Colin Jost Shares His Approach to Gift-Giving

4 min read

Finding the perfect holiday gift isn’t easy. Between the pressure to get it right, the endless wish lists, and the people who insist they don’t want anything, shopping for loved ones can feel like an impossible mission. Even Colin Jost, who has spent years navigating the pressures of live television, admits that the process is incredibly stressful.

This festive season, the Weekend Update co-host is putting his comedic talents to work with Kay by starring in the jeweler’s latest holiday campaign, “Love All In.” The cheeky ad follows Jost on an increasingly ridiculous quest to find the perfect present, poking fun at the lengths we’ll go to for the people closest to us. It’s a fitting partnership for someone who knows a thing or two about making people laugh but also takes gifting pretty seriously.

“I think I’m a good gift giver,” Jost tells ELLE. “Giving gifts is stressful because I do want it to be a meaningful gift. I hate the idea of just buying something because you have to give someone something.”

For Jost, the secret to getting it right has less to do with how much you spend and more to do with how much thought goes into it. “At every kind of price point for any gift, there [are] thoughtful and unthoughtful versions,” he says. “Something can be really expensive but not thoughtful.”

Colin Jost in Kay’s holiday campaign.

It’s a sentiment that aligns with Kay’s latest campaign, which encourages shoppers to go “all in” when expressing their love. And while Jost might not be the first person you’d think to turn to for jewelry advice, he’s developed an appreciation for it over the years, thanks to his very chic wife, Scarlett Johansson.

“Until five years ago, I didn’t own a watch,” he admits. That changed when the actress gifted him his first one, introducing him to an entirely new world of accessories. As for whether she’s influenced his personal style? “In that it’s exclusively managed by her, yes, I would say she’s influenced it.”

Despite his Staten Island roots, Jost’s jewelry preferences are surprisingly understated. “I don’t really wear a ton of jewelry, but I also am from Staten Island, so I do have to have certain pieces, or else they won’t let me back over the Verrazano Bridge,” he jokes.

While browsing Kay’s assortment, he found himself drawn to simple gold pieces, including a ring, bracelet, and necklace. “They were really nice, but also they weren’t gaudy or anything,” he says. His preference for gold also comes with some rather unconventional reasoning: “If we get into a post-apocalyptic situation, it feels like it’s better to melt down for trading.”

With Scarlett Johansson at the premiere of Paper Tiger during the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center on Sept. 25, 2026.

When it comes to shopping for the people closest to him, Jost admits that both Johansson and his Weekend Update collaborator Michael Che are difficult to buy things for, though he found a creative solution for the latter. “I got Che a really large and heavy, realistic statue of a velociraptor,” he recalls. “It was so heavy that he literally can’t get rid of it.” The real expense wasn’t the dinosaur itself. “The main cost was shipping,” he says. “It was a huge eyesore, and it’s prohibitively expensive for him to have removed from his property.”

The hardest person to gift on Jost’s list? His father, who insists he doesn’t need anything. “I think he actually means it, but it’s so unhelpful,” Jost says. After years of nostalgic gifts inspired by his dad’s past, he’s running out of ideas. “I’ve got to figure out something that breaks through his defenses.”

In terms of gifting etiquette, Jost has a few rules of his own. For starters, he’s big on surprises. While he understands the appeal of a wish list for children, he thinks adults should leave a little room for the unexpected. “For adults, it’s got to be ‘surprise me,’” he says. “The surprise is half the fun, three-quarters of the fun.” Regifting, on the other hand, comes with a few conditions. He’s open to the idea, but only if the gift is a perfect fit for someone and there’s full disclosure.

But perhaps the most surprising revelation comes when I ask what’s on his own holiday wish list. After spending much of our conversation discussing what to buy everyone else, Jost seems relieved to finally be on the receiving end. “Oh, thank you! Finally, someone asked me. What do I want?”

With Michael Che on Weekend Update.

His answer? Nothing material. “At this point in life, I mostly want experiences,” he says. Whether it’s a trip or simply someone taking the initiative to organize an outing, he’s more interested in making memories than collecting more things. “Even if it’s just the plan of, ‘Let’s go do this at this time,’ I think that’s a great gift.” Or, when in doubt, a velociraptor.