Amelia Dimoldenberg Explains Why 'Chicken Shop Date' Is Ending

Amelia Dimoldberg used her "SNL U.K." monologue on Saturday night to joke about the real reason her celebrity interview series, "Chicken Shop Date," is coming to an end.

Earlier this month, Dimoldberg revealed that the popular series would conclude. On Saturday, she offered a comic explanation for the decision.

"I found out something devastating. Apparently, these celebrities weren't coming on to date me," Dimoldberg joked. "They were coming on to promote their work!"

She continued: "It makes so much more sense now. Andrew Garfield had a film out! When he kept saying, 'I'm looking forward to the big release,' I thought that was a sex thing."

Dimoldberg then turned to Ed Sheeran, who has drawn controversy over the last couple of weeks for dropping Macklemore from his tour after a political speech in which he said "free Palestine." Her joke arrived by way of an unexpected comparison.

"I'm incredibly privileged to have done so many interviews with people like Idris Elba, Cher, and even a world famous red-headed puppet with a hand up his arse telling him what to say," she said, as an image of Elmo appeared on screen.

"No, the other one!" she quipped, as Sheeran's face flashed in place of the Sesame Street character.

Dimoldberg closed her monologue by reflecting on her early days at a youth center in London, where she learned, in her words, that "I am an awkward girl, and there's no shame in that. Just huge profit."

She expanded the point into a manifesto for self-acceptance. "I am proof that you don't have to stop being awkward to be successful … I am proof that you should always be yourself," she said. "Be yourself on 'Chicken Shop Date.' Be yourself on the Oscars red carpet. Be yourself in 'The Devil Wears Prada 2.' Be yourself in your upcoming rom-com. Be yourself in all of the sketches during 'Saturday Night Live U.K.'"

The list carried a subtext. Dimoldenberg has appeared on the Oscars red carpet as an interviewer, and her mentions of "The Devil Wears Prada 2" and an "upcoming rom-com" point to a career moving well beyond the fried-chicken counters where "Chicken Shop Date" began.

"Just like the chickens I love to eat," Dimoldberg concluded, "you don't have to have range."

The joke landed as a fitting epitaph for a series built on a single, sustained comic premise: Dimoldberg, awkward and deadpan, interviewing famous guests in fast-food restaurants under the guise of a date. The premise made her one of the most recognizable interviewers of her generation, drawing guests including Idris Elba, Cher and Andrew Garfield.

The "SNL U.K." hosting slot itself marks the scale of that trajectory. A comedian who started out interviewing grime artists in a London youth center now opens a landmark British network sketch show, riffing on her own retirement from the format that made her name — and doing it with punchlines aimed at two of the biggest names in film and music.

With "Chicken Shop Date" ending, Sheeran embroiled in tour controversy, and film projects on her horizon, Dimoldberg's monologue doubles as a public announcement of what comes next: more acting, more hosting, and the same awkward persona — now without the chicken shop.