'SNL UK' just one example of cross-pollination between American, English comedic sensibilities

SAM DINGMAN: A recent "Saturday Night Live" cold open lampooned UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s complex relationship with [President] Donald Trump.

[CLIP OF "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" PLAYS]

If it sounds like that bit hit particularly hard with the audience, that’s because it was part of the new UK edition of "SNL," which launched earlier this year, with a cast of British comedians putting their own spin on many of "SNL’s" signature sketches — the politically-charged cold open, for example, and their own version of "Weekend Update."

The Show’s culture expert Amanda Kehrberg says this is just one example of a recent burst of cross-pollination between American and English comedic sensibilities. Kehrberg joined The Show.

Full conversation

SAM DINGMAN: So what stood out to you about this move across the pond for SNL this.

AMANDA KEHRBERG: This was so interesting because I think people were really expecting British audiences to hate it. I have loved listening to reporters on the scene in London reporting back on what people thought about the "SNL UK" premiere, and being, like, kind of confused, as they say, they kind of liked it, or at least thought it was OK.

I mean, there was a Guardian headline that said: "It didn't fail, and it could have been worse." Which is considered a rave from British audiences like this. ... This was really an incredible debut for something that I think people were concerned about whether it would actually work with UK audiences.

Tina Fey hosted the first episode, joking about how nobody would do it from until they saw whether it was going to do well. Lorne Michaels helped them develop it, and he said recently in an interview that he thinks it's the cooler, smarter, more original version of the show right now — which makes sense.

I think what's so exciting about this is it kind of reminds you of last year there was a movie, "Saturday Night Live," about the first night of the US. "Saturday Night Live." ... And you get that raw energy from this new cast. They're so young, they're so hungry, and so it's more subversive. There's more experimentation. It's just — it's been really, really exciting.

DINGMAN: See, yeah, this is a very interesting spin on this, Amanda, I think because, you know, speaking broadly, of course, we have this idea that the British comedic sensibility is different than the American comedic sensibility. American comedy tends to be, I don't know, a little bit more broad, a little bit more, I don't know, slapstick. And British comedy perhaps a little bit more dry, a little bit more erudite intellectual. So it's interesting that this American container for comedy is resonating so well with British audiences, but it sounds like you're saying that's partially because that's partially because the cast has this kind of vim and vigor of getting to try something for the first time.

KEHRBERG: I think so. I think it's fun to see kind of classic "SNL" people like Dan Aykroyd react to what seeing these young people on on the "Weekend Update" set at "SNL UK," like looks and feels like they kind of felt in the '70s, like it's, you know, I'd follow a lot of British comedy, and I only knew two, I think, of the people that they pulled for the cast. I mean, these are, again, young, hungry comics.

One of them, I quote a lot, because it's the Scottish comic that says you can take any word with a Scottish accent and it will sound a little bit like a derogatory slang. [LAUGHS] And he's right, but they're, yeah, they're just not pulling their punches. And I think another thing that you know, the Lorne Michaels character in the movie, said that originally, "SNL" was designed to feel like a night in New York City. It's supposed to have that energy. So that leads us to ask: What does a night in London feel like? And I think from watching "SNL UK," you can swear. [LAUGHS]

Ayana Hamiliton

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DINGMAN: ... In looking for clips to play in the intro to this segment, I was watching some of their jokes about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, yeah, they are not safe for the radio.

KEHRBERG: They are not safe for our network television. [LAUGHS]

DINGMAN: So let's look at another example of this Amanda that you have talked about, which is the British show "Taskmaster" is being hosted this season by —

KEHRBERG: So yeah, Kumail Nanjiani, one of the contestants, one of the contestants. ... So there are five contestants, and he is technically the third American. But. Really, really, the biggest star power they've ever had on the show. And Kumail says this is his favorite TV program. So it's so cute when you see him on social media saying, like, "I get to watch myself on my favorite show. Like, please, please, Americans, check this out."

But he had to, like, beg to be on the show. He had to talk to his lawyer, who was like, I don't know why you would want to do this. You're going to make pittance — which is true, but it is such a fun show. It's basically just a bunch of people doing very simple tasks, and they're asked to do something like, you know, even just putt an egg across a green or just or make a short film ... So it's all about kind of the creative process that you bring to it and and how it can go wrong — and very right.

DINGMAN: Well, presumably, part of the play for "Taskmaster" here, and having an American comedian like Kumail on the show, is that it'll make more American audiences watch it. What do you feel is sort of quintessentially British about the show that might appeal to American audiences.

KEHRBERG: I think that it speaks to the way that British humor loves class differences, and loves playing with authority. And the host, Greg Davis, is so kind of tyrannical in a really fun way. And getting to see celebrities experience that kind of tyranny and that kind of authority — and also fail doing very, very simple, silly things — is so fun.

So there's just kind of a skewering of celebrity culture. I think that happens, and it makes them seem like real human beings, which is what they talked about in the premiere episode of "Series 21" last week was that they're like, "Hey, we just, we just come over here, and you have to just be a person."

And then they're kind of joking about, "Oh, but Kumail is so famous. He's so famous." So there's a steering of kind of fan culture, celebrity culture that I think is super, super fun and would speak to American audiences. And there's also in the speaking of American versus British comedy, American comedy loves character growth, and British comedy doesn't care. And so it's also getting to see people just kind of be themselves.

DINGMAN: Well, we thank our culture expert, Amanda Kehrberg, for being herself on the air as always. Amanda, thank you very much.

KEHRBERG: Thank you so much, Sam.