Can the legendary American comedy show make the British laugh?

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

For five decades, the “Live de New York’s live sentence is Saturday evening!” Has audaciously open episodes of Saturday Night Live, with its proven mixture of comedy of topicality sketches, celebrity and musical guests of the big name.

Now, the state in the United States is to come from London after Sky has announced plans for a British “star” spin-off, led by British comic talents, to be launched next year.

Supervised by the creator of the original American show Lorne Michaels, now 80 years old, the broadcaster promises the same “live and fast style” as his American cousin.

Since its launch by Michaels in 1975, SNL has been a livewire springboard for comic talents like Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and Mike Myers.

Famous for its constantly evolving distribution, Joe Piscopo of the 1980s cohort summed it up in a documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the series: “They carried Sketch Comedy to a completely different level,” he said. “Comedy has slowly become rock ‘n’ roll.”

The unpredictable live premise, combined with its longevity, helped maintain its status. No other show was nominated for (331) or won (90) plus Emmy Awards.

“I don’t think you can underestimate this heritage when taking into account its current success,” said Guardian television and comedy, Rachel Aroes. “Which is something that the British version will obviously not be able to imitate.”

Heritage is one of the reasons why the program always attracts great young stars like Timothee Chalamet, who grew up even looking while the linear television public has dropped sharply in the streaming era.

“In the United States, the involvement of guests is often worthy of interest in itself-they also know that their presence will generate a lot of advertising, so it is a win-win situation,” added Aroesti.

“I would be surprised that the British version is able to attract the same guest caliber.”

The Atlantic writer Helen Lewis said that the general reaction of the industry was that the commissioning of a British version is a “courageous” decision – wishing the team luck with the “difficult proposal”.

There are notable differences between the two transatlantic television industries.

The United States SNL budget will be much larger than the UK TV standard, paying for a large distribution and a team of writers working on the wire to keep the jokes up to date.

“In the American version, it is a very expensive format, having a room of writers and keeping a distribution of actors on the restraint, essentially, all the time. It’s really expensive,” Lewis said on the BBC Radio 4 PM program.

The culture of American comedy is also different, believes Lewis.

“Humor can sometimes be much more slapsticky. A lot of time, the Americans fight against British humor because they think we are extremely nasty.”

The comedy writer Jack Bernhardt agrees that there are different comic traditions. British sketches are often formed through friendships and highlight their talent at the Edinburgh Fringe, while many American actors train in improvisation and sketch clubs, specifically perfecting their skills for shows like SNL.

Bernhardt says that these differences “cannot necessarily be corrected by ordering the British version of SNL – it is an entire comedy culture that should change”.

“This does not mean that one cannot do the other,” he adds. “Just that this version of a sketch does not necessarily play with the unique forces of the British comedy scene. And it is even before going to the difficulties of making a live show.”

Given these challenges, importing a brand inherited as SNL may seem a bet, especially at the same time When the British television industry vacillates.

However, the fortune of the American show have held this decade relatively firmEven if the notes are well below the pre-stress era.

Vulture noted that SNL has an average of 8.4 million weekly viewers, surpassing all the other end -of -evening programs combined. It is also a better series of entertainment from US Network TV among adults aged 18 to 49.

“You rarely hear anyone who wonders if SNL” will survive “, only how Michaels will pass,” wrote journalist Josef Adalian. “Linear television can fight for your life, but SNL seems safe.”

Above all, the sketch format lends itself perfectly at the age of social media, being easily digestible on digital platforms. According to the economistOnline SNL clips are on average around 216 million views per episode on Tiktok, X and Youtube. Of course, these viewers do not look live, but the contents undoubtedly live.

Previous attempts to translate American late evening shows in the United Kingdom often had trouble.

However, in the 1980s, Saturday Live – renowned Friday Night Live – later ran for Four Seasons and helped the careers of Ben Elton, Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall, while the 11 -hour show of Channel 4 gave pauses to Ricky Gervais and Sacha Baron Cohen.

For the producer of British comedy veteran Jimmy Mulville, whose company Hat Trick Productions has made shows, notably Have I Got News for you and which is the line anyway ?, The opportunity to develop new talents will be one of the key prints for Sky, despite the risks.

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

He says that producers will have to constitute the right team of writers and artists.

“If it is well produced, I am no reason to see why it should not succeed,” explains Mulville, who co-host Insiders: The TV Podcast.

He recently took the longtime news panel show of the BBC. An American talented agent warned that the show was “too British” to work through the pond, he recalls.

“I said,” Yes, but I’m going to write it by Americans and interpreted by Americans for Americans. “”

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

Indeed, being “Live from London” will not be enough for himself to succeed, and Snl UK will have to feel like a really British comedy creation and not just an imitation warmed by American success.