Most people type his name into a search bar because they just watched Colin Jost nail a Weekend Update joke on SNL. They want to know the dad. The background. The why behind the funny guy. And what they find… is actually more interesting than the famous son.
Quick Bio
| Detail | Info |
| Full Name | Daniel A. Jost |
| Date of Birth | September 21, 1952 (per available sources) |
| Birthplace | Lavalette, New Jersey |
| Education | Brown University → Pingry School → MIT (M.S. Civil Engineering) |
| Career | Teacher, Staten Island Technical High School |
| Post-Retirement | Vice Chairperson, Staten Island Museum Board of Trustees |
| Wife | Dr. Kerry J. Kelly |
| Married | 1975 |
| Sons | Colin Jost, Casey Jost |
| Grandchildren | Cosmo Jost (via Colin) |
| Known For | Being father to two famous comedians, 9/11 educator, community philanthropist |
Let’s begin with the section that no one discusses.
September 11, 2001. A clear morning. School is just getting started.
Dan Jost is standing in his classroom at Staten Island Technical High School when the assistant principal walks in. The message: don’t show emotion.The World Trade Center was struck by an aircraft.His students — many of them kids with parents who were firefighters and first responders — have no idea yet what’s about to reshape their entire world.
He held it together. That’s what teachers do, apparently.
The part that breaks your heart, though, is that while Dan was coolly handling a class of terrified teenagers, his wife Kerry was sprinting in the direction of Ground Zero.She literally drove from Staten Island and ran toward the smoke. She survived two tower collapses. Two. And Dan didn’t even know she was there at first because she was originally scheduled to be at her office that day.
His son Colin sent him a text. It just said: “Is mom okay?”
That’s when the weight hit.
See also “Kimberly Violette Petty: More Than the Rock Legend’s Daughter“
New Jersey Kid, MIT Brain, Chose Chalk Over Corporations
Here’s what throws people off. They assume Dan Jost is just some retired teacher who got famous by accident — because of his kid. But dig a little deeper and the résumé is actually ridiculous.
I grew up in Lavalette, New Jersey. Quiet beach town. His father, John A. Jost, was a businessman. So the expectation was probably: money, suits, corporate ladder. Daniel went a completely different direction.
He went to Pingry School in Hillside — a private academic institution known for serious intellectual rigor. Then Brown University. Then MIT, where he earned a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering.
I am a civil engineer. Teaching high school. On Staten Island.
That’s either the most selfless career pivot in the history of New York education, or the man genuinely just loved being in a classroom. Probably both.
The Teacher Who Stayed
There’s something almost irritating — in a good way — about people who have options and choose the humble path anyway. Dan had an MIT engineering degree. He could’ve gone into construction, infrastructure, consulting, corporate design. He chose to teach teenagers.
He spent the bulk of his career at Staten Island Technical High School. This is not some ordinary school, by the way. It’s a selective, competitive institution. The kind of place where driven kids come to get pushed harder. And Dan was in the trenches there, year after year.
Former students apparently remember him well. Not for screaming or intimidating anyone, but for being steady. Present. Consistent. The kind of teacher who understood that classroom discipline isn’t about authority — it’s about trust.
His two sons grew up watching that. Every single day.
Wait — You Married Who?
Let’s pause on Kerry Kelly for a second, because Daniel’s whole story becomes richer when you understand who he built a life with.
Kerry Kelly wasn’t just “Colin Jost’s mom.” She was the first woman ever named Chief Medical Officer of the FDNY. She worked 37 years in that department. She was on-site at Ground Zero on 9/11. She survived both collapses. She then spent years advocating for first responders dealing with 9/11-related health damage — the slow-burning crisis that kept killing people long after the cameras left.
The two of them got engaged in October 1974. It was announced in the New York Times. Both were postgraduate students. They got married in 1975. They remain together after almost fifty years.
That’s not just a nice story. That’s two people who built parallel lives of service — one in education, one in medicine — and somehow made it work through decades, including one of the most traumatic days in American history.
The Ferry Story Is Genuinely Funny
Okay, enough serious. Here’s where Dan Jost becomes a dad in the most relatable sense possible.
Colin wanted to buy a ferry. Yes. The actual Staten Island Ferry. He used to ride it every morning as a kid going to Regis High School. At some point in his adult wealthy-SNL-star life, he decided to invest in the vessel.
What did Daniel say?
He told his son to do his homework before putting money in.
Classic. The MIT civil engineer tells the Harvard comedian to study something before committing to it. And apparently Colin listened — because in 2022, father and son rode the ferry together for the first time with Colin as one of the owners.
Some parenting moments you just can’t script.
Giant’s Games, Cocaine, and a Bear Fans Section
There’s another story Colin has told in interviews, and it says everything about what family time looks like in the Jost household.
Daniel is a New York Giants fan. Obviously. He took his sons to a game — Giants vs. Bears. They ended up sitting directly in front of a group of Chicago Bears fans. Who were, mid-game, doing cocaine. Right there in the stands.
Colin noticed the white powder drifting. Daniel apparently did not. Or at least he didn’t react like it registered.
Look — maybe that’s what 30+ years of teaching teenagers does to a person. You develop a very high threshold for what counts as alarming.
The Museum Chapter Nobody Writes About
After retirement, Dan didn’t just disappear into a recliner. He became Vice Chairperson of the Staten Island Museum Board of Trustees. Then, at some point, Chairman.
This matters more than people realize. Everyone outside of New York, including Manhattan and the media, consistently ignores Staten Island.The museum is a community anchor. Dan and Kerry both contributed time, money, and presence to keep it running and expanding. Kerry was even honored at the museum’s 140th Anniversary Gala at Richmond County Country Club.
Over 250 contributors showed up. Amazon was one of them. And at its core were this retired educator and his physician spouse.
His Mother Was 103 During COVID
Brief but stunning sidebar: Daniel’s mother, Barbara Jost, was born around 1917. She survived the Spanish Flu pandemic as an infant. In 2020, she was still alive in Lavallette, New Jersey — watching another pandemic unfold at over 103 years old.
The Jost family apparently just has extraordinary genes. And extraordinary staying power.
What He Actually Gave His Sons
People online constantly frame Daniel A. Jost as a backstory character. The supporting cast in the Colin Jost biography. But think about what his sons actually absorbed growing up.
A father who was educated but chose purpose over profit. A mother who ran toward burning buildings. A household where service to the community wasn’t a talking point — it was Tuesday.
Colin Jost went to Harvard. Casey Jost became a writer and producer on Impractical Jokers. Both ended up working in comedy, which sounds nothing like engineering or medicine, but the discipline? The work ethic? The show-up-every-day mentality? That comes from somewhere. It came from Staten Island. From that house. From him.
The Fame Culture Problem (And Why Dan Escapes It)
Here’s the thing about celebrity parents. Most of them eventually get pulled into orbit. There’s always an interview, a podcast appearance, a paparazzi shot outside a restaurant, a memoir chapter dedicated to “my amazing mom/dad.”
Daniel A. Jost has largely avoided all of it. He showed up to a charity golf event in 2017 with both sons. He made a brief appearance on Impractical Jokers in 2020 with Kerry and Casey. He attended a few benefit galas. That’s about it.
No Instagram. No branded content. No podcast where he discusses parenting philosophies.
He’s genuinely just… private. And that is practically revolutionary in 2026.Fame is contagious. Proximity to fame is contagious. And Dan Jost just decided to not catch it.
Respect that. Genuinely.
Final Words
We search for celebrity parents because we think we’ll find the secret. Like if we understand where famous people came from, we’ll understand something about success, or talent, or luck.
What you find with Daniel A. Jost is none of that. There’s no dramatic origin myth. No wealth handed down. No industry connections. No strategic parenting playbook.
Just a guy from New Jersey who went to MIT, chose to teach, married a brilliant and courageous woman, raised two kids in Staten Island, held it together on the worst morning of American modern history, and quietly kept showing up for his community long after anyone expected him to.
That’s the whole story. And honestly? It’s a better story than most of the celebrities who get their own Wikipedia pages.
FAQs
1. Who exactly is Daniel A. Jost?
He’s a retired educator and civil engineer from New Jersey who taught at Staten Island Technical High School for much of his career. He’s also the father of SNL’s Colin Jost and Impractical Jokers producer Casey Jost.
2. Where did Daniel A. Jost grow up?
Lavalette, New Jersey. He attended Pingry School in Hillside before heading to college.
3. What did Daniel study and where?
Brown University for his undergraduate degree, then MIT for a Master’s in Civil Engineering. Two elite schools — then he chose teaching.
4. What school did he teach at?
Staten Island Technical High School — a selective public school in New York City known for rigorous academics.
5. Who is Daniel A. Jost’s wife?
Dr. Kerry J. Kelly — the first woman ever named Chief Medical Officer of the New York City Fire Department. She served the FDNY for 37 years and retired in 2018.
6. When did Daniel and Kerry get married?
They got engaged in October 1974 (announced in the New York Times) and married in 1975 while both were completing postgraduate degrees.
7. What happened to Daniel on 9/11?
He was teaching at Staten Island Tech when the attacks happened. He helped keep students calm and organized — many of whom had parents working as first responders. Meanwhile, his wife Kerry was running emergency triage at Ground Zero, which he didn’t know until later.
8. What is Daniel doing now in 2026?
Living quietly in Staten Island.He served as Vice Chairperson and then Chairman of the Staten Island Museum Board of Trustees. He attends family events and stays away from media attention.
9. Is Daniel A. Jost wealthy?
Estimates range from $1 million to $5 million in net worth — built on a teacher’s career, not celebrity money. Not flashy by any measure.
10. What does Daniel have to do with Impractical Jokers?
He made a brief appearance on the show in 2020. His connection is familial — his son Casey is a writer and producer on the series.
11. Did Daniel influence Colin Jost’s career in comedy?
Not directly through humour, but by self-control, a passion for language, and a work ethic that manifests itself in a live television setting each week.Colin has acknowledged his parents’ influence in interviews and in his memoir.
12. Does Daniel A. Jost have any grandchildren?
Yes. Colin and Scarlett Johansson welcomed a son named Cosmo in 2021, making Daniel a grandfather.
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