Live from London, It’s Saturday Night! A British spin on the iconic catchphrase “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” will be heard on UK TVs next year because Sky has announced it will be creating its own version of the American sketch-comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL).
SNL celebrated its fiftieth anniversary this year having begun airing in 1975 with the original cast including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and Chevy Chase. It has launched the careers of numerous stars over the past five decades including Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers and Adam Sandler as well as winning 95 Emmy awards.
Lorne Michaels created SNL and still runs it today. He will be the executive producer of the UK version while also continuing to run the original show.
According to Deadline, Michaels will run masterclasses with the writers who are chosen to work on SNL UK to teach them how to create the show. He may also potentially bring writers from the American show over to help.
Deadline has also reported that former executive producer of The Late Late Show with James Corden, James Longman will take on the job of show runner.
Very little is known about the show, with Sky saying further announcements will be made in due course. Nevertheless, there has already been a lot of pessimism online with Metro reporting: “Saturday Night Live is coming to the UK: It’ll never work”. The Daily Mail meanwhile has reported that “Fans have ‘no hope’ for the UK version”. With this in mind I am going to look at what problems the UK version of the show may have to deal with.
Historically, the UK has been incredibly prolific at producing sketch-comedy with shows including: Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Morecambe and Wise Show, A bit of Fry and Laurie, French and Saunders, The Fast Show and The Kenny Everett Television show.
Over time sketch shows have gone out of fashion in this country and panel shows such as Would I lie to You? and Have I got news for you have become more popular instead. It may be difficult for SNL UK to attract an audience as there does not appear to be much demand here for sketch shows. Personally, I would view SNL UK as a welcome return of the format.
Sky will also need to take the timeslot into consideration. In the US, SNL starts at 11:30pm and runs until 01:00am. It’s rare in this country for popular, iconic entertainment shows to start and finish that late as well as being so long. The Graham Norton Show for example normally starts at around 10:40pm and is on average fifty minutes long.
The timeslot will be especially important because TV viewing figures are in decline generally so it would be best for the show to air at a time when most people are already watching TV rather than maintain the US tradition of 11:30 and expect people to adapt.
An earlier time will be more convenient for people so they will be more likely to watch but it is currently unclear whether Sky will move the show.
In 1985 Channel 4 launched Saturday Live (it was retitled Friday Night Live in 1988) which was cancelled in 1988 but relaunched for a short run from June to July in 1996. This show was inspired by SNL although not affiliated with it.
ITV tried, in 2017, to create a British version of another US late night comedy staple- the nightly talk show. This programme was called, appropriately, The Nightly Show and was supposed to be a UK version of American programmes like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Similarly to SNL, it had a different celebrity guest host each week, but they hosted four weeknight episodes rather than one weekend episode. It only lasted for thirty-nine shows because its viewing figures were poor and reviews were negative with The Guardian describing it as “desperate”.
These examples suggest that another UK remake of a US show may not be a great idea and even if it does achieve some level of success, it may be short lived.
There has been a lot of discussion online about who will make up the cast of SNL UK with Reddit users speculating that it will feature established British comedians including Romesh Ranganathan, Josh Widdecombe, Rob Beckett and Maisie Adam. However, I agree with those online who have suggested that the UK show will follow the same tradition as the US show and feature a cast of less well-known comedians.
In the UK panel shows often have the same people on regularly and the only shows on TV which currently feature newer talent are Live at the Apollo and Taskmaster. SNL UK would provide another platform on UK TV for up-and-coming performers to get recognition if Sky does decide to have a less experienced cast.
There is a huge pool of talent performing live improvised comedy as well as stand-up and a lot of this is available on social media. Choosing performers and writers from this group would be a good move from Sky as the people they choose will already have a dedicated following who will then start watching the show.
Established performers also already have their own fans and mixing them with those who have large social media followings will be beneficial to the show as both groups will have the potential to attract large audiences from different generations. Taskmaster has taken this approach and has become hugely successful.
The show will also have to ensure it is booking well know hosts and musical guests (as the US version does) every week to ensure they are attracting a consistently sizeable audience. This will be especially important during SNL UK’s first few weeks as the show finds its feet and the viewers get used to a cast that might feature people who are not very well known away from social media.
It remains to be seen what approach Sky will take to Saturday Night Live UK or how long it will last. Nevertheless, it presents an exciting opportunity for UK comedians and comedy writers as well as marking a welcome return to a format which, historically, has been very successful in the UK.
I hope that SNL UK will be a success, creating some variety in the UK TV comedy landscape, while becoming, like the US version, a place which fosters new comedic talent both in front of the camera and in the writers room.
Image Credits:
Will Heath/ NBC
Dana Edelson/NBC
NBC
Virginia Sherwood/ NBC