“Pop Culture Jeopardy!” has found its host.
“Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost will emcee the “Jeopardy!” spinoff airing on Amazon Prime Video.
Production on the Sony Pictures-produced show will begin in August.
“What is: I’m excited,” Jost, 42, quipped in a press release, per Variety.
“Colin’s sharp wit and intelligence epitomize ‘Pop Culture Jeopardy!,’” Suzanne Prete, the president of game shows at Sony Pictures Television, said in a statement.
“He’s smart and quick, like our contestants, and we know he’ll be able to keep up with them while making this new series his own,” Prete added. “We could not be happier that he is joining us for this new journey.”
Jost, who is married to Scarlett Johansson, is currently covering the surfing competitions in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Tahiti. The comedian injured his foot after hitting the coral reef and posted a picture of his bandaged and bloodied wounds on social media.
Fans shared their reactions to Jost being named the host of the pop culture quiz show.
“Awesome,” said one fan who was happy about the news on X (formerly Twitter).
“Interesting choice! I wouldn’t count him out at the moment! Looking forward to seeing Jost host!” another fan wrote in the comments section on the show’s Instagram post.
“Very cool!” someone else said.
Another person wrote, “This is so cool!”
However, others weren’t as happy that Jost landed the job.
“Yuck terrible choice,” read one response.
Another person tweeted, “I’ll pass.”
“That’s disappointing,” someone else said.
“Pop Culture Jeopardy!” was announced in May as the first spinoff of the ABC game show created exclusively for a streaming service.
The show will differ from the original, as contestants will answer questions about pop culture subjects like music, movies, sports, TV and more.
The official description for the new series reads, “‘Pop Culture Jeopardy!’ is a brand-new twist on the classic quiz show’s “answer-and-question” format that combines the academic rigor of Jeopardy! with the excitement and unpredictability of pop culture. Contestants, playing in teams of three, will need to be experts in categories from Alternative Rock to The Avengers; Broadway to MMA; Gen Z to Zendaya as they compete in a tournament-style event for the grand prize and ultimate bragging rights.”
The premiere date has not yet been announced for the spinoff.
Ken Jennings currently hosts the original “Jeopardy!” He took over after longtime host Alex Trebek taped his last show just 10 days before his death in 2020. Trebek died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.
Trebek hosted the show for 37 seasons, since its syndicated debut in 1984. It has been airing since 1964.
Jennings, 50, and Mayim Bialik alternated hosting the show through last May, when Bialik, 48, refused to tape the show in sympathy with the writers guild (WGA), which was on strike in Hollywood and was later joined by the actors guild (SAG-AFTRA).
Bialik officially announced in December that she was no longer on the show.
Showrunner Michael Davies told reporters earlier this year that Bialik was fired because the show needed more “consistency” with Jennings.
“Over the past two and a half seasons, what we’ve heard from a lot of television stations and other interested parties is that they wanted more consistency,” Davies said. “They wanted a single host.”