This weekend, the UK version of Saturday Night Live finally launches on Sky, after an extended hype period that has divided opinion. Some are rooting for it, while others are convinced it will fail, with pre-emptive schadenfreude online seizing on promotional material—such as an advert spelling out SNL in baked beans—as evidence of impending disaster.
The show arrives with the weight of the original US institution, arguably America's most famous comedy export. However, there are reasons for optimism: talented young comics, shrewd behind-the-scenes figures including members of sketch group Sheeps, and the involvement of original SNL creator Lorne Michaels as executive producer. Yet the challenge of a live weekly comedy show, combined with the reputational burden, makes it a high-wire act.
A key concern is whether SNL UK will be trapped between British and American comic traditions, appealing to neither audience. The show could learn from another franchise, Last One Laughing UK, which adapts a Japanese format for a UK audience. Each national version of Last One Laughing adds its own comedic style, as Graham Norton noted: 'The Irish version is so Irish... things that a UK audience wouldn't even understand.'
The UK version of Last One Laughing, on Prime Video, succeeds by embracing British specificity, with casts like Bob Mortimer, Richard Ayoade, and Judi Love creating unique chemistry. The biggest viral moment from series one was a mock RNLI presentation by Joe Wilkinson, showing no attempt to cater to a vague international audience.
SNL UK should similarly create separation from its namesake. The last UK adaptation, Channel 4's Saturday Live in the 1980s, took little from the original, instead drawing on British variety and alternative comedy. Its most successful segment, Ben Elton's political standup, would have felt out of place on the US show. Advance word suggests SNL UK will not radically overhaul the format: Weekend Update will be ported with a British focus, and Tina Fey hosting the first episode maintains the transatlantic link. But there is a consciousness that British humour must shine through.
