertainment Tonight'."

True to his word, "Colin's Box Office: $249 Million" and "Scarlett's Box Office: $14.8 Billion" appeared on the screen.

Jost laughed and said:

"Updated box office."

Other sources cite $14.9 billion, but the box office for Johansson's latest film, Jurassic World: Rebirth, is changing that number almost daily.

Ironically, a star of the first Jurassic Park film is who Johansson knocked out of the top actor spot. Her Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) costar Samuel L. Jackson now occupies second place at $14.6 billion. Another MCU costar, Robert Downey Jr., holds the number 3 spot with $14.3 billion at the box office.

Not everyone got Jost's deadpan delivery, thinking he was serious.

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But most people got it and some played along.

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  @entertainmenttonight/TikTok

  @entertainmenttonight/TikTok

  @entertainmenttonight/TikTok

  @entertainmenttonight/TikTok

  @entertainmenttonight/TikTok

Jost was a writer on Saturday Night Live when he first met Johansson when the actor hosted the show for the first time on January 14, 2006. She now holds the record for most times hosting by a woman, at seven.

The pair didn't become an item until 2017 when Johansson hosted the show for the fifth time

By that time, Jost had come out from behind the camera to co-anchor "Weekend Update" with Michael Che—a role the two have had since 2014.

Jost and Johansson married in 2020 and welcomed their son Cosmo in 2021.