Michael Che threatened to quit Saturday Night Live over this one joke

Michael Che knows how to dish out an offensive joke. The comedian has built his reputation on it, especially as one half of Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update segment. That said, there are some jokes that go a bit too far, even for him. One of them nearly led to him leaving the show altogether. And the reason why is kind of amusing.

Che recounted the joke, and the incident leading up to it, during a recent appearance on the Fly on the Wall podcast. It wasn't that the joke was offensive to Che's moral sensibilities, it was offensive to his comedic sensibilities. He thought it was stupid.

Che despised a pun joke delivered by Colin Jost

The joke in question was about a woman who attacked her boyfriend for eating a tube of salsa they were meant to share. Che's Weekend Update partner, Colin Jost, delivered the punchline: "You’d be angry too if your boyfriend was jalapeño business." Insert groan-worthy response here.

Michael Che told podcast host and SNL alum Dana Carvey that he was annoyed that the writers would stoop to making such a silly joke. Worse still, the joke absolutely leveled the audience, and Che's frustrations were compounded:

"I was like, 'If you tell that joke on air, I’m leaving.' I’m quitting the show... I was so frustrated... I was like, 'I don’t even know what we do anymore.'"

Che has considered leaving SNL multiple times

Michael Che has been pretty frank about his willingness to leave Saturday Night Live in the past. He told The New York Times that he planned to walk around 2022, but SNL honcho Lorne Michaels made him an offer, scheduling wise, that was too good to pass up. Che also admitted that the sketch show has an "intoxicating energy" that he would miss.

It was likely this "intoxicating energy" that led the comedian to stay on SNL after the "jalapeño" joke. And given that his banter with Colin Jost is one of the absolute best things about the show heading into 2025, we're thankful.