Michael Che

Michael Che Campbell (; born May 19, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Che is best known for his work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he has served as co-anchor on Weekend Update alongside Colin Jost since 2014. Che and Jost were co-head writers at SNL from 2017 until 2022. The duo also co-hosted the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018.

Che was briefly a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has previously worked as a writer for Saturday Night Live. At the end of September 2014, he became a Weekend Update co-anchor for the 40th season of Saturday Night Live alongside Colin Jost, replacing Cecily Strong.

Early life and education Michael Che Campbell was born in New York City, the youngest of seven children of Rose and Nathaniel Campbell. His father gave him his middle name after the revolutionary Che Guevara. He has four older brothers and two older sisters. One of his older brothers is a detective with the New York Police Department, and another retired from law enforcement.

Che was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Career Che worked in customer service for a Toyota car dealership for two years. He also created acrylic portraits of celebrities, printed the portraits on T-shirts, and sold them in SoHo. Tommy Hilfiger noticed his work and offered Che freelance work, but he did not turn in any designs.

Beginnings and Saturday Night Live

Che started performing stand-up comedy in 2009, regularly working several sets per night. In 2012, Che appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. In 2013, Variety called Che one of "10 Comics to Watch", while Rolling Stone named him one of "The 50 Funniest People". Che made his onscreen debut as a Daily Show correspondent on June 4. Although he appeared in only nine segments during his brief tenure on the show, he was lauded by TV Guide for his work. His signature piece for the Daily Show was "Race/Off: Live From Somewhere", a satirical commentary on the 2014 Ferguson protests. In this segment, Che "reported" from various locations (with frequent background changes accomplished via chroma key), looking for a place where a black man would not be harassed by police officers. The sketch ended with Che floating in outer space.

On September 11, 2014, it was announced that Che would take over Cecily Strong's position as a Weekend Update co-anchor for the 40th season of SNL, co-anchoring the segment with Colin Jost. During his first two seasons, Che primarily hosted Weekend Update and rarely appeared in any sketches. During his third season, Che was promoted to the main cast. In December 2017, Che was named co-head writer of Saturday Night Live. Vulture 's Megh Wright complimented the Weekend Update joke-swapping segment where Che and Jost write embarrassing jokes for each other to deliver, with Che's jokes often being used to portray Jost as racist. Che, along with Jost, resigned as head writer ahead of the show's 48th season in 2022. After initially denying in an Instagram post he would leave, he later told Tony Dokoupil on the May 15, 2022 edition of CBS News Sunday Morning that he was uncertain about his future on SNL.

Other appearances

In 2014, Che appeared in the movie Top Five, appearing as one of Chris Rock's character's friends.

On September 17, 2018, Che co-hosted the Emmy Awards with Colin Jost. Che and Jost also appeared on the March 4, 2019, episode of WWE's Monday Night Raw, where both were announced as special correspondents for WrestleMania 35. The pair got involved in a storyline with wrestler Braun Strowman, which eventually resulted in Che and Jost becoming participants in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role 2013 Chinese Puzzle Un passant 2014Lyle Threes 2014 Top Five Paul

Television

Awards and honors Year Award Nominated work Result 2015 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series Saturday Night Live 2016 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series Saturday Night Live Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Saturday Night Live 2017 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series Saturday Night Live Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Saturday Night Live 2018 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series Saturday Night Live Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series Saturday Night Live 2019 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series Saturday Night Live Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Saturday Night Live 2020 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series Saturday Night Live 2022Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series Saturday Night Live Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series That Damn Michael Che