Cliff Notes – Saturday Night Live is coming to the UK – it’ll never work
- The UK version of Saturday Night Live is in development at Sky, but there are concerns it will fail to capture the essence of the original due to reliance on familiar comedic faces rather than emerging talent.
- Critics argue that the show’s success in the US stems from its ability to showcase new comedians who push boundaries, a quality that may be compromised in the UK adaptation.
- The scepticism surrounding the UK version is heightened by past failures to resonate with British audiences, as evidenced by negative reactions to previous SNL sketches featuring British figures.
It’s a sketch show, and there are plenty of misses along with the hits (Picture: Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)
‘The worst thing I’ve ever seen.’
‘I’ve had funnier athlete’s foot.’
‘This is an international war crime.’
Those were some of the milder responses online to a clip of the US sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL) released last year featuring two comedians (James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman) impersonating Noel and Liam Gallagher.
There was similar outrage in 2019 when James Corden appeared on an SNL sketch playing Boris Johnson in a high school setting. If that sounds unfunny, trust me, the reality is even worse.
The consensus has always been that SNL doesn’t get Britain, and Britain doesn’t get SNL.
Everything about the show, from the guests, to the humour, to that ‘Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night’ shout, just seems so, well, American.
Clips that go viral from the show, hailed by US audiences, are often greeted with a chorus of ‘how is that funny?’ from British people on social media.
Two comedians (L-R: James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman) impersonating Noel and Liam Gallagher (Picture: NBCUniversal)
So there was understandable consternation when it was revealed this morning that a UK version of Saturday Night Live, which recently celebrated its 50th year, is in development at Sky, with legendary SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels as executive producer.
Before I discuss that, I’ve got a shocking confession to make. I watch the US Saturday Night Live. And I actually like it.
Every Sunday morning, coffee in hand and bleary-eyed from the night before, I spool through YouTube clips of the previous night’s episode and enjoy the sketches, skits, impressions and comedy songs put together by a team of performers and their weekly host.
James Corden (far right) appeared on an SNL sketch playing Boris Johnson in a high school setting (Picture: NBCUniversal)
And, believe it or not, I regularly laugh!
It’s a sketch show, and there are plenty of misses along with the hits (I’m certainly not going to defend that Gallagher brothers skit) but I still enjoy it.
So as one of the few (maybe even the only…) fans of SNL in the UK, you might think I’m excited about the new version, that I can’t wait to see the same format on prime-time TV, that I’ll get a kick out of hearing ‘Live, from London, it’s Saturday Night!’.
Well you’d be wrong. As a huge comedy fan, and SNL devotee, I can confidently predict that SNL UK is going to stink the place out.
It’s going to be very bad. It’s going to make Mrs Brown’s Boys look good. It’s going to make bad Oasis impressions and Corden-as-Boris look like a golden age of comedy.
And here’s why.
Firstly, one of the best things about the US version is that – at least when they first start – the cast is made up of young, hungry, up-and-coming comedians.
There have been plenty of household names coming out of SNL, like Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell, but bar a few experiments with established actors in the 80s, the process has remained the same – SNL takes new comedic talent and hones them into stars over the course of a gruelling writing and acting process.
There have been plenty of household names coming out of SNL, like Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell (pictured) (Picture: NBCUniversal)
Does anyone expect the UK version to do the same?
Bitter experience has taught me that when a comedy show in the UK launches, whether panel, game show, or stand-up based, it seems to almost always have the same names, the same faces, and sometimes even the same jokes.
A British SNL is already a risk, and so Sky aren’t going to tour the comedy clubs and small venues of the country finding new up-and-coming talent.
They are going to populate the cast with the usual suspects. I’ll be shocked if we don’t see omnipresent TV comedians like Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett, Jimmy Carr, Sarah Pascoe, David Baddiel, Sarah Millcan gracing our screens.
I’ll be shocked if we don’t see omnipresent TV comedians like Romesh Ranganathan (Picture: Brian J Ritchie/Hotsauce/Shutterstock)
And that fundamentally misses one of the things that makes SNL good.
Instead, Sky should be finding the best young comedians in the country, who would bite your hand off for a couple of years of guaranteed TV work.
That also means they will be braver, sharper, willing to piss off the rich and powerful, like SNL does with its routine takedowns of the likes of Trump and Musk.
Because alongside even the silliest sketches, SNL delivers satire every week, and satire never works if it’s safe.
That’s why a UK SNL should cast the net wider, and look beyond the usual ranks of Have I Got News for You and QI, and should place a blanket ban on hiring anyone involved in the inexorable recent Spitting Image revival.
But I doubt they will.
So even as that rarest of things, a British SNL fan, I’m not sitting on my sofa eagerly awaiting the UK version, I’m hiding behind it.
At least the Oasis impressions might be better…
Share your views in the comments below.