Performing together on Saturday Night Live is amazing, say comedians

"I've never known fear like when I was stepping out on to the studio floor for that first ever one, knowing that we were going to be live in five minutes," says comedian George Fouracres, one of the 11-strong cast of Saturday Night Live UK.

The comic has described being part of the transatlantic version of the long-running US hit as both "a dream job" and a "terrifying" step into the unknown.

Fouracres, from Willenhall, performs alongside Wolverhampton's Celeste Dring, who said: "In a way you're so vulnerable, because you're going out live [and] some of the sketches are being rewritten right until the second you go live."

"In a way we had this big institution behind us; SNL US is massive and has been for a long time," she added.

"In another sense, it's like a bit of an experiment, all these relatively unknown names going into this new venture. So I think we just feel really lucky and glad that people have got behind us."

Largely welcomed by critics, each show, which airs on Sky, is performed in front of a studio audience and features a celebrity guest host and live music.

With material being rewritten up until the last moment, the performers have become accustomed to relying on cue cards, Dring explained.

"You really rely on each other and in a sense that fosters a lot of goodwill and it makes us quite close."

Fouracres was in recent Netflix drama film Steve, while Dring is best known for roles in BBC comedies Lazy Susan and This Country.

As well as growing up minutes apart, the pair both attended the same school before moving on to Cambridge University and have since worked together a couple of times.

"To be able to do this together is amazing," Fouracres said.

When they were flown out to New York last December to watch the US version of the show, they talked a lot about growing up in the West Midlands.

"I hope I've been, for many years, banging the drum about how amazing a place it is that we come from and how we don't get enough love," Fouracres added.

"So to be able to do that on that platform, and to just show the world how amazing a people we are. We am."

“It is quite a unique experience in the industry to come where we come from," Dring said.

"However loose a grip we feel we've got on our careers, we are here and that is quite rare."

After a week-long break, SNL UK will be back on TV screens on Saturday at 22:00 BST.

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