Ania Magliano talks SNL UK season two and anti-LGBTQ voices in comedy: ‘We do edgy in the right way’
Ania Magliano returns for SNL UK series two. (Sky)
Ahead of Saturday Night Live UK returning for season two, comedian Ania Magliano sits down for an exclusive chat about finding humour in the news and the state of today’s LGBTQ+ comedy.
When SNL UK was announced, many wondered whether Lorne Michaels’ iconic American series could translate for British audiences. Many doubted it, but the first season won over fans with Princess Diana impressions and guest hosts from Nicola Coughlan to Hannah Waddingham and Aimee Lou Wood. As SNL UK continued to find its footing, one segment consistently proved a crowd-pleaser: Weekend Update.
Weekend Update, SNL‘s longest-running recurring sketch, comments on and parodies current news events and is helmed by a news anchor duo, one of whom is 28-year-old bisexual comedian Ania Magliano. “It feels really exciting to be back; I definitely kind of trust myself a bit more,” Magliano exclusively told PinkNews the week before SNL UK returns for a second season. “Before the first one, we didn’t know if we could do it, and it didn’t feel like anyone else thought we could. It was quite nerve-wracking; it felt like kind of pulling off a heist every week.”
From working on the show and consuming so many news stories, is her relationship to the news different now? “Definitely. And I didn’t really read the news that much over the summer because I was like, ‘I need a break from reading this every day.’ But then sometimes I’d open it up and be like, ‘Damn, that’s so annoying. Why is that happening now? Like, if only they could have just held off on that for five months.’”
‘Maybe if it was two male anchors, [some stories] might not have like come up as much’
The debut season concluded in May and in the five months since, there have been a number of stories that would have been perfect for SNL treatment. “It was a shame to not have had the Kier Stamer resignation,” Magliano notes. “For Update, I think I saw Katy Perry get stuck in a big bottle on tour. Obviously, Andy Burnham and the eclipse would have been nice to cover; I think anything to do with the moon is funny.”
Stepping behind the news desk, alongside fellow anchor Paddy Young, Magliano becomes the first woman mainstay Weekend Update host since Cecily Strong ended her tenure in 2014. It’s been an exciting prospect for Magliano, who notes that her presence as a woman comedian has broadened the stories covered in the segment. “Maybe if it was two male anchors, [some stories] might not have like come up as much,” she notes.
‘To say you can only be edgy in a certain way is just lazy writing’
She has brought attention to lesser-discussed topics: “I remember when I saw something in the news about endometriosis and I was like ‘we need a joke on this’ or the ‘Ask for Angela’ joke; they’re not written for only women to enjoy, but they’re written from a woman’s perspective… I tend not to read the comments; otherwise I’ll go insane, but people felt quite seen by the endometriosis one. It always feels exciting when you get a joke that also does that.”
Though she’s suited up to talk about the news on Update, Magliano lets audiences in on her personal life in her own shows. Her upcoming tour, Peach Fuzz (which resumes in November and stretches into next year), is “a very autobiographical, anecdotal show.” It tackles very different topics from Update, but SNL has shaped Magliano’s comedic approach. “SNL taught me to just cut stuff; you learn it’s not that deep, something else will come,” the comedian noted.
Magliano’s stand-up comedy has long included her personal life, including her bisexuality, into her act. Recent years have seen the mounting presence of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric amongst mainstream comedic voices. Though it’s not going to stop Magliano. “It’s the way I am naturally, especially earlier in my career, like when I did a show that had a story about what it was like to come out to my parents, which was a massive anticlimax,” she says of discussing her sexuality in her act. “Then you get a message from someone that can remind you it’s nice to have this out there,” she adds.
‘I feel very lucky off the back of SNL and Taskmaster‘
Magliano says that maintaining that openness from the start of her career has led to a fanbase and audience that is receptive to her openness. “I feel very lucky off the back of SNL and Taskmaster; my audience is so mixed, so many different demographics. It’s really rewarding,” she said.
Speaking about anti-LGBTQ+ voices in the comedy world, she shares: “There are people who go, ‘Oh, you can’t say anything these days. You have to do this to be funny. You have to be edgy to be funny.’ I think, especially with ‘edginess’, what we do on Update is edgy, but we like to think it’s edgy in the right way. It’s a conscious decision.” The comedian explains there are explicit discussions, like: “Who are we going for in this joke? Who’s the butt of this joke?”
Magliano concludes: “It always has to go in the right direction, punching up, making the point we want to make. To say you can only be edgy in a certain way for it to be funny is just lazy writing.”
SNL UK returns for Series 2 on 12 September with the first six episodes, with the additional shows planned in early 2027.
