Today marks the 25th anniversary of Saturday Night Live’s legendary “More Cowbell” sketch, but the French might tell you it’s been barely over 8 years. That’s because the sketch was recreated on the French version of SNL during its first—and only—episode on January 5, 2017.
The Le Saturday Night Live version did not star Christopher Walken or Will Ferrell. Instead, the show’s host, comedian Gad Elmaleh played Ferrell’s cowbell-clanging character, while French actor Gérard Darmon cameoed in the Walken role. Gone too was the ill-fitting shirt that famously exposed Ferrell’s belly.
Le Saturday Night Live made a number of funny choices before it even got off the ground. While its American counterpart thrives on weekly bursts of writing sketches from scratch, the French adaptation was envisioned as a series of specials, with the plan to produce only 3-4 per year. What’s more, some of its material was directly adapted from the American version. Oh, and the show aired on a Thursday night.
Weeks later, Elmaleh recounted his experience hosting the show on Conan, joking to O’Brien that the French SNL “stole” the Cowbell sketch before showing a clip of the adapted skit.
After the French “More Cowbell” sketch, Elmaleh (still in costume) returned to accompany the episode’s musical guest on cowbell for a performance that closed out the episode. It was the last anyone would see of the ill-fated Le Saturday Night Live—a show the French apparently did not have a fever for.
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