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Colin Jost's Perfect Joke About Injury He Suffered Covering Olympic Surfing in Tahiti

It's hard to tell if Jost is having a good time or not covering surfing.

Josh Wilson

Colin Jost at the Olympics in Tahiti
Colin Jost at the Olympics in Tahiti / Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

NBC sent Colin Jost, known primarily for his work on Saturday Night Live, to far-away Tahiti to cover surfing at the 2024 Olympic Games. Jost has been doing his job the last couple of days, but seemingly finding more and more ways to get himself into trouble on the French Polynesian island, particularly medically.

"This job has been absolutely a total joy, there were some obstacles that I did not anticipate. For example before you came to me, I had gotten some open wounds on my foot from hitting coral reef and I actually had been walking in place in this yard because if I stand still ants begin crawling inside the wounds," he told Maria Taylor. He hardly seems upset about it, though, simply calling it, "Not something I anticipated."

Jost went on to detail more perilous situations he's found himself in, including standing in a pool of water during a reporting shoot that was home to stonefish which resulted in another person being medically evacuated from the island after they stepped on one.

Speaking to Taylor the next day, things had gotten worse.

"I've been visiting the medical tent regularly. It's a weird feeling when you're in the medical tent way more than any of the athletes," Jost expressed. "I think the medical staff at this point, they know my name, they're very familiar with my badge ID number, they know I'm allergic to penicillin."

Jost's presence has confused many, and the more he works, the more confounding his presence seems to get.

"I'm definitely not doing [this] for the money," Jost said. "I'm actively losing money being here, I guarantee it."

Taylor asked him to end his somewhat depressing update on a lighthearted note, seeing if he had a joke to share.

"Do I have a joke? Yeah, I'm here. Colin Jost is a surf correspondent. That's the joke. Or: Why did the chicken cross the road? To peck at the staph infection in my foot."

The assignment is wrapping up, with the surfing final scheduled for Tuesday but postponed, possibly to Wednesday. As for Jost?

"I vow I will not leave here unless it's being evacuated in a helicopter," Jost signed off. It's very hard to tell if he's serious or not.

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Josh Wilson
JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.

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