I tend to avoid covering Michael Che directly. I’ve read and seen the horror stories about how he treats women (and only women) who are mildly critical of him. I’ve read his terrible opinions about dumpster fire predators. And I’ve heard the “jokes” he tells on Saturday Night Live, where he “co-anchors” the Weekend Update desk with Colin Jost. Che’s jokes are usually the worst, and just last week, he misgendered Caitlyn Jenner as a “joke.” As in, that was the joke, that Caitlyn Jenner used to be a man. But how dare you say “that’s not a funny joke” or “stop punching down on marginalized people, you f–king a–hole.” Because then Michael Che will come after you online. It’s all very incel-y. Anyway, Che was at it again for this past weekend’s SNL/Weekend Update. Here’s the clip. I’ve cued it up to the “joke.”
Michael Che is in hot water once again. Just one week after the comedian sparked backlash for referring to Caitlyn Jenner as a “fella” on Saturday Night Live, he was slammed on Twitter for making a joke during Weekend Update that many fans deemed ageist and sexist.
Che, 36, said that a woman who gave birth at the age of 67 “set a record for most friction,” which earned both laughs and groans from the audience.
“See, you guys don’t realize this but that joke took me like four hours to write,” he said. “I had much better punchlines but the fellas at NBC standards said they were all too dirty.”
Che continued: “Like, at first I was gonna say, ‘Well I hope that kid likes his milk chalky!’ But they said, ‘You can’t say that on TV.’ It was my second favorite punchline! My first favorite being, ‘She can breastfeed just by standing over the crib.’ That’s a good one, right? Nope, NBC said, ‘Too gross,’ which is ridiculous. Too gross would be like if I said, ‘Doctors described the birth as pulling a penny out of a wad of gum. Now that would be too gross. Even I wouldn’t tell that joke on TV.”
To be clear, Michael Che is exactly the kind of comic who complains about “cancel culture.” So I’m not saying he’s canceled. That would imply that I gave a sh-t about him enough to consciously ignore him. What I will say is that there are so many interesting, funny comics working today. There are so many great comedians and comedy writers who don’t need to deadname, misgender, or riff on network television about how old vadges are gross to be “funny.”
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Micheal really needs to rethink things. He does not have a wealthy fiance who can take care of him until she is bored.
He’s never been funny to me. Off-topic, but is there a reason his top lip doesn’t move?
A while back he told a joke about commemorating Women’s History Month and now that better not make dinner late. Hee hee abusive men are funny.
Jost isn’t any better, he epitomizes white guy Harvard Lampoon privilege that oozes all over television comedy.
The thing about racist and sexist jokes – other than, of course, that they are racist and sexist – is that they betray how untalented the jokewriter is, in that they rely on stereotypes and cliches and are unoriginal and lazy.
The thing about SNL these days is that they started out with a patina of counterculture but the truth is, Lorne Michaels is as establishment as you can get. A lot of their comedy enforces the status quo rather than challenge it.
I agree totally on every point.
I watch the beginning of SNL every week and then I go somewhere – anywhere – else.
Do you realize these are characters they play…?
Yes they come up with the jokes, but the whole skit was about what god awful jokes you can make about someone that age having a child. And yes there will be judgment, so you better make that something we can talk about in stead of pretending people don’t judge.
Both of them are main writers for a lot of material on SNL. They whole freaking idea is to take things out of their context to show how ridiculous it is (being Trump as a president or judging a woman for having a child at that age, because yes it is out of the ordinary, so it will get attention and we all have our individual thoughts about it). Humor gets people talking, however hard the jokes are.
At this moment I am looking at a scene by Leslie Jones where she puts every damned stereotype about white people on the table while speaking of men like they are pieces of meat she can enjoy at her expense. Do you think she makes those jokes because that’s how she actually thinks? No.
Bruh, you ain’t even funny tho….
It took him 4 hours to write a s*itty joke?? Sounds about right for a talentless hack.
Che and Jost are the reason SNL has sucked for the past couple years. They get lucky a couple times a season (Oscar the grouch sketch being phenomenal) but the vast majority of skits these days are painfully unfunny since those two became the head writers.
This last episode with K. Stew was so flat. I walked away from it multiple times because it just made me sad and uncomfortable for everyone involved. The doggo was the only highlight
I will agree that Jost and Che aren’t the funniest writers on SNL (I miss the Tina Fey days). But I didn’t find Che’s joke offensive. Its a bad joke in that its not terribly funny but I wasn’t offended AT ALL. How is Che’s joke different when they do jokes about older men, Ie. Biden, Sanders. Trump, etc? I’m all for women’s rights and turning our current culture to be more inclusive and respectful, but this joke is simply stupid and not offensive IMO.
Agreed @Carol. I didn’t find it offensive, just a really bad and stupid joke
So tell me when you have heard a joke about testicles drooping, about men being unable to ejaculate or get an erection? How’s about a joke about underperform as they get older and women want sex more as they get older? That’s why it is offensive. It involves putting down women that are older. They are dried up and droopy, unattractive and useless, that’s the joke. The joke about older men is usually about their brain power, but older women? Joke about their uselessness and their bodies. Young women get the jokes about their bodies and their menstrual cycles, older women get the jokes about how their bodies are unacceptable and non functioning. It is sexist, it is offensive, it is not funny.
The fact that you were not personally offended does not mean it was not offensive, and those of us who were really offended by it, were still offended. He was saying older women are gross. He was saying women are gross. He was saying he’s the one to judge that, and ALL of that is offensive. Also sexist and misogynist.
If you can’t see that, good for you. You probably voted for Trump after his little “grab ’em by the _____” comment thinking that wasn’t offensive either. Right?
Wow. What I find most offensive here is the proposition that if you *aren’t* offended, you probably voted for Trump. We certainly don’t need this. Stop with the purity tests, they will destroy the party.
(For me the jokes were offensive because they were gross, not because they in some way violated my core being as a woman, because they don’t.)
LOL! What I find actually pretty funny is that you all assume I voted for Trump. Nope. I voted for Hillary, walked the Women’s March, believe in transgender and LGBTQ rights, and overall EQUALITY for all. Love and will probably vote for Warren or Buttigieg. And yes, I hear jokes from comedians about old men saggy asses, saggy balls, etc. (especially when they marry young 20-year-olds). Do I find them offensive? Usually not. They can be depending on the joke (just like jokes about older women). I”m sorry you all find the joke offensive. But just like someone above said, just because YOU think the joke is offensive, doesn’t make it so.
Carol-
I was agreeing with you. Think only Bonnie accused you of being a Trump supporter,
These are standard SNL dude-bro type jokes. Just b/c SNL makes fun of the President (and they always make fun of the President whether democratic or republican) I don’t know why people expect them to be socially conscious or above the easy jokes.
Then why don’t they do racist jokes too, if they’re all so “easy” to do?
Because the only group that it’s still OK to make offensive jokes about are WOMEN.
If this is what gets aired, imagine what the SNL writers room must look like…
I just watched Mindy Kaling’s movie “Late Night,” which deals with the issue of racism and sexism in writer’s rooms. I thought it was a spot on critique. And Emma Thompson was great in the lead role!
That was a good movie!
It’s a shame, because SNL has some very talented performers, especially the women, and up to these 2, had good duos on Weekend Update. I don’t find either of them funny, just kind of douchey and annoying.
Interesting, because commenters on youtube love this jokes, the weekend update is one of the most watched SNL segments on youtube. While I think these jokes are bad, but do you seriously believe that it took him 4 hours to write them and his other jokes ho told live were “not approved” by producers, like seriously you believe that. “SNL producers are not approving our jokes” is the second most popular theme between SNL writers.
Huh, the Venn diagram of YouTube commentators and sexists/misogynists is probably a damn near perfect circle…
They are both deeply unfunny. A few months ago Tina Fey did a segment after Charlottesville and she was perfect. Made them look even worse.
So true – Tina slayed!
I didn’t find the jokes funny, but I don’t find them offensive either. A 67 year old woman having a baby is crazy. I don’t really know if I can properly joke about it, but it is pretty crazy.
Would it be better if a woman told Che’s jokes? Seth Meyers has “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell” with Amber Ruffin and Jenny Hagel. BTW, dissecting jokes is like learning how hotdogs are made.
@ Ceecu33
Yeah the joke wasn’t funny but honestly what was so offensive about him making fun of an old woman having a baby? Just because we have the technology to allow people to have kids THAT late in life, should we be doing it? I’m Indian and I can tell you it’s a HUGE problem in India right now. It’s a country that’s already over-populated but yeah sure let’s have senior citizens give birth too ! Very old couples are using IVF (egg donation) to have kids in their late sixties and seventies. People ask them who will take care of the babies since you are so old and their answer is always “God will”. PUH-LEASE ! The stupidity and ignorance is insane. Doctors are making so much money off this and the egg donors only make around 500 bucks and also put their lives at risk (there are poor women who do it for money over and over again…some have died). This is a serious issue. Ok I’m done lol.
It’s not that he shouldn’t have made jokes about the 67 year old having a baby, but that he leaned so heavily on stereotypes of postmenopausal women being dusty, dried-up, and undesirable to do it. A halfway ok comedian would’ve seen that there are so many other ways of highlighting the incongruity of a much older woman having a newborn than simply going on and on about how decrepit and gross her body must be.
Maybe this story resonated with *he because his brand of humor is the very opposite of fresh and vibrant. Besides, you know, the opportunity to wallow in ageist misogyny.
You nailed it, MSM! My thoughts exactly. His punchline was basically “old ladies are gross.” That’s so un-fresh they used to burn witches for it.
What Market said. Poking fun at the concept of an elderly woman having a baby is fine, and there are many ways he could’ve gone about that. The part that isn’t funny anymore is the part where he insults her body. Disparaging and dehumanizing and defeminizing the bodies of older women is so over. It’s only funny to men, and it’s only funny to men who aren’t married to/in love with/carrying respect for women over 30.
We get it. Men don’t want to look at women over 40 naked. We know. We got the memo. The raisin/chewing gum/boobs at her knees jokes aren’t funny. Worse than that: they’re not even remotely original.
This is very well said: Joking about old people having kids isn’t the issue. It’s the way he finds humor in saying “Older ladies have gross undesirable bodies” that’s just nasty and frankly dumb and unoriginal.
Not getting the outrage either🤷🏽♀️
Che and Jost are one of the weakest weekend update anchors they’ve ever had imo and they’ve had weak ones. Why they haven’t been changed out yet is a mystery to me.
I agree.
They are the head writers unfortunately. The tone and content was so different when Tina Fey was head writer and did Weekend Update with Amy Poehler. I miss their sly intelligence.
Che and Jost just aren’t talented or funny.
Che and Jost are one of the weakest weekend update anchors they’ve ever had imo and they’ve had weak ones. Why there hasn’t been changed out yet is a mystery to me
Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert cover the news five days a week and their material is always better. It’s pretty bad that SNL has the whole week to work on weekend update and it remains this bad.
Che and Jost need to go. Neither are very good.
Yes! I find Che and Jost’s writing so incredibly lazy — they are just phoning it it. They have an entire week to craft insightful comedy but what they produce instead is just such average, dude-bros at the bar style humor. The writing on Trevor Noah and Colbert’s shows is so much more insightful. And knowing that Jost and ScarJo are on the same wavelength has somehow diminished them both.
Great point. The late night comics show just how substandard Jost and Che’s writing is.
They are both head writers for snl i think too
Che performed at the Boston Calling festival a few months ago and was apparently so bad that he apologized several times from the stage and then sent out an Instagram apology in which he said he stunk.
I guess that’s not surprising. Bad as in not funny, or bad as in problematic? Or both?
SNL is in a lull right now in general. Sorry but Kate McKinnon is way overrated; that Lindsey Graham impression from a few weeks ago was terrible and unfunny. This is how SNL is though, it ebbs and right now it has a mediocre to bad cast. The best update duos of recent years has included a woman and it was at its peek in my lifetime with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. I don’t know what woman on the current cast has the chops for Update but I bet adding any woman would improve things.
Cecily Strong was on Weekend Update for a while, and was replace by Che. Ugh. She was good.
I loved the Poehler/Fey era too, but I think the current women are great too.
Cecily Strong asked to be taken off Weekend Update as she wanted to appear in more sketches. A shame.
I want to know who the people are that create such funny memes on twitter, etc. Now those people should be writing for SNL ! So much good comedy and hilarious tweets from random people all over the world who have sooo much more talent than these guys.
Totally disagree about Kate mckinnon, she’s amazing
I agree that adding any woman to Update would improve things. I turned SNL off on Sat. night after Che’s “jokes” about the mother’s anatomy – that was not funny stuff, that was misogynist stuff I used to hear drunk men say in bars back when I worked in one. It’s the type of thing that makes women think men are really horrible human beings. Che should quit or be fired.
I am a huge SNL fan. This week’s episode was the first of the season that I’ve really liked. Having said that, weekend update is the weakest part of the show. Che and Jost have no charisma. Not everyone can have Tina and Amy’s charm (or Amy and Seth’s) but the producers could try some different cast members out. I love Aidy and Late’s chemistry together but update would probably take away from the amount of sketches they do.
Ok question about Caitlyn:
Caitlyn Jenner has said she doesn’t mind being referred to past tense as Bruce (as in “pre transition, Bruce won gold in the Olympic decathlon…”. I understand it isn’t the same for all trans people and there’s a difference imo between just a friend you know and, say, someone who has been in the public pre and post transition like Caitlyn. But I’ve heard people get really upset about someone like Che saying that Bruce Jenner won the decathlon. No woman has won the decathlon because there is no decathlon event for women…so how are we supposed to talk about someone in a position like caitlyn? Is it considered correct to say that a woman won the men’s decathlon in the early 70s or something? I think in that situation it would be relevant to recognize Caitlyn’s transition, no? I’m not talking about intentional misgendering or saying “when x person was presenting as a man” about something where the transition doesn’t matter but I am finding it hard to understand the outrage about Che’s comment about Caitlyn.
Am I the only one that’s going to use “pulling a penny from a wad of gum” the next time I make reference to my vagina in conversation?
For the record, I reference my vagina in most conversations. Not quite sure how I have any friends at all some days.
Lol, you sound like one of my college friends. She’s hilarious too.