{"id":835109,"date":"2026-03-19T00:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/835109\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T00:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:27:14","slug":"snl-uks-james-longman-on-sky-sketch-shows-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/835109\/","title":{"rendered":"‘SNL UK’s James Longman On Sky Sketch Show’s Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWe\u2019re just days out from the launch of SNL UK<\/a>, and hype\u2019s building in the UK.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a Sky event in London this evening, the show\u2019s lead producer (read showrunner) James Longman<\/a> was effusive in his praise for the Universal Television Alternative Studio UK and Broadway Video show\u2019s young cast ahead of its launch on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\n\tLongman, the exec producer of The Late Late Show with James Corden, explained how the cast had gone through a vigorous selection process that began with submitting a five-minute tape, followed by a live showcase, a \u201csilent\u201d studio audition and finally another five-minute performance, this time in front of a camera with no laughter track.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe successful crew were ultimately Hammed Animashaun<\/a>,\u00a0Ayoade Bamgboye<\/a>,\u00a0Larry Dean<\/a>,\u00a0Celeste Dring<\/a>,\u00a0George Fouracres<\/a>,\u00a0Ania Magliano<\/a>,\u00a0Annabel Marlow<\/a>,\u00a0Al Nash<\/a>,\u00a0Jack Shep<\/a>,\u00a0Emma Sidi<\/a>, and\u00a0Paddy Young<\/a>, who are now approaching the biggest moment of their careers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese guys stood up and stood out,\u201d said Longman during a short on-stage interview, accompanied by Magliano and Young, who it was revealed will be paired for a key sketch.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe audience at the event in central London were given a sneak peak of the SNL UK production\u2019s behind the scenes footage, with various scenes paying homage to American counterparts (no spoilers). \u201cWe\u2019ve borrwed the U.S. house, only we\u2019re making our own rooms within it,\u201d said Longman in a talk this evening.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier in the showcase, Sky CEO Dana Strong called SNL UK \u201ca major investment in the UK comedy ecosystem,\u201d and claimed Sky was \u201cBringing one of the world\u2019s most iconic shows and making it British.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first-ever\u00a0SNL UK launches on\u00a0British channel Sky\u00a0One at 10 p.m. GMT (2 p.m. PT) and Peacock the following day. Tina Fey<\/a> will host, followed by Riz Ahmed then Jamie Dornan in the guest host\u2019s chair for the show that we first reported was in the works nearly five years ago. <\/p>\n

\n\tBuzz has been building for\u00a0SNL UK\u00a0all week and teasers will be dropping through the week as Sky builds hype for the show, which kicks off with a six-episode order. In the U.S., the show will play on Peacock<\/a>. Fey was unveiled<\/a> in a teaser last night.<\/p>\n

\n\tLed by Daran Jonno Johnson, the writing team features Al Roberts, Ayo Adenekan, Bella Hull, Celya AB, Charlie Skelton, Chris Cantrill, Ellie Fulcher, Gr\u00e1inne Maguire, Hari Kanth, Humphrey Ker, James Farmer, Jonno Johnson, Joseph Moore, Keith Akushie, Laura Claxton, Lorna Rose Treen, Louis Waymouth, Nathan Foad, Omar Badawy, and Omodara Olatunji.<\/p>\n

\n\tSNL UK\u00a0is produced by\u00a0Universal Television Alternative Studio<\/a>\u00a0with Lorne Michaels\u2019\u00a0Broadway Video<\/a>.\u00a0SNL UK\u00a0was commissioned by Phil Edgar-Jones, Sky Commissioning Executive Lisa Clark, and Cecile Frot-Coutaz, who serves as CEO of Sky Studios & Chief Content Officer for Sky. Universal Television Alternative Studio\u2019s UK Productions is overseen by Managing Director Helen Kruger Bratt. Shanna Baynard will serve as Executive in Charge of Production, with Andy Charles Smith as the Lead Producer for UTAS UK Productions, alongside Sam Salter as Production Executive.<\/p>\n

\n\tSky\u2019s Up Next event showcased upcoming shows such as Meantime and Inheritance and films such as Blood on the Snow, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom and Animol, the directorial debut of Adolescence actor Ashley Walters.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this evening, we were first with the news that Sky had acquired<\/a> the second season of Heated Rivalry, new Hudson Williams show Yaga and A24 and Universal drama Superfakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re just days out from the launch of SNL UK, and hype\u2019s building in the UK. At a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[77,239414,238530,27671,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-835109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-james-longman","10":"tag-snl-uk","11":"tag-tina-fey","12":"tag-tv","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116253009442979026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}