Asks Showstopper! co-creator Adam Meggido

Saturday Night Live, the US comedy TV show that launched the careers of many Hollywood A-listers over the last fifty years, is developing a British version to air next year.

Hosted by Sky TV, and with SNL creator Lorne Michaels, now 80, as executive producer, we are already being promised the same ‘live, fast-paced show’ that brought edgy late-night comedy-club-chaos to a worldwide audience. 

Improvisers across the UK are intrigued; could this finally be an opportunity to employ their skills in the mainstream? Can a love of making things up on the spot become a lucrative career? 

Currently, there are few professional outlets for improvisers, often confined to occasional gigs in pubs with small crowds. Improv comedy has not been successfully televised in this country since Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the artform has developed considerably since then. Might SNL UK change British improv, and might British improv have a key role to play in SNL UK?

Early indications are to the contrary. Press releases inform us that the show will be ‘star-studded’ employing well-known comedians, rather than potential up-and-comers looking for breaks, which the original SNL famously championed. (Alums include Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Kristen Wiig, Adam Sandler, Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, and oh so many others.) Meanwhile, behind the scenes, British writers will be ‘trained in the American SNL style.’ Understandable – it’s a franchise –  but will the different sensibilities of British humour be encouraged to flourish? 

How much will its ‘Britishness’ actually matter? New, young audiences and artists aren’t getting their introductions to comedy solely from the BBC as they might once have done, but instead from global platforms like YouTube and TikTok. The desire for character and connection likely outweighs any allegiance to national identity. Additionally, critics of the idea will cite that previous attempts in this country to create a show like SNL have failed.

Channel 4’s Saturday Live later renamed Friday Night Live, hosted by Ben Elton, may not have enjoyed SNL’s longevity, playing only from 1985 to 1988, but was popular nonetheless, especially as a platform for Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Julian Clary, Morwenna Banks, and most notably Harry Enfield, whose character Loadsamoney (a vulgar cash-rich decorator) encapsulated the Thatcherite era.

 It was the heyday of Spitting Image, satire and character comedy went hand-in-hand. I remember watching these shows as a teenager and all my friends would talk about them enthusiastically the next day at school. 

Other similar projects include The Eleven O’Clock Show (also Channel 4, 1998-2000) which gave mainstream TV breaks to Ricky Gervais and Sacha Baron Cohen, two of British comedy’s biggest exports. Overall, hard to argue against the idea that the late-night satirical comedy show can work in the UK, and there has certainly always been appetite for it.

But the chance for mass exposure once offered by television is now eclipsed by the opportunities of social media where one viral video clip can plug comedians into a larger market without them ever leaving their bedrooms. While it still draws upon the expertise that has made it an institution, SNL successfully embraces new media with clips regularly enjoying over 100 million views. 

We might, therefore, see shorter sketches designed less for the TV studio and more for the TikTok close up. If this favours people who are used to quickly generating content for smartphones, it would seem to favour… improvisers.

There is, of course, very little improv in SNL – it’s sketch comedy in the main - but improvised comedy nevertheless sits at its genesis. Improv was already well-established before SNL came along. American TV has a rich history of writers and performers emerging through the ranks of improv, from numerous schools and theatres, from the Compass Players of the 1950s to Second City, UCB, iO, and many others. 

And here’s the rub: British improv doesn’t have that kind of track record or connection to the mainstream. Training is still relatively new, under-funded, under-recognised, and overly influenced by American methodology.

 If British improvisers wish to play a serious role in the development of the craft, they are going to have to break free from the often mismanaged, cult-like training dominated by the US-style, and find a voice and expression of their own. There are thousands of ways to improvise. Play by one rulebook only and you will miss the Andy Kaufmans of this world. 

The limited risks and resources of TV production present another challenge. A female comedy duo that I know was recently rejected by a TV company on the grounds that they ‘already had a female double act.’ Two female double acts, alas, were one female double act too many.

TV has to broaden its thinking (good improv is less of a risk than most commissioners imagine) and here might be the biggest positive yet - a show like SNL, if successful, might trigger a change in thinking to open up opportunities beyond the show itself. 

The ‘live’ element might give commissioners more confidence to green-light improv. Perhaps it will contribute to the revival of sketch comedy, something the British have always been good at and that has sadly been less prevalent in recent years. It may be the start of a bridge between the comedy clubs, artists, writers, and mainstream TV. 

The appetite for comedy is insatiable and that is unlikely to change.

SNL has always been notoriously chaotic. The British version may need to go through its own chaos to find its audience. Hopefully, it will be allowed to do so.

• Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is at the Pleasance Courtyard Grand at 5.20pm during the Edinburgh Fringe

Published: 13 Aug 2025