When Shane Gillis hosted SNL his monologue sparked controversy and SNL UK was quick to respond.
A week later, SNL UK’s Ania Magliano clapped back at the comments during the UK counterpart’s Weekend Update segment.
But what does this say about the difference in the UK and US comedy circles?
It is easy to use this issue to completely divide the UK and US comedy scenes. But it is a much more complicated issue than that, even just due to the fact that SNL UK is still owned by American producers.
Oxford based comic Alex Farrow, of Jericho Comedy, notes that both “American and British comedy is huge. It’s vast.”
He also pointed out that “There will be so many Americans working on the live circuits at the absolute cutting edge of political action.”
But the decision to hire Shane Gillis to host is an interesting one. Gillis was fired from the SNL writing staff back in 2019 for homophobic comments made on his podcast. So why was he hired to host, and for the third time since his firing?
“People know that controversy sells, what’s why Shane’s back.” Farrow said. “There is definitely pressure, and I feel it myself sometimes, to be more political in the clips put out, because they get more views.”
With sketch comedy being so expensive to produce there is an need to draw in audiences. According to Collider, the entertainment magazine, SNL UK reached 116,000 viewers on their most recent episode and is becoming an established programme within British broadcasting, so may not currently feel the need to hire controversial figures like Gillis to draw in viewers. But Farrow suggested that in the future this could happen, “when the economics of things dictate it.”
Farrow also said that the response from the UK indicates less that the entire UK comedy scene is more left leaning and more about where the comics on SNL UK are discovered.
“I think most comedy is centre right on the political spectrum, so that tends to counter most peoples expectations.”
“Because left wing comedy asks us to change something, that means we notice it.” He notes that this is across the board and not exclusive to America.
He suggests that the left leaning appearance of SNL UK is more to do with the fact that most of the comics on it were likely launched by the Edinburgh Fringe.
“What the UK has that the US doesn't, which will be a huge influence on its output is the Edinburgh Fringe festival.
“It is an arts festival with all the political things that comes with that. So very left.” Farrow says.
“So I imagine every single one of those cast members was a part of it and some of their success is to do in part with being discovered or supported there.”