French television is taking another crack at Saturday Night Live.
Canal+, which airs SNL’s U.S. edition, is readying Le Saturday Night Live français, its own official adaptation of NBC’s long-running sketch comedy franchise. European production powerhouse Mediawan is producing, with Jean-Pascal Zadi currently slated to host the initial installment.
The project is expected to launch this fall as a single special rather than a full episode order. Canal+ could be forgiven for being cautious: France’s last official SNL adaptation ended after one night.
That version aired in 2017 on M6, hosted by Gad Elmaleh live from Paris, and is best remembered stateside for its French-language re-staging of “More Cowbell.” Additional installments of the series were reportedly planned, but never made it to air.
The new Canal+ version already has one intriguing name attached. Zadi, a French actor, writer, director, and comedian, is known internationally for Netflix’s political comedy Represent, but his more relevant credit may be Kôkôrikô!, a Canal+ sketch special he co-created in 2023.
That special used absurdist humor and self-deprecation to tackle racism, sexism, homophobia, and other societal tensions in contemporary France, giving Zadi a recent track record in the kind of fast-moving, topical sketch comedy a French SNL would need to feel native rather than imported.
Canal+ also has its own history with SNL-inspired comedy. In the early 1990s, the channel aired Les Nuls, l’émission, the cult sketch series created by Alain Chabat, Chantal Lauby, and Dominique Farrugia. Though not an official adaptation, the show drew heavily from the SNL template, with weekly sketches, celebrity guests, musical performances, fake commercials, parodies, and a mock newscast.
The show’s new French adaptation comes as the SNL brand is seeing renewed traction internationally. Saturday Night Live UK launched on Sky and NOW this spring, earning strong critical notices and a quick second-season renewal.
There’s no word yet on an exact airdate for Le Saturday Night Live français’ debut. Mediawan says the adaptation will arrive during France’s upcoming fall TV season.
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