Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan and Riz Ahmed first three guest hosts of UK Saturday Night Live | Saturday Night Live
Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan and Riz Ahmed have been named as the first three guest hosts of the UK spin-off of Saturday Night Live.
The first episode of the long-awaited British version of the US late-night comedy show will air live on Sky on March 21.
SNL’s famously rapid turnaround process will be recreated in the UK version, with the show being written and rehearsed during the week it airs before being performed live to a studio audience in London.
Each episode will feature an opening monologue, topical skits, live music, and a British take on SNL’s satirical news segment, Weekend Update.
The first three bands to kick off the new show will be Isle of Wight indie band Wet Leg, Brit award-winning Wolf Alice and rock legends Kasabian.
After spending years as a writer and cast member on SNL starting in 1997, American comedian Tina Fey (55) became the show’s first female head writer and hosted six times.
Lorne Michaels, who created SNL in 1975, will executive produce the show in the UK, alongside a team of 20 writers and a regular cast of 11 comedians.
The cast’s age range is 26 to 36, and executive producer James Longman said he wanted “a new generation on the big screen”. The full cast of the film includes Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.
Although the cast are far from household names, most are coming off the usual routes to UK comedy success, including nominations for the Cambridge Footlights and Edinburgh spin-off awards.
SNL has launched many comedy careers in the US over its 50-year history, including original cast members John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and later Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell.
The Guardian went behind the scenes with the team of artists and writers who spent the last month preparing locations for the sketches and working on each other’s material.
Cast member and stand-up comedian Bamgboye described it as “finding the alchemy”. Actor and TikToker Shep said it was like “comedy boarding school.”
Johnson, the show’s head writer, said: “The number of funny, talented writers we have to employ on SNL UK is ridiculous.”
“They all make me dizzy coming to work every day,” he added. “I couldn’t be more lucky than I could have imagined to have done this show together.”
The first episode of SNL UK airs on March 21 at 10pm on Sky One. The series will also be available on the Now streaming service.
