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Colin Jost’s Only SNL Autograph Request
Only a very short list of celebrities came to mind for Colin Jost to be starstruck — among them he places Eli Manning, the retired NFL quarterback, at the very top.
Jost, who has been part of the Saturday Night Live team since 2005, disclosed that he holds Manning as the only person from the show he would request an autograph, hence, in his two decades on the program, only one signature, that of Eli, he’d ever asked for.
“I’ve been writing on SNL for 20 years, and the only host I’ve ever asked for their autograph was Eli,” Jost shared with reporters, including PEOPLE, inside T-Mobile’s Chalet at the 2025 Ryder Cup on Sept. 25. “[He’s] the only one I’ve asked because I’m such a Giants fan.”
A Keepsake with a Sense of Humor
Even now, the memory makes Jost laugh. When Eli Manning came on SNL in 2012, Jost requested him to autograph a weird publicity picture showing the quarterback lying on a bed of footballs with his back turned and his hands tucked under his head.
“He just signed it ‘To Colin, Eli,'” Jost reminisced. “It almost seems like a romantic one. It’s such a hilarious photo.”
Manning’s hosting period was in 2012, although he had already made a guest appearance on the show once, in fact, during his brother Peyton’s hosting episode in 2007.
From Footballs to Golf Balls
Colin Jost, a New York sports fan and comedian who hails from Staten Island, has met Eli Manning on numerous occasions since that autograph event that everyone remembers. Just a few days ago, he actually did a drive off next to the NFL icon at the Ryder Cup Celebrity Pro-Am at Bethpage Black on Long Island.
Jost told the story of the game: “When [Manning] threw me a golf ball and I caught it, I was like ‘I am just like a wide receiver!’ We really got lucky because he was on fire and we played really well.”
A Win On and Off the Course
Team USA — which was also supported by stars like Miranda Lambert and Noah Kahan — defeated the celebrities of Team Europe, which led Jost to make a funny comment that it was “the best and probably the only sports achievement of my life.”
However, golf is not the only thing that brings Jost and Eli Manning together. Jost is collaborating with Eli Manning’s Omaha Productions and NBC Sports to co-host T-Mobile Breakfast at Bethpage, the first-ever live pregame show at the Ryder Cup. This new show, entirely powered by T-Mobile 5G, is a mix of Jost’s comedic charm and one of golf’s most elite events.
A Beginner-Friendly Pregame — With Big-Name Guests
Jost hopes that the pregame show could be a good time to attract not only golf fans who have been following the sport through and through but also new people. “I hope it will appeal to golf fans, but I try to make it very beginner-friendly,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of great guests coming on that you might know from all kinds of culture.” In fact, SNL costar Marcello Hernandez and chef Bobby Flay joined him on the set during Friday’s broadcast.
T-Mobile Breakfast at Bethpage will be a live transmission from the Ryder Cup’s first tee Friday, Sept. 26, and Sunday, Sept. 27, from 6 a.m.–8 a.m. ET, and Sunday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m.–noon ET. It will be possible to watch it on RyderCup.com, the Ryder Cup Mobile App, YouTube, and Peacock.
