Tina Fey isn’t against making a trip across the pond for England’s new Saturday Night Live—presuming she can get it expensed.
Speaking with GoldDerby, the former SNL performer and head writer suggested she’s open to paying a visit to London for the recently announced UK adaptation of SNL.
“No cameos for you, showing up over there?” GoldDerby editor-in-chief Debra Birnbaum asked Fey.
Fey was quick to reply: “Oh, if someone wants to give me a free trip to England, I’m on my way to the airport.”
While the question was hypothetical, it’s not an unlikely scenario. Fey remains closer than most to SNL creator Lorne Michaels, who is said to be playing an active role in the development of the new series as executive producer.
Picked up for a starting order of six episodes by British broadcaster Sky, SNL UK is expected to follow the format set by the American version, featuring guest hosts and musical guests alongside a core cast of British comics. According to a call for applications seen by UK outlet Broadcast, the SNL UK team is aiming to fill that cast with newcomers rather than “super established” talent. As for its plans behind the camera, Deadline reported in April that former The Late Late Show With James Corden producer James Longman was being eyed as showrunner.
Asked her thoughts on how the UK adaptation might fare, Fey noted that the show has been adapted internationally before.
“I’m curious. I mean, it’s in other parts of the world,” said Fey. Saturday Night Live has been attempted (to varying degrees of success) in 13 other countries besides England, starting with Germany in 1993. SNL UK, however, will be its first English-language adaptation.
“I am very curious to see because British humor is very different from American humor,” Fey noted. “In my limited experience, American and Australian humor is kind of the same, and British humor is weird and different. So we’ll see.”
SNL UK is expected to premiere in 2026 on Sky Max and the streaming service Now.
