Tina Fey To Front Saturday Night Live UK As First Guest Hosts Are Confirmed

Saturday Night Live UK will finally be hitting our screens this weekend – with the show’s first guest hosts and musical performers having now been announced.

Ahead of the series’ premiere on Saturday night, Sky has confirmed that SNL legend Tina Fey will be the UK spin-off’s very first presenter.

The premiere is in safe hands, as Tina worked as the head writer on the American version of SNL between 1997 and 2006. She has since gone on to host the US show six more times.

She will be joined by Brit Award winners Wet Leg as SNL UK’s inaugural musical guest.

Following Tina’s appearance as host, Fifty Shades Of Grey actor Jamie Dornan will be hosting the second episode, with Brit Award winners Wolf Alice joining him as the musical act.

Episode three will then be hosted by Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed, with Kasabian serving as musical guests.

Lorne Michaels, who created SNL in 1975, will also work as the UK show’s executive producer, along with a team of 20 writers and a regular cast of 11 comedians, which includes Taskmaster alum Emma Sidi and Ania Magliano, Black Ops star Hammed Animashaun and TikTok fave Jack Shep.

SNL UK will follow the same format as the long-running American version, in which a new host each week performs sketches alongside the regular cast in front of a live studio audience.

Written the week of the filming, all 75-minute episodes will feature an opening monologue from the host, sketches, live performances from the musical act and a British take on SNL’s satirical news segment, Weekend Update.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Show, one of the show’s producers, James Longman, said he hoped to offer some joy to viewers during “rough times”.

“It’s a perfect time for this kind of show. The world is rough out there at the moment, so it’s a really good time to laugh,” James said this morning, hinting that the show would feature plenty of topical and satirical laughs. “There’s so many things to be funny about, and so it’s just finding the right angle for us. The key for us is to be funny.”

SNL UK is due to begin this Saturday (March 21) on Sky and Now TV, and will run for six episodes.