# What can you tell me about the foreign versions of Saturday Night Live that have run in those countries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** talk-variety-show\ **Created:** [November 11, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-tell-me-about-the-foreign-versions-of-saturday-night-live-that-have-run-in-those-countries/992996 "2023-11-11T19:51:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-tell-me-about-the-foreign-versions-of-saturday-night-live-that-have-run-in-those-countries/992996/1 "2023-11-11T19:51:17Z")
Have any of you watched the foreign versions of SNL that have played in those countries? These are not the episodes of the American SNL being shown on their channels with translations if necessary. These are not shows in their country that vaguely resemble SNL but not enough that they could be sued for plagiarism. These are shows that played in their countries which are so much like the American SNL that they were surely paying the SNL owners for the rights. The shows have openings with introductions of the cast that are just like the American ones. The Weekend Update is also the same. These versions each ran for several years from as early as 1993 to as late as the present: > **[Saturday Night Live | International versions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live#International_versions)** > > Because SNL has been a huge success in the United States, channels in other countries have created their own versions of the show, including Germany, Egypt, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Canada, Finland, France, Italy, and Poland. > In the mid-late 1980s Channel Four, in association with London Weekend Television, created a show for British audiences called Saturday Live and Friday Night Live, the repeat version was entitled "Saturday Almost Live". It was based on the SNL format but had no di... As you can see, there have been 13 such foreign versions, one of which (the South Korean one) is still running. Have you watched any of them for a significant amount of time? What did you think of them? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-tell-me-about-the-foreign-versions-of-saturday-night-live-that-have-run-in-those-countries/992996/2 "2023-11-11T21:21:15Z")
RTL Samstag Nacht (ran from 1993-98, though I thought it had been longer) was great, though I’ve never known before that it was a German version of SNL. It had some of the funniest and most talented comedians of their time and was very popular (some, like Olli Dittrich and Wigald Boning, still are going strong and popular). I don’t remember changing hosts or musical guests though, which I understand are staples of the original show. They had a house band, though. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-tell-me-about-the-foreign-versions-of-saturday-night-live-that-have-run-in-those-countries/992996/3 "2023-11-12T01:28:43Z")
I found one full episode of _RTL Samstag Nacht_ which is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3eLfnNzNKQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3eLfnNzNKQ) on YouTube. It was the earliest of the foreign SNLs, so perhaps they hadn’t completely worked out what to keep and what to change in the program. Note that the introduction of the cast (which starts at about 1:42) has night scenes from a city over which the cast is introduced. There is something a few seconds long beforehand which is apparently the equivalent of the cold opening sketch. There is an equivalent of Weekend Update (which starts at about 19:54). There is a musical number which starts at about 46:08. It’s hard to tell if that’s a real musical group playing or a sketch in which they are parodying a musical group. There is the closing with all the cast coming out together at about 57:35: ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-tell-me-about-the-foreign-versions-of-saturday-night-live-that-have-run-in-those-countries/992996/4 "2023-11-12T02:00:08Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There is a musical number which starts at about 46:08. It’s hard to tell if that’s a real musical group playing or a sketch in which they are parodying a musical group That was the great, inimitable Helge Schneider, a German legend of comedy and Jazz, comedian, composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, author, actor and director. No, it wasn’t a parody, this is his act, and he didn’t belong to the cast of Samstag Nacht but was a guest. I also didn’t remember that the shows had changing hosts and guests, but in this episode they had Mike Krüger, a comedian that didn’t belong to the cast, and Christina Plate, a “serious” actor who wasn’t known for funny roles. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2023, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-tell-me-about-the-foreign-versions-of-saturday-night-live-that-have-run-in-those-countries/992996/5 "2023-11-12T02:25:23Z")
I wrote in the OP that the various series each lasted “several years”, but really they ran anywhere from one episode to several years. At [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULBkCyTqQI0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULBkCyTqQI0) on YouTube you can find the single French episode. They didn’t even bother to translate the title. Note the night scenes in Paris with the cast names over them at the beginning. The Wikipedia entry for this show says that the intention was that there would be just three or four episodes each year rather than once each week (except for a summer vacation). But it appears that they decided after one episode to not do any more of them.