Colin Jost says he gave his wife, Scarlett Johansson, a courtesy heads-up before making one of the more unlikely celebrity purchases of recent years: a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry bought alongside Pete Davidson.
Her response, according to him, was immediate and unvarnished. “We?”
The deal went down in 2023, when Jost and Davidson joined a small group of buyers to acquire the retired vessel that once shuttled commuters between Staten Island and Manhattan. It had been taken out of service in 2022. The price tag — roughly $280,000 — made it accessible. What came after was less clear.
Speaking on the upcoming 4 May episode of SmartLess, Jost revisited the sequence of events with the tone of someone still half-trying to rationalise it.
He says the idea started as nostalgia. The ferry was part of his daily routine growing up on Staten Island, a blunt, industrial constant in the background of a New York childhood. When it hit auction, he texted Davidson.
“Which is the wrong person to text when you have an idea like this,” Jost said.
Davidson, by his account, didn’t hesitate. The response was immediate enthusiasm. They bought it.
Later came the notifications that usually precede regret or at least clarification. Jost told his father first, a Staten Island teacher, who reportedly responded with something closer to classroom discipline than celebration: “Did you do your homework?”
Then came Johansson.
“I texted Scarlett, like, ‘Guess what? We own a ferry now,’” Jost said.
Her reply cut through the momentum. “We?”
It’s a small exchange, but it frames the entire project. A purchase made quickly, collaboratively, and now slowly being explained in hindsight.
Davidson has previously joked about the economics of it all, suggesting the pair were “very stoned” when they committed and are now effectively “in the hole.” Jost, speaking on Weekend Update and later appearances, has taken a more defensive stance, though not entirely serious in tone.
On SmartLess, he outlined a more structured vision for the vessel’s future. There is a plan, at least on paper. Working with architect Rob Castellano, the group has floated the idea of treating the ferry as a fixed structure rather than a floating relic.
From a real estate perspective, Jost argued, the numbers become more interesting. Roughly 70,000 square feet of usable space if docked and repurposed — effectively a waterfront building disguised as a retired commuter ship.
“If you put that on a dock in Manhattan,” he said, “you’ve suddenly got basically a building on the waterfront.”
It’s the kind of logic that sounds firm in conversation and slightly less so when repeated aloud later.
The ferry has become a running joke in Davidson and Jost’s public appearances, including a Weekend Update segment where Davidson quipped they were “losing millions” on the project, framed against the need for side gigs to keep it afloat.
Still, beneath the humour, the purchase sits in a familiar New York tradition: real estate ambition colliding with sentiment, with a side of impulse buying that only makes sense after the fact.
Johansson, for her part, remains the grounding point in Jost’s retelling. Not involved in the deal, but now permanently attached to its narrative through a single text message and a question that still hangs over the whole thing.
“We?”
For now, the ferry sits between idea and execution — part investment, part stunt, part very expensive memory of Staten Island commuting.
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Last modified: April 30, 2026
