Colin Jost Says Scarlett Johansson Took $280K Ferry Purchase in Stride: ‘Sees the Value in It’

When Colin Jost decided to purchase a decommissioned Staten Island ferry boat to the tune of $280,000 with fellow Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson in 2022, the unorthodox decision became the butt of many jokes — several made by Jost himself. But he says that his wife, Scarlett Johansson, is one person who’s taken the investment in stride.

Speaking to People in an interview posted Friday, September 13, Jost, 42, quipped that the ferry “is absolutely the dumbest and least thought-through purchase I’ve ever made in my life … The way I justified it is for the amount of money we were putting into buying it, on just a basic square-footage level, is if you found the right place for it to be, you were essentially buying a building on its side that’s 65,000 square feet. So around New York, that is a very good price per square foot.”

She was just like, ‘Wait, so you own this boat now?’ Very fair question,” Jost said of Johansson’s reaction. “She now obviously sees the value in it, but also I think she’s like, ‘It’s now become something that is a defining thing for you guys and an interesting thing for you guys. So you should take it seriously and figure out the best version of it, because for better or worse, it’s going to reflect on you.’”

That said: “[Pete and I] don’t care because we’re comedians,” Jost joked.