The Inspiration for SNL’s ‘Les Jeunes de Paris’

My fiancé is a fan of Starbucks’ music and that’s where we came across the song “Ta Douleur” by the artist Camille. It just tickled us pink. We just were looking for a reason to dance around, really. I first wrote it with Sarah Baker at The Groundlings (before it appeared on SNL). It’s sort of just our exaggerated portrayal of our American interpretation of French youth culture, inspired by the song.

SNL’s “Les Jeunes de Paris” sketches, the second of which was in this past weekend’s episode, is one of the most fun and original sketches to hit the show in some time. A fun, frenetic piece all about movement and music, it’s like the polar opposite of a fake talk show featuring a number of celebrity impersonators. Slate talked to writer/performer Taran Killem about where it came from: