While Colin Jost and Travis Kelce are very well-known and successful, there’s no question that their respective partners, Scarlett Johansson and Taylor Swift, are more famous. It’s an objective fact, and they both know it. They also got real about it when the football player asked the SNL star about being the “less famous person” in a relationship.
Listen, when you’re married to the all-time highest-grossing actor or engaged to one of the biggest pop stars in the world, I can see why you’d identify as part of the “plus-one fraternity.” And Travis Kelce, who got engaged to Swift last summer, brought that up during an episode of New Heights, as he asked Jost:
As two guys who are also of the plus-one fraternity and have the same experience, how nice is it to be the less famous person in your relationship?
Again, Kelce and Jost are by no means not-famous. In fact, they’re very, very, very well-known. Jost has been the longest-reigning Weekend Update host since 2021, and Kelce has won three Super Bowls. However, their partners are a movie star and a pop star, so they are, technically, “less famous.” And according to Jost, that’s a “relief,” as he explained:
Huge relief, really.
I love that take. However, this wasn’t what surprised me about his answer. That’s because, while Jost is not as big of an A-lister as his wife, he actually thinks he gets approached more than she does. That’s what shocked me, as he explained:
It’s really funny because I feel like it’s – I think I’m probably almost approached more because she’s less approachable? You know what I mean? Because I’m on TV, I have a lesser – people are just like, I’m in their living room, so they’re just like ‘Hey, what’s up, man? How’s it going?’ She’s actually almost so famous that they don’t believe it a lot of the time, too.
You know what, this actually makes sense. I totally see what Jost is saying. He’s best known for his work on television – in fact, you can see him on the 2026 TV schedule with both SNL and Pop Culture Jeopardy. His work is watched in people’s homes, while his wife’s work is typically seen on the big screen. That could create a different relationship for viewers, and, in a way, it makes Jost more approachable.
The other surprising revelation from this conversation about the “plus one fraternity” member has to do with passports. Yes, passports. Jost explained that sometimes, when he’s traveling with Johansson, the attendants won’t even recognize her (even though they’re looking at documents that say her name). Recalling what has happened, the Weekend Update anchor said:
We’ve been traveling, and we’ve been standing at the passport check, and the person is looking at her passport, and he’ll be like, ‘Has anyone ever told you you look like Scarlett Johansson?' Genuinely asking, even though he’s looking at her, because he’s like, ‘It would be weirder if it was her.’
Listen, I’ve watched the Marvel movies in order (yes, all of them), and if I saw the Black Widow in real life, I’d question if it was really her. However, if I were checking her passport, I’d hope I realized that before I asked if she knew that she looked like Scarlett Johansson.
Anyway, all this is to say, Jost is very aware of his wife’s fame, and the impact it has on them is quite surprising and funny. However, they’ve always both maintained a very positive outlook on it all.
Now, if you’d like to see this power couple in action, you can catch Jost in new episodes of Saturday Night Live every Saturday on NBC (or with a Peacock subscription) at 11:30 p.m. ET, and you can stream Pop Culture Jeopardy with a Netflix subscription. Then, to keep up with Scarlett Johansson, make sure to check the 2026 movie schedule to stay up to date on her upcoming films.
