Can the legendary US comedy show make Brits laugh?

The American television institution Saturday Night Live has entertained viewers and has created comedy stars for 50 years. Can a British version reach the same heights?

For five decades, the phrase “Long live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” He has boldly opened Episodes of Saturday Night Live, with its proven and tested mix of comedy of topical sketches, celebrity cameos and guests musical of large notes.

Now, the Stateside Staple will come live from London after Sky announced plans for a United Kingdom spin-off “with stars”, led by British comic talent, which will be launched next year.

Supervised by the original EE store creator. Uu. Lorne Michaels, now 80 years old, the station promises the same “live and accelerated style” as its US cousin.

Since it was released by Michaels in 1975, SNL has been a wire trampoline for comic talents such as Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and Mike Myers.

Famous for its ever -called revolution, Joe Piscopo de la Cohort of the 1980s summarized him in a documentary that marked the 50th anniversary of the stores: “Toking Sketch Comedy at another level,” he said. “The comedy slowly became rock ‘N’ Roll.”

The unpredictable live premise, combined with its longevity, has helped maintain its status. No other program has been nominated for (331) or cattle (90) More Emmy Awards.

“I don’t think you can underestimate that heritage by counting its current success,” says the television writer and comedy of The Guardian, Rachel Aroesti. “That is something that the United Kingdom’s version obviously won to be able to emulate.”

Heritage is a reason why the program still attracts the main young stars like Timothee Chalamet, which grew even when the linear TV public has fallen sharply into the transmission era.

“In the United States, the participation of guests is of journalistic interest in itself: they also know that their presence will generate a lot of advertising, so it is a winning situation,” adds Aroesti.

“I would be surprised if the United Kingdom’s version can attract the same guest caliber.”

The Atlantic writer, Helen Lewis, says that the reaction of the general industry has been to commission a version of the United Kingdom is a “brave” movement, wishing the team with the “difficult proposal.”

There are some notable differences between the two transatlantic television industries.

The US SNL budget will be much larger than the United Kingdom television standard, paying for a large cast and a team of writers who work to the cable to keep the current jokes.

“In the American version, it is a very expectation format, having a writer room and keeping an ence of actors in the retainer, essentially all the time. That is really expectation,” Lewis told the BBC 4 PM program.

The culture of the comedy of the United States is also different, believes Lewis.

“Humor can sometimes be much more unusual. Very times, Americans fight British because they believe we are extremely bad.”

Comedy writer Jack Bernhardt agrees that there are different comic traditions. The sketches of the United Kingdom are often formed through friendships and show their talent in Edimburg Finge, they were many American comedians in improvisation and sketch clubs, specifically perfecting their skills for shows such as SNL.

Bernhardt Say’s thesis differentials “cannot necessarily be solved by ordering the United Kingdom version of SNL: it is a complete comedy culture that would need to change.”

“That does not mean that one cannot do the other,” he adds. “Only this version of a sketch program is not necessarily repeated with the unique strengths of the United Kingdom comedy scene. And that is equally we enter the difficulties of making a live show.”

Given the thesis challenges, importing an inherited brand as SNL may seem like a bet, especially at the same time When the United Kingdom’s television industry is hesitating.

However, US stores Have a relatively firm hero this decadeEven if the classifications are well below the pre-transference era.

Vulture He discovered that SNL averages 8.4 million weekly viewers, surpassing all other combined night shows. It is also a US Network TV entertainment series. Among adults from 18 to 49 years.

“You rarely listen to someone asking if SNL will survive ‘, just how Michaels progresses,” wrote reporter Josef Adalian. “Linear television may be fighting for your life, but SNL seems safe.”

Crucially, the sketch format lends itself perfectly at the age of social networks, being easily digital on digital platforms. Compliance with the economistOnline SNL clips average around 216 million visits per episode in Tiktok, X and YouTube. Of course, these spectators are not seeing live, but the content undoubtedly lives.

The previous attempts to translate night programs at the end of the United Kingdom have often had problems.

However, in the 1980s, Saturday Live, later renowned Friday Night Live, ran for four seasons and helped the races of Benteton, Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall, while Channel 4 is the 11 -in -point show of Ricky Gervais.

For the veteran producer of British comedy, Jimmy Mulville, whose company Hat Trick Productions has made shows, including the news of Have I Get News for you and who is the line anyway, the opportunity to develop new talents will be one of the key draws for Sky, despite.

“If Sky does it well, they will create new stars and, from that, they can write other shows with those artists,” he explains. “These programs can be fantastic, they can continue for years and can show new talents all the time.”

He says that producers will need to gather the right team of writers and artists.

“If it is well produced, I have no reason to see why I should not succeed,” says Mulville, who is Coanfrerion of Insiders: The TV Podcast.

Recently he touched the current BBC panel program, I have news for you. UU., Where Bone has commissioned for a second season by CNN. An American talent agent warned that the program was “too British” to work in the pond, he recalls.

“I said:” Yes, it is, but I am going to write it by Americans and made by Americans for Americans. “

The reverse will be true for SNL. “In the United Kingdom, it will be written by British writers with British artists for a British audience. So it is no longer an American show.”

In fact, being “live from London” cattle is enough to success, and SNL UK will need to feel like a truly British comedy creation and not just a reheated imitation of an American success.