Sometimes the stars align and magic happens. But this leap year, the skies haven't aligned, robbing St. Patrick's Day revelers of their first chance in six years to paint the town green on a leap year Saturday.
So when a nation needs brave heroes to do the right thing and save them from waving their shamrocks on a Sunday, Saturday night live “Weekend Update” co-hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost bravely rose to the challenge with a brand new celebration.
“We're not putting together a holiday, this is a freak occurrence,” Che explains of the duo's decision to team up with Jameson Irish Whiskey to create a new, completely fabricated celebration they're calling “Jameson St. Patrick's Eve'. .” The faux-fest will take place on March 16, with a St. Patrick's Eve countdown in New York City's Times Square hosted by the duo.
“Why not St. Patrick's Eve? You have Christmas Eve, you have New Year's Day,” says Che. While he acknowledges that New Yorkers don't really need an excuse to start partying before 10 a.m., Che says he and Jost don't recommend revelers start that early, but “we recommend having one or two in the , say 10:30 a.m.,” with Jost adding, “if you're working until 9 a.m., it makes a lot of sense to have a drink… [like if you’re a ] longshoremen”.
“Or short coasters,” Che quipped, with Jost shouting, “yeah, we don't discriminate… I've always wanted to start a religion for tax purposes, so starting a vacation is the first step.” The couple, both native New Yorkers, say they take their St. Patrick's Day celebrations very seriously, with Che always noting that the holiday reminds him of “friendship, camaraderie and, of course, Jameson.”
“When we skipped a Saturday on St. Patrick's Day in a leap year, we did exactly what a Jameson would do: we created a whole new holiday so people could start celebrating St. Patrick's Day a little earlier,” says the vice president Johan Radojewski brand marketing. in a statement announcing the holiday hokum party that will also feature a guest appearance by a yet-to-be-named DJ. “We've teamed up with Colin Jost and Michael Che to help us seize the moment and encourage everyone to embrace St. Patrick's Eve because they're a duo that appreciates a smooth Irish whiskey, good company and a brand new holiday – just as any Jameson would do.'
The St. Patrick's Eve Party at the Times Square Takeover will also feature a first-of-its-kind “rock drop,” Jameson's spin on the famous New Year's Eve ball drop, which will take place at 8 p.m. ET (midnight in Ireland). Che says he's so excited about the party, in fact, that he's thinking about his first dive. “I've been saving it, now's the time I feel,” he says, with Jost, as usual, yes, and his co-star's bit comparing the scene he's waiting to the one in The Thomas Crown Case “Where they all walk around in hats at the end? Except it will be a sea of green plastic hats.”
The actual holiday brings back fond memories for Jost, who often marched with firefighters in two St. Patrick's Day parades as a child, in Manhattan and Staten Island, along with his mother and grandfather, who both worked in the fire department. . Che, on the other hand, jokes that he has no specific memories of the holiday, because “it's St. Patrick's Day, and if you have memories after St. Patrick's Day, you're doing it wrong.”
The only thing the “Update” hosts couldn't reveal was the DJ's name, though Che teases that “no, it's not a 'Prize' knighted Brit. It's a surprise!”
Starting today, fans can have a chance to get a spot on the guest list for Jameson St.'s party. here. The party will take place between 43rd and 44th Streets from 6-10 p.m. EST. Additionally, Jameson will light the Sphere in Las Vegas in Jameson green, wrap ferries and water taxis in the painted-green Chicago River, and do a digital takeover of LA Live to mark the holiday.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/snl-michael-che-colin-jost-talk-st-patricks-eve-countdown-jameson-1235609775/