Colin Jost rides a huge success wave into Monterey to deliver his stand-up comedy act.

Ever since Chevy Chase uttered his last “I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not,” on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update in 1976, the comparisons between Update anchors was on.Entertainment Weekly published its rankings of anchors last year and wisely put comedians’ comedian Norm Macdonald in the No. 1 spot. Macdonald was the one who kept America laughing through the O.J. trial with razor-sharp sarcasm. He declared after the verdict, “Well it’s official. Murder is now legal in California.”

As a teen, Colin Jost, now 36, cut his comedy teeth watching Macdonald in the mid-1990s, and claims Macdonald as his main influence, with some Tina Fey thrown in. The royal lineage shows in Jost’s similar sense of absurdist comedy, delivering fake news punchlines with deadpan seriousness, coupled with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

But the conceit hasn’t always worked. Jost was criticized for a trans-insensitive joke just after the 2016 election: “The dating app Tinder announced a new feature this week which gives users 37 different gender identity options,” he said. “It’s called ‘Why Democrats lost the election.’”

Jost was hired straight out of Harvard at 22. He took over as an Update anchor from Seth Meyers in 2014.

After he and colleague Michael Che got off to a rocky start with reviewers, Update has become widely viewed as must-see TV. Jost has won four Writers Guild Awards and a Peabody, and he’s up for an Emmy this year – and he and Che are set to co-host the Emmys on Sept. 17. On the personal front, after months of rumors, Jost confirmed in May that Scarlett Johansson, 33, is his girlfriend.

That’s quite a wave of success. Indeed, the Weekly tried more than once to get an interview with Jost in the last month, only to be told, “He is unfortunately slammed with Emmy prep and unavailable. Thank you!” He and Johansson are also apparently busy shopping for $8 million condos in the Hamptons, according to media reports.

Despite the schedule, Jost is heading to Monterey with his stand-up act. He will, of course, have some things to say about the Trump Administration – last summer on tour, he riffed about Trump’s Jedi mind trick to gaslight the country – although he and Che suggested they aren’t going to get too political at the Emmys, due to the fast-paced news cycle. “Anything you do now would feel old,” Jost told the Hollywood Reporter.

Here’s betting that like his mentor Macdonald, Jost will find a way to crack wise about the news that’s top of mind for most of us.

COLIN JOST 8pm Aug 22, Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $43-$76. 649-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com