Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels has laid out his expectations for SNL UK, saying the British spin-off should be “cooler” than the American show.
The Sky One sketch series premiered on March 21, with a new cast of British comedians performing skits around political and cultural stories. Hosts thus far have included Tina Fey and Jack Whitehall, while Kasabian and Wolf Alice performed as music guests.
Lorne Michaels is one of TV’s most prestigious figures, having created Saturday Night Live in 1975 and run the show ever since. He has also produced movies based on characters from the series, such as The Blues Brothers and Wayne’s World.
Lorne Michaels shares his vision for “Saturday Night Live U.K.” pic.twitter.com/o7CDUvK14X
— Variety (@Variety) April 15, 2026
At the Tuesday (April 14) premiere for the documentary Lorne in L.A., Michaels revealed his vision for the show. “My design for it was that it would be the cooler of the two shows, and it would be the thing they beat us up with. That it’s smarter, funnier, more original, and it had to be that,” he said (via Variety). “It had to be its own thing. It couldn’t be an imitation of what we do.”
He added that he is in contact “all the time” with the show’s producers, but clarified: “it has to be their show because I can tell you how I would do it — I’ve been doing it for 50 years, and it’s pretty well known how I would do it — [but] you have to do it your ways.”
The presenters for the next two episodes of SNL UK were confirmed recently, with the show returning on April 25 after a brief hiatus with Nicola Coughlan as host and Foo Fighters debuting as the first non-British music guests. The following week, Aimee Lou Wood will be hosting, with MEEK appearing as music guest.
The show hasn’t been afraid to reference current headlines, with a promo for Jack Whitehall’s episode poking fun at the recent Kanye West Wireless Festival controversy.
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