The UK version of Saturday Night Live officially premiered last night, and to help get it over with the general public, the show decided to bring in a ringer during Tina Fey’s monologue. Because she’s American and because Americans often need the British stamp of approval to get over with British audiences, they knew they’d need a little extra something. So, they turned to the Irishman who has been doing it for decades: Graham Norton.
The popular comedian and talk show host joined Fey during the second half of her monologue in order to hilariously help her. He brought up how much British television she watched as a child and gave her a series of rapid-fire shows to impersonate. From Monty Python to Fawlty Towers to East Enders, she rolled off a half dozen or so in quick succession to the delight of the crowd. You can watch the sequence below…
They played up the pandering angle with Norton, but those who watch the American version of Saturday Night Live won’t be shocked to see the other celebrities in the audience. That Q&A style monologue featuring unexpected favorites in the crowd is used on a semi-regular basis, and it’s always an easy hit with fans who love seeing who might pop up next. This time we got Nicola Coughlan and Michael Cera, but the British-centric possibilities are really endless.
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Ultimately, that’s the rub here. We know the Saturday Night Live format works. It has been churning out popular sketch comedy for more than fifty years, and it has produced dozens of stars who have gone on to have huge Hollywood careers. There’s a long history of sketch comedy in Britain, but for SNL UK to work, it needs to feel British. It needs to be funny to British people in a uniquely British way.
Reviews have been mixed on whether the first episode was able to do that. There are numerous tweets from celebrities, journalists and members of the general public talking about how episode one was better than expected. There was certainly a British flair to it all and a lot of deep cut references and celebrity impersonations that were clearly conceived and written by a British writing staff. That being said, there are also plenty of tweets from viewers talking about how they didn’t enjoy the show or felt the reboot would never work over the long haul.
The initial plan for SNL UK is to give it an eight episode run. Like the American version, each episode will feature a different celebrity host. Now that Tina Fey had her turn, we’re getting Jamie Dornan and Riz Ahmed. The rest of the hosts will be announced at a later date. I’m optimistic it’s going to work, but we’ll see.
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