The Guide #235: Live from London, it’s Saturday Night! But will SNL translate transatlantically?
This weekend, after the longest hyping up period for a British comedy in ages, Saturday Night Live UK finally launches on Sky.It arrives with a degree of divisiveness that most shows don’t usually attain until at least a few episodes in, with some people willing it on, others are convinced that it will fail.Already there’s been a note of pre-emptive schadenfreude online, with every last piece of promotional material – even a fairly innocuous advert with the letters S N and L spelt out in baked beans – pounced on as evidence that the show will be a complete bin fire.And maybe it will.I’m hopeful that SNL UK will prove better than many expect: there are some good young comics attached; some shrewd people behind the scenes (it’s heartening to see a couple of members of the great sketch group Sheeps on the writing staff); and the steely presence of original SNL creator Lorne Michaels, keeping an eye on things as exec producer.
But equally, this is a hell of a high-wire act.Putting on a live comedy show every week is a daunting enough prospect; but add to that the reputational weight of the original SNL – arguably the US’s most famous comedy export – and it becomes something else altogether.And that’s one of the concerns about this new UK version: that it will be trapped between the comic traditions of its forerunner and those of the UK; a transatlantic mishmash that appeals to no one.So, how to avoid this? Well, SNL UK could take some pointers from another comedy airing the very same week: series two of Last One Laughing UK.OK, in fairness, there’s probably not that much SNL UK can really learn from Last One Laughing: one is a scripted variety show broadcast once a week; the other is, in essence, a comedy reality show, largely unscripted and edited in post-production.
It’s like comparing apples and ferrets.But something both shows share is that they are franchises that started out elsewhere: Last One Laughing is based on a Japanese format that has been exported to 30 countries.Each version has the same essential template: chuck a load of comedians in a room together for six hours, remove them if they laugh and the last one not to do so is the winner.On to that template each version of Last One Laughing adds its own national comedic style: the Philippine version looks and feels dramatically different to the Canadian version, for example.Each iteration primarily exists for the audience of the country it is made in.
“The Irish version is so Irish,” Graham Norton told the New York Times for a piece on the format’s success.“Lots of the references in the show are deep-dive Irish references, things that a UK audience wouldn’t even understand.”The UK version of Last One Laughing, which is on Prime Video, has a specificity of its own, created by its cast of comics.In its first series, the crackpot surrealism of Bob Mortimer rubbed up against the eyebrow-cocked, literate comedy of Richard Ayoade or the raucous big-boss-girl humour of Judi Love (this time around, David Mitchell, Alan Carr, Diane Morgan and the like will create an altogether different comic chemistry).It feels telling that the biggest viral moment from series one was a mock presentation that Joe Wilkinson made about the RNLI: there’s no attempt to cater to some vague international audience, and the show is better for it.
That’s something SNL UK should be conscious of too, in order to create a bit of welcome separation from its namesake.Indeed, the last time that SNL was “adapted” for UK screens, in the form of Channel 4’s 80s series Saturday Live, it barely took anything from the original aside from the first and last words of its title.Instead, it lifted from British variety show traditions as well as the alternative comedy scene that was bubbling up at the time: its most successful weekly segment, Ben Elton’s five-minute burst of staccato, politically tinged standup, which made him a star, would have felt wildly out of place on the original SNL.Advance word suggests that SNL UK won’t blow up the format quite that much.The Weekend Update segment will be ported over, though with a more British focus, and the presence of Tina Fey as host of the first episode will definitely make the through-line between US and UK clear.
But there is a consciousness that British humour should poke through the SNL branding.We’re more “open to the absurd and maybe the trivial”, cast member Celeste Dring has said.“We’ll flirt with the darkness a bit more.” Here’s hoping they pull it off.To read the complete version of this newsletter please subscribe to receive The Guide in your inbox every Friday
Helen Goh’s recipe for peanut and blackcurrant thumbprint cookies | The sweet spot
Niki Segnit writes in The Flavour Thesaurus that, while grape jelly is the familiar partner to peanut butter in the classic PBJ, she thinks blackcurrant, with its sharper, more complex character, would be a far better match for the fatty and salty peanuts. I couldn’t agree more, though I’ll admit I’m not entirely impartial: blackcurrant is my favourite jam. Here, it’s spooned into the centre of a tender, peanut-crusted shortbread, where it bakes into a glossy, slightly chewy jewel that sits in perfect contrast to the crumbly, buttery biscuit. It’s the sort of small pleasure I find myself returning to again and again.Prep 15 min, plus chilling and cooling Cook 35 min Makes 13110g unsalted butter, at room temperature50g caster sugar¼ tsp salt 100g plain flour, sifted60g ground almonds 1 tsp vanilla extract 60g salted roasted peanuts 60g blackcurrant jamPut the butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat for two minutes on medium–high speed, until pale and creamy
Spring has officially sprung – reawaken your palate with zingy, zesty seasonal ingredients
After what felt like months and months of endless rain this winter, in the UK at least, the arrival of spring is more welcome than ever this year. It’s undeniable that a few days of sunshine and milder temperatures change everything: my mood, my palate, my dinner table (see below for my achilles heel: serveware).And to mark the change in season, the Guardian is launching a new seasonal food magazine. This Saturday will see the arrival of the Guardian Food Quarterly, for which I have showcased crab – one of my favourite spring arrivals. I have written five recipes, including a speedy, spicy crab cake banh mi with quick pickles, and a hot cheesy crab and chive dip inspired by the American south
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“We were amazed,” wrote the Spanish conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo as he beheld the extent of the Aztec empire in 1521. “Some of our soldiers even asked whether the things that we saw were not a dream.” I remember feeling a similar vertigo when I first saw the wall of agave spirits at the long-since-closed Los Angeles mezcaleria Petty Cash more than a decade ago. Agave spirits are distilled from the fermented heart (or piña) of the agave plant – not a cactus, but a succulent, like aloe vera or that thing dying on your windowsill.The Guardian’s journalism is independent
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In the early 2000s, Chris Bell, then a student at University of Colorado Boulder, followed a common path among people interested in brewing beer. He started doing so at home, then spent years working at established craft beer makers Long Trail Brewing in Vermont and Avery Brewing in Colorado before opening Call to Arms Brewing Company in 2015 in Denver.In a crowded market, the business was successful. Its More Like Bore-O-Phyll beer won a gold medal in the fresh or wet hop ale category at the 2018 World Beer Cup. A local outlet called it one of the city’s best breweries, and it had a 4
Stir-fries, crab cakes and carbonara: Georgina Hayden’s crab recipes
It’s hard not to be excited by the arrival of spring and all the produce that will soon be gracing our kitchens. Asparagus, spinach and new potatoes can’t come soon enough, but it’s not just fruit and vegetables that I count down the days for – there’s plenty of seafood to celebrate too, and in particular crab. Sweet and delicate, its freshness mirrors the arrival of brighter, sunnier days. If you’re lucky enough to pick through a fresh crab, then it needs very little in way of adornment – a squeeze of lemon perhaps, and warm bread and salty butter. Thankfully for the time-poor among us, you can also buy pots of it pre-cooked and picked, which is glorious lightly spiced in a dip or for folding through pasta
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for spaghetti with mushrooms, soft cheese and herbs | A kitchen in Rome
Before cooking something, it is never a bad idea to turn to the expert on the science of food and cooking, Harold McGee. This week, I had mushrooms, which, as he notes, are fruiting bodies, specialised structures that, encouraged by the parent body underground, force themselves up through the soil and open their umbrella-like cap so the gills or pores can release spores into passing air currents. The aim is the same as for all pushy parents: get the next generation into the world and hope they don’t get eaten in the process.I am hoping that a few million spores got out before the white and chestnut mushrooms I bought at our local supermarket were picked and packed. Mushrooms are often described as smelling and tasting earthy, but, as with most things, McGee is right
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