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

For five decades, the phrase “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” has boldly opened episodes of Saturday Night Live, with its tried and tested mix of topical sketch comedy, celebrity cameos and big-name musical guests.

Now, the stateside staple is to come live from London after Sky announced plans for a “star-studded” UK spin-off, fronted by British comedic talent, to launch next year.

Overseen by the US original show’s creator Lorne Michaels, now 80, the broadcaster is promising the same “live, fast-paced style” as its American cousin.

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

Famed for its ever-revolving cast, Joe Piscopo of the 1980s cohort summed it up in a documentary marking the show’s 50th anniversary: “They took sketch comedy to a whole other level,” he said. “Comedy slowly became rock ‘n’ roll.”

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

“I don’t think you can underestimate that heritage when accounting for its current success,” says the Guardian’s TV and comedy writer Rachel Aroesti. “Which is something the UK version obviously won’t be able to emulate.”

The heritage is one reason why the show still attracts major young stars like Timothee Chalamet, who grew up watching even as linear TV audiences have dropped sharply in the streaming age.

“In the US, the guests’ involvement is often newsworthy in itself – they also know their presence will generate a lot of publicity, so it’s a win-win situation,” Aroesti adds.

“I would be surprised if the UK version is able to attract the same calibre of guest.”

The Atlantic writer Helen Lewis says the general industry reaction has been that commissioning a UK version is a “courageous” move – wishing the team luck with the “difficult proposition”.

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

The US SNL budget will be far bigger than UK TV norm, paying for a large cast and a team of writers working to the wire to keep jokes current.

“In the American version, it’s a very expensive format, having a writers’ room and keeping a cast of actors on retainer, essentially, the whole time. That’s really expensive,” Lewis told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.

The US comedy culture is also different, Lewis believes.

“The humour can sometimes be much more slapsticky. Quite a lot of the time, Americans struggle with British humour because they think we’re extremely mean.”

Comedy writer Jack Bernhardt agrees that there are different comedic traditions. UK sketch groups often form through friendships and showcase their talent at the Edinburgh Fringe, whereas many US comedians train at improv and sketch clubs, specifically honing their skills for shows like SNL.

Bernhardt says these differences “can’t necessarily be fixed by commissioning the UK version of SNL – it’s an entire comedy culture that would need to shift”.

“That’s not to say one can’t do the other,” he adds. “Just that this version of a sketch show isn’t necessarily playing to the unique strengths of the UK comedy scene. And that’s even before we get into the difficulties of doing a live show.”

Given these challenges, importing a legacy brand name like SNL may seem a gamble, especially at a time when the UK TV industry is faltering.

However, the US show’s fortunes have held relatively firm this decade, even if ratings are well below the pre-streaming era.

Vulture found that SNL averages 8.4 million weekly viewers, outperforming all other late-night shows combined. It’s also US network TV’s top entertainment series among adults aged 18 to 49.

“You rarely hear anyone asking whether SNL will ‘survive’, only how once Michaels moves on,” wrote reporter Josef Adalian. “Linear TV may be fighting for its life, yet SNL seems safe.”

Crucially, the sketch format lends itself perfectly to social media age, being easily digestible on digital platforms. According to the Economist, online SNL clips are averaging about 216 million views per episode on TikTok, X and YouTube. Sure, these viewers are not watching live, but the content undoubtedly lives.

Previous attempts to translate US late-night shows to the UK have often struggled.

However, in the 1980s, Saturday Live – later renamed Friday Night Live – ran for four seasons and helped the careers of Ben Elton, Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall, while Channel 4’s The 11 O’Clock Show gave breaks to Ricky Gervais and Sacha Baron Cohen.

For veteran British comedy producer Jimmy Mulville, whose company Hat Trick Productions has made shows including Have I Got News For You and Whose Line is it Anyway?, the opportunity to develop new talent will be one of the key draws for Sky, despite the risks.

“If Sky get this right, they’ll create new stars and from that they can spin-off other shows with those performers,” he explains. “These shows can be fantastic, they can go on for years, and they can show off new talent all the time.”

He says the producers will need to assemble the right team of writers and performers.

“If it’s well-produced, I’ve no reason to see why it shouldn’t be successful,” says Mulville, who co-hosts Insiders: The TV Podcast.

He recently took the BBC’s long-running topical panel show Have I Got News For You to the US, where it has been commissioned for a second season by CNN. One US talent agent warned that the show was “too British” to work across the pond, he recalls.

“I said, ‘Yes it is, but I’m going to get it written by Americans and performed by Americans for Americans’.”

The reverse will be true for SNL. “In the UK, you’re going to have it written by British writers with British performers for a British audience. So it’s not an American show any more.”

Indeed, being “live from London” won’t be enough on its own to succeed, and SNL UK will need to feel like a truly British comedy creation and not just a reheated imitation of an American hit.