The multimillion dollar Saturday Night Live UK gamble

百万美元的周六夜现场英国冒险

The Indicator from Planet Money

2026-03-23

9 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Live from London, it’s Saturday Night? Saturday Night Live made its UK debut over the weekend after a well-hyped promotional campaign. Will this all-American sketch show translate to British audiences? We examine SNL’s multi-million dollar gamble.  Come see Planet Money live on stage in April! 12 cities. Details and tix here: https://tix.to/pm-book-tour.  Related episodes: Why Paramount went looney tunes for Warner Bros.  For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.   To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below: See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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单集文稿 ...

  • This is The Indicator from Planet Money.

  • I'm Waylon Wong, and here with me today is British journalist Tala Vistrom.

  • Hey, Waylon.

  • Great to be here.

  • Great to have you.

  • Now, if you've been anywhere near a TV set in the past 50 years, you've certainly heard this familiar catchphrase.

  • What you've never heard is this.

  • Live from London, it's Saturday Night.

  • Wow, yes, plot twist.

  • That is, until this past weekend when America's iconic late-night sketch show,

  • Saturday Night Live, made its British debut.

  • And like British humour itself, I couldn't help but be cynical about the prospect.

  • I mean, how do you copy an institution as American as apple pie and measure up to a behemoth that's racked up 93 Emmys?

  • The answer to that is more cowbell.

  • Today on the show, the multi-million dollar gamble that is SNL UK.

  • In HBO's industry, finance gets the dramatic treatment.

  • Maybe too dramatic.

  • All of these people would have gotten fired from the bank six times over.

  • The things they get away with.

  • In a new bonus episode, Planet Money talks industry.