Staten Island remains in the house.
Colin Jost, comedian and long-running “Saturday Night Live” star, will headline the Rochester Fringe Festival with a performance at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre on Friday, September 13. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Jost has been involved with the show since 2005, when he joined as a writer. He served as co-head writer from 2012 until 2015 and again from 2017 to 2022. Since March 2014, he’s been the show’s “Weekend Update” anchor and was joined by Michael Che as co-anchor later that year.
Jost’s appearance comes after a recent stint covering the 2024 Paris Olympics in Tahiti, where he ended up injuring his foot on coral. He later joked about the incident during an NBC interview, saying, “It’s a weird feeling when you’re in the medical tent way more than any of the athletes.”
Jost replaces previously announced headliner Pete Davidson, who canceled his Fringe show and other upcoming performances last week. People reported at that time that Davidson had checked into a wellness facility for mental health treatment.
In addition to being “SNL” pals and Staten Island natives, Jost and Davidson are business partners. In 2022, the pair appeared on the show’s “Weekend Update” segment and revealed they had co-purchased a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry boat with apparent plans to turn it into an entertainment destination.
“We want to be able to dock it from April to September, maybe October, in New York and it will be like a restaurant,” Davidson later explained on Seth Meyers’s podcast. “There will be a concert venue. There will be a movie theater, upstairs like, sort of, restaurant area. And then there’s hotels in it.”
Tickets for Jost’s headlining performance are on sale now at rochesterfringe.com and run $45-$129. Tickets purchased for Davidson’s show will be automatically honored. Those who wish to seek a full refund can do so by contacting the Eastman Theatre box office before Friday, August 23.
The full lineup of hundreds of Fringe shows is available at rochesterfringe.com.
Patrick Hosken is an arts writer at CITY.