Mounting a version of Saturday Night Live from London has certain built-in advantages. Brits excel at comedy; they’ve created a passel of strong TV sketch shows; and they all seem to have been trained for the stage from the crib—or the “cot.”
Also: they speak English well.
The premiere of Saturday Night Live UK, which aired live at 10 p.m. London time Saturday, dipped its toes into both sides of the Atlantic. Several clips were quickly posted to YouTube, but the full episode won’t be available to U.S. audiences on Peacock until sometime Sunday evening (when exactly is still anyone’s guess).
The central question facing this transatlantic experiment was whether it would feel like a distinctly British version of SNL or simply an American imitation set to Greenwich Mean Time.
Saturday’s debut landed somewhere in between.
It featured a promising young cast of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish comic talent, fronted by as strong an SNL star as anyone could hope for: Tina Fey. The result was a show that unquestionably stuck the landing, even if it didn’t fully announce itself as something entirely new or unexpected.
The production looked about as close to SNL proper as possible outside of the show’s legendary Studio 8H. The home-base set, while not identical, was familiar enough to make longtime fans feel at home. It even has a standing clock.
The format was pretty much an exact match—from cold open to monologue, fake commercials, sketches ranging from strong to middling, two musical performances, and a “Weekend Update” segment complete with recent headlines and a visit from an over-the-top character. The most obvious difference stemmed from fewer commercial breaks, which necessitated, for example, musical guest Wet Leg‘s first performance immediately following a sketch (rather than being buttressed by commercial breaks, US-style).
Other differences were subtler: sound that felt slightly echo-y; fewer noticeable laugh breaks from the cast; and far less obvious cue-card reading.
The most glaring similarity? The cold open tackled the war in Iran—because, how could it not? The writers might have considered an off-the-wall, non-topical opener in the spirit of the 1975 pioneers. But Donald Trump forced his way into the proceedings, just as he does in the American version.
The British angle worked, though, by focusing on their beleaguered prime minister, Keir Starmer, portrayed as wimpy, worried, and more than a little frightened of the orange-tinged leader of the free world.
“Oh sod that scary, scary wonderful president,” the show’s Starmer said, before whining, “I hate conflict so much.”
It will be up to British audiences to decide how accurate George Fouracres’ impression was, but the studio crowd was clearly enthusiastic.
Naturally, the sketch ended with a rousing “Live from London, it’s Saturday Night”—which was undeniably exciting to hear.
Fey immediately justified her selection as host, stamping the proceedings with confident professionalism. She expressed excitement about the new cast, while joking that she couldn’t understand all of them. “One boy is either Scottish or choking,” she quipped—pure Fey.
As for why a British version of SNL exists at all? “Like so many large-scale American operations these days,” she said, “no one knows why.”
The monologue also featured British cameos in the familiar question-from-the-audience format. Nicola Coughlan of Derry Girls asked Fey why the show opened with an American host. “Let me put this politely,” Fey replied. “None of you fuckers would do it.”
That line doubled as a setup: in Britain, late-night cursing isn’t just allowed—it’s practically expected. Actor Michael Cera followed by suggesting it be used “sparingly,” because that would be classier.
And indeed, the profanity appeared later—sparingly—and class remained intact.
Graham Norton also dropped in to faux-interview Fey about her love of British TV, which she demonstrated with rapid-fire impressions from Absolutely Fabulous, Keeping Up Appearances, Monty Python, and Fawlty Towers—“Don’t mention the war!”
The opening pretape signaled a willingness to flirt with genuine edge. Fey and the female cast promoted an anti-aging cream so effective it led to their husbands being accused of pedophilia. The product name: “Under-age,” with the final syllable delivered in a faux-French “ahh-ge.”
A statement, right out of the gate.
The first live sketch showcased the entire cast as reincarnated figures from British history at a dinner party hosted by 99-year-old naturalist David Attenborough, who announced, “It can’t be long now,” before introducing his famous deceased guests.
Not everyone stood out, but Fey’s Agatha Christie landed, and Jack Shep got the biggest laughs as Princess Diana.
Hammed Animashaun delivered several strong moments, first as Starmer’s deputy David Lammy, then as a fawning interviewer who pivoted to bluntly telling two movie stars (Fey and Shep) that their film “fucking sucked.” Again: profanity, effective and restrained.
Less successful was a sketch about a live Paddington Bear exhibition that devolved into blood-soaked chaos—a familiar SNL move that seemed to catch the studio audience off guard.
Another British-flavored piece featured Shakespeare attempting to go “hip” in London between visits home to Agnes and Hamnet (and daughters he mostly ignores). If you’re doing a show in London, Shakespeare is practically mandatory.
“Update” leaned British at times—Prince Andrew took a predictable pounding—but Trump again dominated. The first line: “Coming up on ‘Update’: Pedophilia! But first, war!”
That led to a joke about Starmer giving Trump permission to use British bases against Iran: “Consent? Now you’ve taken all the fun out of it.”
It had a definite Michael Che flavor—likely to earn “ooohs” in New York. In London, it drew solid laughs, if not shock.
Ania Magliano and Paddy Young anchored the desk capably, with Young showing a presence reminiscent of Dan Aykroyd in his “Update” days.
The lone “Update” character appearance came from Captain Birdseye (Al Nash), a fish-finger pitchman and the only British naval officer called into action in Iran. Broad—and unmistakably fishy.
So what to make of it overall?
This was a remarkably polished first effort. Some might argue that a few rough edges would have added to the fun, but with Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels overseeing things alongside lead producer James Longman, the ship was always going to sail smoothly and dock safely.
SNL UK will likely grow more distinctly British as it finds its footing. The cast and writers will inevitably lean into what they know best.
The show has to start with talent and go as far as that takes it.
There appears to be plenty of that to go around.
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‘British, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish comic talent’?
Both Scotland and Wales are in Britain, Bill…
‘British’ and ‘English’ are not synonyms.
Good catch—thanks. We’ve fixed it. Bill would want it noted he’s still claiming the Irish part.
So Thanks to Mr “bob”, Mr Rosenzweig fixed the average Anglo-supremacy SNAFU..
… But Mr Michael Cera, Mr Norton and..
…Even Ma’am Nicola Coughlan’s appearences are all “British cameos”?
Educate yourselves, Mr Carter!
Strong start, and we’ll see how it goes from here. Really loved the weird 45 Seconds with Fouracres bit at the end, it felt like something from the 70s that the current SNL US (Tina said it, so can we!) version is missing.
The Starmer impression was shit and the Attenborough was really shit.
Overall, the show was horrible.
As a Brit, I thought it was great! It felt assured, and the cast were all excellent. Particular highlights for me were “Underage”, Shakespeare’s “c*nty little earring”, the film that “f*cking sucked”, the Paddington bloodbath, Weekend Update and the unhinged “45 Seconds with Fouracres” at the end.
If I had to find any criticism, I’d say the home-base set could have looked a bit more “London” – it felt too New York for me, and could have done with being a bit scuzzier! But the actual sketches were really well written and performed, the music was great, and I’ll definitely be tuning in again next week. Just hope they can keep up this high standard.