“Saturday Night time Dwell” star Colin Jost opened up Monday about falling in love — with the outdated ferry he picked up at public sale with co-star Pete Davidson and their enterprise accomplice.
As his beloved John F. Kennedy vessel — a just lately decommissioned Staten Island ferry — set sail for the primary time because the unlikely buy, Jost reminisced about childhood journeys on the boat.
“I took this actual boat each morning at 7 a.m. to enter highschool within the metropolis,” the comic instructed The Publish earlier than boarding the ferry on the St. George Ferry Terminal. “Its cool. It’s bizarre to be again.”
Jost, a Staten Island native, purchased the storied boat with Davidson and enterprise accomplice Paul Italia in January for $280,000 — with plans to show it into an leisure area.
On Monday, he took the journey because it was towed to a brief berth at a close-by shipyard, having fun with the contemporary sea air along with his father and 96-year-old grandfather.
“I wished my grandpa to see it. He’s 96 and he’s been on Staten Island for his complete life,” Jost defined.
Jost stated his father, who taught engineering at Staten Island Technical Excessive College for 30 years, additionally had a particular appreciation for the ship’s simplicity.
“That is such a loopy outdated mechanical boat. You don’t see something like this anymore,” stated Jost, who’s married to Scarlett Johansson.
“And there’s nothing digital. There’s like no digital elements on it. It’s all bizarre switches and levers and pulleys and issues that I don’t perceive in any respect however I believe my dad possibly does.”
He fondly recalled using the boat on daily basis as a part of his day by day commute to highschool.
“So I had like, my youngsters that I met up with who’re additionally commuting in and we had like our part that we might all the time sit in and stuff,” he stated. “I went to Regis [High School], so Regis had a piece. Xavier had a piece. Children that go to Stuyvesant had a piece, La Guardia. It was form of this bizarre, virtually like a form of cafeteria vibe.”
The erstwhile Staten Island ferry took a brief spin across the Statue of Liberty for a photo-op, then was pulled three miles up the Kill van Kull to Caddell Dry Dock and Restore on Richmond County’s north coast.
“We get all of the enjoyable jobs,” Dorothy Julian, CEO of tug agency Henry Marine Companies, instructed The Publish.
Two of her craft — the Pelham and the Robert IV — guided the JFK round Woman Liberty and again. The ferry has been unable to maneuver beneath its personal energy since an engine failure final yr hastened its decommissioning.
Monday marked the primary time the ship has moved because the funnymen saved it in January.
The trio has stated they plan to show the boat into an leisure venue, completely moored someplace within the New York space.
“Music, comedy, and the rest you could possibly consider,” Italia stated Monday of his plans for the ship. “I imply, we actually need it to be a spot that you may carry out for, we hope, over 1,000 folks.”
The trio has but to safe a everlasting location for the ferry, nevertheless.
In January, Italia instructed The Publish he envisioned a Manhattan mooring — although with Staten Island and Lengthy Island making pitches, the bridge-and-tunnel crowd has been jostling to host the boat.
“She’s obtained a secure place to remain afloat whereas they resolve what their plans are,” Steve Kalil, head of the Caddell dry dock, stated Monday.
Caddell holds the contract to restore town’s present Staten Island Ferry fleet, and as of Monday night, the JFK was berthed subsequent to the John J. Marchi, an in-service ferry present process repairs.
Kalil stated there weren’t any plans to restore the JFK in the intervening time.
“As you could possibly see, the boat’s in nice form. And it doesn’t want repairs to drift,” Italia stated Monday. “And that’s all we wish it to do is float. So there’s probably not any mechanical repairs that we foresee.”
The secure berth may assist the JFK keep away from the identical destiny that befell the Mary Murray, a Staten Island Ferry bought in 1975 by a New Jersey boat fanatic who dreamed of turning it right into a floating restaurant.
The Mary Murray rusted away unused on the Raritan River for 30 years earlier than being damaged down and offered for scrap.
