Scarlett Johansson’s reaction was no laughing matter.
The actress, 40, got candid on the joke her husband Colin Jost told during the annual “Saturday Night Live” joke swap in December 2024.
“It was so vulgar,” Johansson told InStyle in an interview published Tuesday. “I just can’t believe that they went there. I was like — it was so gross. It was really gross.”
She added with a laugh, “And, like, old-school gross.”
During the late-night show’s annual, end-of-year joke swap between Jost, 42, and his Weekend Update co-anchor, Michael Che, 41, the comedians read jokes written by one another.
As for the joke in question, Jost read: “Costco has removed the roast beef sandwich from its menu. But I ain’t trippin’. I’ve been eating roast beef every night since my wife had the kid.”
A camera then cut to Johansson backstage with a shocked look on her face.
“My experience of it was so funny.” the star confessed, noting that the producers had given her notice before hand that Che wrote a “vagina joke.”
But, Johansson didn’t think she’d be the butt of the joke.
“I was like, ‘I mean, it’s a vagina joke, how bad could it be?’ And then as soon as the Costco photo came up, I was like ‘No! No, Michael!’”
Johansson, who tied the knot with Jost in 2020, also addressed the camera crew being able to quickly show her stunned reaction.
“The fact that it took on a full ‘To Catch a Predator’-style reveal or whatever,” she joked, “that was so intense. All of a sudden, it was like a whole bunch of people holding up lights, and a guy with a video camera. They were waiting for me to react. I felt insane. I was like, ‘I think I’m going to faint.’”
Of course, all was forgiven on the home front, as Johansson and Jost, who share son Cosmo, 3, went to bed together at 4 a.m., laughing about the raunchy jab.
“I was like, ‘My nerves are shot.’ And Colin said, ‘Me too,’” the actress, who is also mom to Rose, 10, with ex-husband Romain Dauriac, recounted.
For Johansson, it is water under the bridge, as she has too much to focus on to give the viral clip any attention. Between acting, running her film production company, These Pictures, and being a mom and wife, Johansson is booked and busy. A lifestyle that stems from childhood.
“My work ethic comes from being on movie sets as a very young kid,” she recalled to the outlet about her first ever role, at age 8, in “North.”
“I was immediately making feature-length films. I worked with a lot of adults as a young person. My mom really instilled in me the importance of being respectful on set to the adults I was working with. And being prepared for work every day.”
“It’s understanding how to delegate,” Johansson went on. “I’ve gotten better at that with more experience. I am kind of a control freak. I have a very active mind. People always describe how they’re ‘zoned out’ and I’m not sure what that means.”
Luckily, she and Jost balance each other out.
The actor even gave a sweet shout-out to his other half in his 2020 memoir, “A Very Punchable Face.”
Jost penned that Johansson has “a grace and a smile that I’ve still never seen in any other human.”
“I’ve met someone I love and who I feel more comfortable with than I ever have before,” he continued. “I feel more confident committing to what I’m working on and standing by whatever I create, regardless of whether people like it or not.”
