{"id":14933,"date":"2026-04-15T12:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/14933\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:48:07","slug":"snl-boss-admits-uk-version-should-be-smarter-and-funnier-than-us-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/14933\/","title":{"rendered":"SNL boss admits UK version should be \u2018smarter and funnier\u2019 than US original"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IndependentCulture\"<\/p>\n

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter <\/p>\n

\"IndependentCulture\"<\/p>\n

Saturday Night Live<\/a> boss Lorne Michaels<\/a> has revealed just how high his hopes are for the UK version of the show \u2013 and let\u2019s just say, the pressure is on for the Brits. <\/p>\n

SNL UK, the first international version of the US juggernaut, launched on Sky and Now TV last month, and the inaugural episode was hosted by one of the original version\u2019s most successful alumni, Tina Fey. <\/p>\n

With three episodes having aired, Michaels has now shared his vision for the British programme, revealing his \u201cdesign for it was that it would be the cooler of the two shows\u201d. <\/p>\n

In comments first reported by Variety<\/a>, he added that SNL UK should be \u201csmarter, funnier and more original\u201d than the long-running US show. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt had to be its own thing,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t be an imitation of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichealsMicheals has been overseeing the UK show (Getty)<\/p>\n

The 81-year-old was speaking at the premiere of his documentary, Lorne, in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n

For the most part, SNL UK has had a decidedly British feel. After Fey, Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed and Jack Whitehall bravely took on hosting duties. <\/p>\n

The show is taking a break this weekend, before Bridgerton\u2019s Nicola Coughlan and Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood front the next two episodes<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Sketches have so far included send-ups of Sir Keir Starmer, David Lammy and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a>, while Weekend Update has put a satirical spin on news stories including Scott Mills\u2019 sacking and Wireless Festival\u2019s Kanye West controversy. <\/p>\n

\"'SNL‘SNL UK’ star George Fouracres as the PM (YouTube)<\/p>\n

Michaels revealed he speaks to UK showrunner James Longman and head writer Daran Jonno Johnson \u201call the time\u201d, but added: \u201cIt has to be their show because I can tell you how I would do it \u2014 I\u2019ve been doing it for 50 years, and it\u2019s pretty well known how I would do it \u2014 [but] you have to do it your ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

A six-episode SNL UK run was originally commissioned by Sky but this was extended to eight before the first instalment even aired. The sketch show has been warmly received by viewers, while critics have offered mixed reviews.<\/p>\n

The Independent\u2018s TV critic Nick Hilton argued \u201cSNL UK lacks its own spark of irreverence\u201d<\/a>. \u201cAt best it shows what it\u2019s learnt from a half-century of its New York cousin; at worst it seems like tepid cosplay,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n

Ratings-wise, SNL UK has likely been hindered by the fact it cannot be watched for free. After a promising start, with 226,000 people tuning in to the series premiere, the average viewership had dropped to 130,00 by episode three, according to BARB figures. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6855,6856,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-14933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-bestof","9":"tag-topix","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116408805220059226","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}