SNL UK: Hannah Waddingham/Myles Smith (05.09.2026)

Ten Downing Street: May 2046

• Hey, a Peter Serafinowicz cameo! Very nice! As expected, he does a solid Nigel Farage impression.

• I mean, it is a little troubling to see SNL UK seemingly start their own version of the recent-ish SNL US trend of bringing in seemingly random celebrities to play prominent and widely disliked right wing political figures, but I don't mind it here because SNL UK does have sharper political writing than SNL US. 

• As long as they're just showcasing underrated British comedians who may be less known stateside and not just getting big names to overshadow the actual cast, I'm fine with this type of cameo. Maybe Peter could also host an entire episode of SNL UK and we could get a Brian Butterfield sketch? That would certainly be great!

• I'm not that familiar with whoever Ayoade is playing, but it doesn't really hinder my appreciation of this sketch since I pretty much know what it's going for.

• I get a kick out of the idea that these two assholes have used their power to turn 2046 London into a burnt out, post apocalyptic husk of its former self. Heck, I even like to imagine that this sketch takes place in the same universe as Mitchell & Webbs' "Quiz Broadcast" sketches and that this may be a prequel to them meant to show how "the event" was caused (REMAIN INDOORS! DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE EVENT!)

• This also turned out to be a good way to sneak in George's Starmer, Celestes' Rayner and Als' Churchill again (although the "Big Ang" and "Big Chungus" references were a little odd and dated).

• Heck, I even liked the self-deprecating meta comment on SNL UKs' recent renewal. Other than that, this was a fairly ambitious cold open that got off to a strong start and knew where to stop once it had no other place to go. B-

Monologue

• There wasn't a whole lot to this monologue, but Hannah put it over flawlessly.

• She had the best energy and most infectious enthusiasm out if any SNL UK host I've seen so far.

• I liked how clever the "high heels" gag was and how she glossed over her "glamorous" acting roles (did she also play Barry Gibb at one point?). 

• I didn't know she landed a small part on Game Of Thrones at one point, but hey, good on her for striking while the iron was actually hot there.

• The different accents she pulled off while showing us what her "fantasy roles" would be was the highlight of this. She even managed to maintain her poise while doing a Chewbacca impression! A-

Sunburnt Lawyers

• This was just such a gleefully stupid and anachronistic concept on paper that it just had to work in execution! The reason it did work was through sheer commitment to such a simple premise.

• Among my favorite moments were their interaction with Celeste, Emmas' bits with the wig and later with the fan in Larry's office, Hannah's line "my skin feels like the sound of bees", Jacks simple reaction of "wot?" to Hannah and Emma applying some kind of sunscreen or ointment to their skin in court and of course the reveal that their sunburns always help them win the case. B-

End Of Year Musical

• It actually took me a minute or two to tell Annabel & Emma apart from each other because Annabel just seemed to be doing the exact same voice and mannerisms that Emma did as her character "Juggs" from the bra fitting sketch in the premiere with Tina.

• After having recently heard about Annabels background in musical theater and her great singing/vocal abilities, I figured out quickly that was her as the other teacher. Plus, I just as quickly figured out Emma was playing one if the students and realized I still can tell them apart facially.

• At first, this reminded me a bit of that really dumb "Hip Hop Nativity" sketch from Billie Eillishs' SNL US episode (similar setup and wardrobe choices) but thankfully this switched gears real quick and focused up on something more nuanced.

• They say the third season of Ted Lasso basically became Jason Sudeikis just using the show to work out his own personal issues surrounding his divorce from Olivia Wilde once he took over as showrunner. I wonder if this sketch was purposely written as a meta commentary on that?

• This was a pretty simple and straightforward premise really but Hannah and Annabels' showing off their pipes really put this over for me. I did like Hannah's line about having once starred in a knockoff of Beauty & The Beast called "Pretty Girl, Big Dog".

• This really picked up once Hannah and Annabel invited Jack, Ayoade, Emma and Celestes' characters to rehearse the group number that unsubtly shades all of them (although I could've done without their whole "we're not gonna say why" speech to Jack's character). B+

Speed Awareness Course

• Two sketches in a row that involve Hannah's characters teaching a class of students? Both of which just involve her character just...unloading her personal life on her students through her lesson plan? OK. Odd rundown so far, but I'm not complaining...

• As much as this seemed to borrow from and soften up those "job seekers" sketches from The League Of Gentleman (which thankfully none of this cast will be soon thanks to the recent series two renewal), I enjoyed this for how much Hannah threw herself into this role, the odd little details of all her temptations to get the class to speed, and of course, how they payoff was essentially a becyclopsed Al Nash entering the scene (in the same outfit he wore in that OG radio sketch) to confirm that every detail Hannah's character dropped about her own odd family life is 100% true.

• Hell, I can even relate to the "six hour exams" part since my full time job heavily involves proctoring those...but perhaps I say too much? Oh well, that's gonna have to be a story for another time.

• Even the button on this sketch was relevant to everything that proceeded it. This turned out to be a PSA against speeding rather than for the polar opposite of the thing that was just shown. Well done. A+

Daniel Day Lewis & The Triplets

• As odd as it felt seeing either iteration of SNL come back from a commercial and go straight into a pretape, this turned out to be one of the more quietly brilliant pieces of the night. 

• Kudos to Larry for getting to land another impression on the show (although I think they could've tightened up or shortened the "it's not about the yogurts" speech before the big reveal).

• Of course, George played off Larry AND Emma brilliantly. I especially liked Als' line about how he feels such an intense emotional connection to the show "Young Sheldon" went on to be a set designer for that show.

• My other favorite moments were the lines from Larry about "repeated six month comas" and an "Abraham Lincoln phase" and of course the reveal that Reese Witherspoon got the part he was up for followed by the "There Will Be Blood" family photo. B-

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Young People, Starmers' Image Problem, Met Gala, Texting Joke

• Anias' Best Jokes: Election Results/Reform Party, PM Under Pressure, Minister Warns, Katy Perry, Nolan Odyssey, Yogurt As Junk Food?, Horse Meat

• I liked Als' commentary as brief as it was. It felt more like a bit designed for Jack but I could see the need for Al to play a middle aged conservative leaning voter. Also, I feel like I have just enough cultural context for what this was going for since we apparently have plenty of people in the states who were too afraid to admit publicly that they just straight up voted for Trump for any reason out of fear of social backlash.

• Jack's commentary as the character "Scrimpsch" feels the absolute most like something that we could've seen done on SNL US the UK show has done so far. I could definitely see either Marcello or (more likely) Bowen having done this in the past year or so (or hell, maybe even Fred Armisen if this were 23 years ago) but he actually makes this work much better than either of them would have. I was able to get into this just enough to get how Jack was making Ania break. 

• I liked his lines about wishing wells and ants as well as how he kept skipping ahead to random numbers like nine and seventeen when he was listing off his tips. I also liked the detail that he was left behind on a class trip from Europe and no one (not even his parents) bothered to look for him

• One odd thing about this is how I could only recognize every other song that he was parodying. I could pick out the tunes of "It's Hard Out Here For A Scrimpsch" and Natasha Beddingfields' "Unwritten" but not the other two.

• OK, the wrestling match between Hammeds' Rhino and George's Attenborough is definitely the highlight of this episode if not the entire run of SNL UK so far. 

• True, this does feel like any combination of Bowen, Sarah, Marcello or Mikey could have done this but Hammed and George definitely made this work better by framing this as a "Ric Flair vs El Niño" style wrestling match instead of a Springer-style daytime trash TV confrontation and just generally leaning into the whole "damn, they didn't have to go THAT hard" vibe.

• Great job by the Ghosh brothers from Quality Wrestling Academy in Portsmouth for choreographing that and also appearing in it. B+

Phantom Of The Foot Locker

• I wanted to like this more since it's another out there, goofy premise that also functions as a showcase for Al Nash (who comitted to this well as did Hannah who had the theater background to pull this off but sadly, I don't think this went anywhere.

• Yes, they captured the haunting, ethereal vibes of "Phantom of the Opera" well and transplanted them into a random British Foot Locker with ease...but sadly, this sketch was kinda flat and just...there.

• The gag with Hannah's daughter revealing she has a Phantom like face mask of her own was the most telegraphed joke I've seen on this show so far. George's line about hoping Hannah and Al don't rekindle their old love through music comes in a close second. C-

Glasses Of Wine

• Wow, right into a Wilson Phillips style song. Ok.

• Celeste was borderline unrecognizable here at first but she managed to steal the show. I liked how she went into the audience...and was apparently so drunk even she didn't know if she was playing herself or a character.

• I guess this was another showcase for Annabel and Hannah's singing talents, so it was nice of them to cede some of the spotlight to Ayoade & Celeste so they could have their moments.

• I also liked how this progressed through about four different stages of drunkenness and escalated uniquely as it went on.

• Nice number to end the episode on, too. I liked how the melody of the song just bled into the closing credits. B-

Ranking SNL UKs First Series From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Hannah Waddingham/Myles Smith (05.09.2026)
3. Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
4. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
5. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
6. Aimee Lou Wood/MEEK (05.02.2026)
7. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts 

• This was an astounding episode and a huge step up from the previous week's episode with Aimee Lou Wood. Most everything hit well and Hannah was an outstanding host who the show knew how to instantly tap into the strengths of. 

• She elevated a lot of the show and I would definitely like to see her host again as soon as possible. Myles Smith was decent. Even if I'm not too crazy about his music, it's nice to come across an actual British musical guest on this show that I've somehow already heard and still didn't know I'd recognize until I saw heard him perform live.

• As far as cast usage, no one really dominated but Al, George and Jack came close. This episode also seemed to be a strong showcase for the women (even Ayoade in more supporting roles).

Closing Thoughts 

• The next episode of SNL UK(which will probably air later tonight at this point) will be the first hosted by Ncuti Gatwa. It's a pretty big get for this show to get the current Dr. Who to close out their first season, so this should be a fun episode.

• Of course, SNL UK also has Will Ferrel and Paul McCartney for theie own season finale the same night which is equally exciting (as guarded as my excitement for such an episode can be) and you'll probably end up being able to read my review of Ferrells episode before yiu read my review if Ncutis (or possibly at the same time, who knows?)

• Also, we're switching around the next two episodes of the We Heart Hader Podcast for reasons that should seem obvious but will be fully explained by me in another seperate blog post before the next episode comes out very soon. See you then!

SNL UK: Aimee Lou Wood/Meek (05.02.2026)

Chuck & Camillas' Hijacked Flight Home

• I should've guessed that they'd do this sketch this week. I figured that they'd cast Larry & Emma as Charles & Camilla respectively. Those roles call for brits who are good at facial mugging and stuffy royal aristocratic accents which Emma (and to a lesser extent Larry) have shown that they can pull off in spades.

• Although I was hoping to get a bit of a break from Keir Starmer cold opens (I mean, it's not an impression I see myself getting sick of that easily or anything, but I like seeing them try something different every once in a while) I do like this new wrinkle to Georges' Keir Starmer character in that he's suddenly daring and courageous but only in the name of keeping himself in power because he's so damned ineffectual that redirecting the royals' plane is what he has to resort to.

• I did like the other sudden bursts of brief Austin Powers-like violence but I feel like I might have enjoyed this more had I any idea who Celeste was supposed to be playing or what she might be planning. I did get a kick out of the dumb lisp she was speaking with, though. All I've been able to gather from some light Googling is that Angela Rayner is a member of the British Parliament (I found out more about her from one of Anias' jokes on Update, but more on that later.

• I did appreciate this sketch being written so that no one was supposed to know who Jack was playing (just a regular Brit who was "indoctrinated online by the radical center left"). I did like the visual of him tearing away his outfit to reveal an identical outfit. His character being "poisoned" by Camillas edibles wasn't much of a great ending, though. B-

Monologue 

• This feels the most like we'd get from any SNL US host out of all the SNL UK monologues we've gotten so far.

• I didn't get the Kim Cattral scatting reference but I did like the Sex Education/White Lotus joke. 

• My favorite part was when she just started speaking random gibberish. Very Eric Idle Rutland/Pythonesque.

• I also liked the conceit of the rest of this monologue being her trying to prove to the audience that she is, in fact, an unrelatable weirdo in an effort to break free of her bubble, relatable image...but she kind of lost me with the whole astrology/past lives rant.

• Most of all, I'm just glad she didn't bring up her feud with the American show from last year and left that to the mid week YouTube promo. C+

Dangerous Women

• So, the basic premise of this faux 80s synth vaporwave video is that the "dangerous" woman who is the subject of the song just turns out to be a dumb, accident prone klutz with little to no self awareness or safety awareness?

• This is one of those things that feels like it should've been done by some kind of sketch show years ago but somehow hasn't despite it being the simplest of ideas and yet at the same time also feels like something that only a show with a uniquely British sensibility would produce.

• Does anyone else see a slight resemblance between Aimee Lou Wood and Cecily Strong here? Maybe I only say this because this seems like something that SNL US would've done during her time there.

• Other than that, I feel like this was a solid premise that was lacking a little something in musical execution (although Celeste and Hammed turned in strong performances here. If Hammed can actually sing that well, it's a shame it took this long for him to get to show off his chops). C+

Doctor Who

• Anyone else wondering why they wouldn't...wait a couple of weeks to do this sketch? You know...when they have the ACTUAL current doctor hosting? We're they just afraid to pitch this to Ncuti or was this something Hammed wrote specifically for himself?

• Anyway, I liked the conceit of this sketch being that the doctor and his current companion are forced to interact with a visually nauseating mcguffin of a prop. I just wish they had the ability to go a bit further with it.

• There wasn't much else here. I suspect even if you were around real Doctor Who Superfan who was dialed in to this there wouldn't be much for you here either. Wasn't crazy about the ending either, but I'm at least glad that Dr. Who producer Russell T. Davies was pleased with it. C+

Marios' Got Marital Problems

• Interesting...accent choices here. George doing the classic Fr. Sarducci-esque Italian accented Mario we all knew and loved was an obvious correct choice (even if some of his lines weren't 100% distinguishable).

• Aimee playing her Princess Peach as an Amy Poehler/Rachel Dratch-esque Americanized Jersey Italian stereotype added a new wrinkle that...honestly dovetails well with this sketch. 

• I guess it works because Princess Peach was never portrayed with one specific idiosyncratic accent that Mario fans wouldn't accept her without?

• Hell, Aimees' pretty much doing the exact same voice for Princess Peach that Chris Pratt used to play Mario in those newer Mario movies. Could that alone be at least the partial inspiration for this?

• Anyway, no need to overthink this sketch any further. This sketch worked well as an exploration of what struggles a real Italian working class plumber and his girl friend/spouse would go through in a more real world setting...except, you know funneled through the lens of Mario & Princess Peach.

• This is such an obvious "parallel thinking" type of idea that I'm surprised no one else has done this exact thing before (by which I mean all the other Mario parodies I've ever seen take place in the world if the video game & cartoons rather than "the real world".

• This was very funny but due to its rapid fire pacing and the performers essentially breathlessly shouting their lines over the audience and each other to be heard (maybe it's a sound mixing issue?) so I'll just say I also liked Jacks' ending walk on as Toad and whoever ran in an out in the Yoshi costume gave me a bit of a laugh). B-

Famouz 5

• Yeah, I'm not familiar with the "Famous Five" and have no cultural context for them whatsoever. 

• I do have PLENTY of cultural context for just the concepts of endless IP reboots and rehashes coming out of Hollywood and just how generally irritating it is when any new piece of media is when it's creators just blindly attempt to reach out to the generation after mine with just a casserole of now formerly hip new slang abd buzzwords.

• So yeah, I do get what this was going for...but even if I didn't feel something was missing this would still be an idea I've seen mined to death over and over again so I still wouldn't be into it. The fakes reviews were the only part of this that hit for me...which is very sad. D+

Lost Luggage

• So...this is just another "Jack plays a girls' gay woke best friend" sketch with Aimee in the role that probably would've gone to Annabel on the week there was a male host...but Aimee is trying to blatantly sneak a bomb that actually turns out to be a George Foreman Grill past security?

• Honestly, one could rewatch this sketch to examine how it explores the dynamics of this type of platonic male/female relationship (especially since Jack's character seems to regret coming out to Aimee at the wrong moment) because there seems to be more than one layer to this. Still, the ending reveal is the only thing that came close to working for me. C-

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Melania Meets Charles, Clog Dancing, Heroin In Southport

• Anias' Best Jokes: Royal Visit, WHCD Gunman, Nigel Farage

• Oh boy, I don't know about this "professional lip reader" premise. As much as I like getting to see Hammed make his Update debut, the last time I saw an SNL sketch centered around reading famous people's lips was in the infamous Jacob Elordi/Renee Rapp episode from two and a half years ago.

• OK, Hammed is clearly making this work much better than the Elordi sketch and he had the audience on his side...but then again he had a low bar to clear. I did chuckle at the Camilla/Melania and Camilla/Charles portion of this bit.

• Great to see Larry get his first Update commentary as himself. I really like his range and accent work. As an American, I did appreciate his bit on how our northern blue state liberals talk vs how southern red state conservatives talk. I also liked his bits on green party voters and how he deftly avoided falling into the "how do they vote in China?" trap Paddy set up for him.

• I didn't quite get Anias Angela Rayner joke but at least I was able to gather that Ms. Rayner us another English career politician who's blatantly angling to take Keir Starmers' job as Prime Minister.

• I did get a kick out of Paddy shouting at his underground pit of tortured writers as well as how he turned that into a recurring callback to the point that he invited Ania to climb in with him at the end.

• Ayoade played such an Ego Nwodim in season 46 of SNL US coded character here that I kind of wished Paddy hadn't introduced her by her actual name as that kind of took something away from it at first.

• Upon rewatch, I discovered that this works because it's actually just Ayoade genuinely speaking her mind doing a standup like bit from her own personal experience rather than just doing the type of specific niche character piece that Ego would've done. Overall, I'd say it was a very fun bit. B+

Posh Gits

• The title of this sketch alone has me intrigued. I hope it doesn't bear TOO much resemblance to a certain Kroll Show sketch beyond its title.

• Apparently, this is based on an actual British reality show called "Made In Chelsea". Haven't seen that one, but I will say what this reminds me of the most is MADtvs' parody of MTVs' Laguna Beach from 20 years ago.

• This sketch was clearly trying to have some fun with how dumb it was. I will say that Hammed, Jack and Larry pretty much made this for me.

• Hey, look! Paddy and Ania make their live sketch debuts! I mean, they're basically extras, but still. B-

How British Pork Got The Lot

• OK, I know I spoke against either SNL cast just recreating old, obscure viral clips in a previous review and that's part of what this was but I did like this sketch.

• As much as this reminds me of the old Polaner All Fruit/Aspic Beef Jelly bit from Family Guy, I did like that this had the extra layer of "we're going to deconstruct this obscure 1984 British Pork Commercial just to show you how it could look more normal and friendly instead of terrifying".

• Also, as slightly questionable as it seemed at first to see Hammed with pieces of bone sticking out of either side of his nose, I did get a kick out of the insane visuals of the "pork council" scenes.

• Who was that in the bald cap sitting next to Emma? Was that Jack or an extra? I wouldn't put it past them to put Jack in this sketch with no lines since they pretty much just did that to Emma.

• I don't blame George for breaking at all having to deal with Al's director character bringing down the insanity of this premise and also the mistimed camera filter glitch possibly throwing him off. Plus, I have seen George's Instagram post about how he had been obsessed with this ad for years and I assume that he, Al and Hanned may have cowritten this together...so, good for them that they could bond over this and have a sketch labor of love come out of it. B+

Ranking SNL UKs First Series From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
3. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
4. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
5. Aimee Lou Wood/Meek (05.02.2026)
6. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts 

• This was one of the more uneven episodes of SNL UK. I don't quite know what to make of it. On the one hand, the writing and performances were quite strong from all involved. On the other hand, this episode was front loaded with sketches that I wanted to like but couldn't quite get into because they just lacked a certain appeal.

• One thing this episode does have going for it is that the writing made it feel more and more like a uniquely British/European comedy show with it's own identity. SNL UK is continuing to step out of the shadow of SNL US. I mostly say that because there was very little about these sketches that made want to point out a specific SNL US sketch from the past that they reminded me of.

• Really, the only way this episode resembled an SNL US episode is that most of the weaker sketches were up front and most of the more odd niche sketches that I found myself actually liking were buried near the end. Weekend Update was a strong highlight of thus episode though as was MEEK who turned in some strong performances even if her type of music isn't exactly my cup of tea lyrically.

Closing Thoughts 

• Next week, SNL UK will have Ted Lassos' Hannah Waddingham as host. I know she was also in Sex Education with Aimee Lou Wood. I'm not terribly familiar with the rest of her work (which I can also say about much of the previous SNL UK hosts), but she seems to be in good company having worked with this episodes host as well as an alumni of SNL US, so she'll be able to get some good advice on how to succeed on this show even for just a week.

• Speaking of SNL US, my review if their latest Olivia Rodrigo double duty episode is up for all to read. I was fortunate enough to be able to time them so that they could both be published simultaneously. Who knows if I'll be able to pull that off again next week or the week after?

• What I do know is that the next blog I will be working on is a review of the Elliot Page/Wilco episode from SNL US season 33 which I hope to have finished writing by next Wednesday when Deej & I are supposed to be recording a whole new episode of the We Heart Hader podcast on that one. That blog and podcast should be published in two weeks when that podcast episode is released but, boy am I glad to have an extra week to work on that one because it's gonna be a tough one to get through. Hell, that one's probably gonna be one of our shorter podcasts for reasons that will seem obvious by the time it comes out.

• You'll probably be able to read my reviews of next week's SNL US and UK episodes before you get to read or listen to that one, but anyway that's what I'll be working on. See you soon!

SNL UK: Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)

Who Wants To Remain A Millionaire?

• Huh, is "Millionaire" really this relevant in Britain in 2026? I do remember it at its Y2K era peak here in the states when Regis Philbin hosted it and SNL parodied it with Darrell Hammond in the host's role.

• Even MADtv parodied OG "Millionaire" during that time with sketches like this one which this sketch reminds me of more than anything (even this one from SNL US)

• Al Nashs' Jeremy Clarkson impression is a nice touch here. I had no idea this was Mr. Clarksons' current gig or what that "real farmer" comment was alluding to.

• See, I've only ever known Jeremy Clarkson from his old show "Top Gear" that would sometimes be run on BBC America...so, I've only ever known him to be a fake car guy in addition to being a real ass hole (hey, there's another word you can say on SNL US that you can't say on SNL UK!)

• This was a nice twist on the usual Fouracres/Starmer cold opens they usually do every other episode. I liked that these get increasingly harsher and more pointedly angry toward him and his sheer spineless incompetence each time.

• I also liked how they balanced out the barely concealed anger in this cold open with the sheer silly stupidity of Sir Keir using all of his lifelines on one question and still failing to answer the simplest of questions (especially one concerning whether or not one should ever hire a career politician who was not only friends with Epstein post conviction but also sold him sensitive government secrets).

• I liked the evil, creepy touch Larry's Peter Mandleson impression gave to this as well. It's one of those impressions I can't really gague the accuracy of, but it seemed pretty minimalist and character focused so it just gets the job done. B+

Monologue 

• Aside from the "SNL UK & Ireland/shouting at a female comedian on TV" joke and the other joke about paying homage to the original 70s SNL US by doing staggering amounts of cocaine, I wasn't crazy about the jokes Nicola was given for this monologue. Still, she did all she could to elevate this material.

• Nicolas' brief turn to camera for that brief Jack & Emma gossip reminded me a bit of SNL US monologues I've seen from Anna Faris, Kerry Washington and Margot Robbie.

• Sadly, Jimmy Fallons' cameo added very little of value here and we really could've done without him. 

• I mean, it is nice to see a sprawling backstage monologue on SNL every once in a while and kudos to SNL UK for just having done their first one and showing us around their own London studio a bit more Jimmy has shown he's adept at making these work better than most...but at the same time I feel like Nicola could've handled this one all on her own.

• I guess whenever SNL UK shows us their backstage in the future the extras in Napoleon/beefeater/ABBA costumes will be their equivalent of our backstage llamas, Lincolns and Vegas style showgirls as the go to, clock punch, background gags?

• I did enjoy Nicolas interactions with Paddy, Ania & George (even if it was like the fourth or fifth gratuitous callback to Nicolas' cameos in the first episode).

• Anyway, for all of it's minor flaws, this monologue didn't a fine job of keeping up the energy at the top of the show and making the viewers feel confident that the host would be a strong sketch performer. B-

Yo! Nicola Raps!

• Wow, the fake "Hot Streak" poster in the background. I guess that's six callbacks to the first episode at this point?

• Anyway, yeah...I definitely saw the same parallels between both of Natalie's Raps that everyone else did (including Celeste, George and the writers since they actually called it out mid-sketch).

• Still, I saw more parallels between this Please Don't Destroys' "Three Sad Virgins" (particularly the parts that were just about Dune, the pauses mid-video to explain what isn't working and subsequent attempts to misunderstand and overcorrect).

• I can't say this hold up on rewatch but it was fun at first to see Nicola throw herself into a hard-core gangsta rap about some children's book fairy tale gibberish...but I've seen this trope get pulverized into tge cold, cold ground by way too many different people over the course of the last 25 years in SNL UK and this felt like an even more watered down version of that.

• Plus, Jimmy didn't really need to be here as his part could've been played by any of the male castmembers. C+

What A Life! (Paula From Accounts Has)

• You know, before I actually got to watch any of this episode, I saw some strong buzz online surrounding Nicolas' general performance as host. Some even went so far as to say she should be SNL UKs' first ever five timer. From this sketch alone, I can definitely see why one would say that about her immediately.

• I mean, right out the gate Nicolas' first actual sketch sees her playing much the same gruff, dumpy, slightly socially inappropriate character that previous SNL US Five Timers like Melissa McCarthy and Emma Stone have crushed before (hell, even SNL US two timer Kristen Stewart had a good handle on how to play this type of character in her first try).

• Anyway, I liked seeing Nicola really committed to this character and how she threw herself into it, just straight up barking out all of the deranged and bizarre details of her truly insane life. B+ 

Big Horrid Clump

• Wow, barely two minutes in and Annabel has already entered to slam Emmas face into a table Roadhouse style and call her a bitch. We're off to the races, folks.

• Anyway, I wasn't too crazy about the reveal of what this was going to be premise wise but it picked up some steam  with everyone listing the horrid items in their own clumps (especially Nicola and Ayoade) and really kicked into high gear with the reveal that each clump will gain sentience and come to life, moving on its own the second you even think about the distinct possibility that you may actually need an item from the mass once a now gauzed up Emma bought up the possibility.

• I liked how this took the part of my brain that immediately calls up a previous SNL sketch to compare a current one to from "Closet Organizer? Nah" to "Oh, Big Dumb Hat/Cup" to "Hey, Almost Pizza!"

• By the way, am I the only person who could easily get this sketches' title sung to the tune of Chappel Roans' "Pink Pony Club" stuck in their head? Oh, what's that, reader? You've never even heard that song nor do you know who even sings it? Well, whoop de fuckin' doo, bud. Good for you. C+

QVC: The Jewelry Store

• Huh, is it me or is it a bit of an odd coincidence that SNL UK does a QVC sketch when their biggest sponsor appears to be eBay live? Hell, I'm starting to think that eBay live paid for this particular QVC product placement (just as much as I'm starting to hope none of this show's writers happened to have watched Scary Movie 2 on their week off).

• Anyway, there might not have been much to this at first besides the fact that Emma's character was a hand model/jewelry saleswoman who suddenly grew an Arsenio Hall length right index finger...but what really makes this work is the "show don't tell" mystery & lack of lore to it (especially if you want to distract from how Mikey Day-ish some of the dialogue is).

• For example, Emma's character has absolutely zero explanation for her hand situation besides "it grew" for the right one...and the left one she has no idea what the fucks' going on there because she is just now finding out about it for the first time herself.

• Hell, they even leave the audience guessing as to whether her left hand is a necrotic zombie hand that is just starting to rot off her wrist or if it's...like, a deer or a dog type or LOTR ent type hand? Is Emma about to be arrested by The Dog Police?

• I liked how this ended with Emma literally just passing out but then coming back to strangle Nicola. It's always best to leave your audience wanting a bit more than to try to punch above your weight. B+

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Robbins Fired, Condom Shortage, Russell Brand, Jackson Film

• Anias' Best Jokes: Mandelson & Starmer, Tribute To Queen Elizabeth 2, Piers Morgan Interview, Woman Of The Week, Leaving UK, Meghan Retreat

• Anyone else getting heavy Norm MacDonald vibes from a lot of the jokes tonight? Specifically, the Queen Elizabeth/King Charles/Russell Brand/Piers Morgan stuff (not JUST the Michael Jackson biopic/Phone ban stuff or Anias' "Woman Of The Week" and Meghan Markle joke...y'know, the obvious Norm comparisons).

• OK, Anias' Japanese Earthquake joke definitely felt like something Michael Che would tell.

• I think maybe Paddy should back off doing that patented "sheepishly shirking and shying away from the camera" move he does for a bit. He did it after nearly every joke tonight and it really only worked after the BTS runner (which he didn't do tonight). It's not something I want to see myself getting sick of or anything. I hope that's not his ONLY move.

• I wasn't too crazy about Emma's commentary (and not just because she wasn't just doing a Glenn Close impression when Paddy introduced her as "the woman who won't be ignored"). Her character reminded me of the type of aimless, pointless one shot characters Kristen Wiig and Heidi Gardner would do on Update in their heyday (with some of Kate McKinnons' movements worked in for good measure).

• I liked that they finally have Larry his own Update commentary. Part of me was a bit bummed it was at such a blackout length but part of me felt that we didn't need to spend a ton of time on it.

• I didn't think we really needed to see Jimmy here either. Hell, calling ANY SNL US alumni as "Weekend Update legend" is a bit of a stretch in my mind. I will admit I did get a kick out of the Lily Allen jokes and Epstein pronunciations.

• So, now that we know that Paddy does a decent Trump impression...would we be correct to assume that was him who growled "hello?" over the phone in the first ever cold open from Tina's episode?

• All in all, not the best Update for guests or commentaries but this was perhaps Paddy & Anias' strongest showing all season. B-

Landing A Plane

• OK, I know for sure I've seen this exact setup on SNL US numerous times in recent years (and I'm sure Dave Grohl was in one of them)...but it's such a vague, general area of things to write sketches about it could be anything.

• This appears to be poking fun at male ego and bravado which, at this point, I'm positive SNL UK is better equipped to handle.

• George did a great job leading this sketch and yet somehow Hammed had most of the best lines but I did like how Larry was the jumping off point for the mini top gun themed rant 

• Emma played her role well and the whole thing was well acted...but everything about its conclusion (yes, even including Emmas' final speech) felt incredibly telegraphed.

• I feel like we could've lost the Dave Grohl cameo and not have it effect the sketch at all (especially since he had to jog over to the musical guest stage for his second performance...they seem to have had some trouble timing all of those "running off to the next sketch/song performance" moments all night.). B-

Late Girl

• Huh...a live sketch framed as the conclusion to a modern "Cabin In The Woods" type slasher film. This should be interesting.

• OK, now Nicola has entered the scene as the bitchy, self centered, oblivious self victimizing one.

• Yeah, this feels like something I could have seen SNL US pull off but it mostly feels like something that would've better been done in a video from one of those Instagram/TikTok fashion/nostalgia influences. Still, Nicola is elevating this as well she can.

• Jack and Annabel were a bit much here (I've come to realize I like them much better when they're seperated on screen then when they are paired together) but I did like how they eventually dropped their whole "we just survived a bloody massacre that took all our friends" conceit just to be sparky to Nicola.

• I think what actually worked the most for me was Al and Larry suddenly popping up in the end as the crazed killers just to chastise Nicola for being late. C+

Another 45 Seconds With Fouracres 

• Well, I AM glad that this is becoming a recurring segment...but I didn't quite like this as much as the first one...but it might be growing on my after some repeat views

• Still, I'm even more glad that George got much more than this 45 seconds of screen time in the show...and that he appears to be doing well in general. B-

Ranking SNL UKs First Series From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
3. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
4. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
5. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts 

• This one showed a great deal of improvement from the previous episode. As a host, Nicola really yelled with the cast and writers and they really keyed in on her strengths as a comedic performer.

• They also really sharpened up their own writing for the most part in that most if the show's resemblance to its stateside counterpart came from it's choice of musical guest and alumni cameo.

• What few elements in the writing of the sketches that reminded me of previous sketches from SNL US and other shows  actually managed to work in the shows' favor rather than against it.

• As far as cast use, there seems to be more of a focused on George, Emma and Annabel this week. Celeste seems scaled back a bit. She, Al and Ayoade seemed more relegated to support roles. Jack and Hammed seemed a bit scaled back this week.

Closing Thoughts

• The next episode of SNL UK will be airing this weekend and will be hosted by Aimee Lou Wood. From what I've seen of her, she seems like she has enough comedic experience to do well on this show. 

• She's previously had some choice words about Sarah Shermans' portrayal of her White Lotus character on SNL US. I'm glad those two have worked it out amongst themselves personally.

• While I am still a bit annoyed myself that the online promos for this SNL UK episode have indeed referenced it...they did so in a way I actually found funny and I hope that they just...leave it at that.

• Also, this same weekend SNL US will return to our airwaves to enter it's home stretch of the season with an new double duty episode with host (and musical guest) Olivia Rodrigo. You'll probably get to read my review of that one before you read my SNL UK Aimee Lou Wood review, but see you then!

SNL UK: Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Melania: Truth Or Dare

• Well, up until now SNL UK has only done it's topical cold opens directly about and depicting its own countries heads of state and pop cultural figures. It took them until their fourth episode to do a whole cold open where any member of the Trump family is depicted. By any modern SNL standards, home or abroad, this shows a great deal of restraint.

• It's a bit of a relief that the Trump they chose to depict as a character was Melania, but I'm a bit torn on this one. While I liked this sketch conceptually better than how SNL US chose to address the real Melanias' sudden press conference denouncing Epstein out of nowhere, I have to say I liked Chloe Finemans' impression better than Emma Sidis'.

• I mean, I can definitely see why the SNL UK writers and producers would give this impression to Emma. Out of all the women on this show, she is the one that always mugs the hardest for the camera and always makes the strongest and boldest choices with whatever accent she happens to be doing but still...something about Emmas' Melania Trump impression felt a bit "off" to me (and when I find myself comparing Chloe Fineman favorably to someone else, something may be seriously wrong).

• I will admit I did like Emma's forceful "charades" and "truth or dare/how DARE you accuse me.." bits but aside from that it felt like another well worn SNL US template filled in with a few odd disconnected and irrelevant British references to make up for the fact that this British sketch show has chosen to center its cold open around the American first lady.

• Of course, the well worn SNL US tropes I am referring to are "well known political figure suddenly barges in uninvited to some normal everyday people's hangout to everyone's confusion" which was has frequently been a staple of James Austin Johnsons' Donald Trump cold opens (especially this recent one) and can also be seen here and here.

• Plus, that brief reference to Ye getting booted from the wireless festival felt like something SNL US would've done back in 2017 (or something SNL UK just did do when Tina referenced the recent BAFTA scandal).

• Well, at least this cold open wassl much shorter and more tightened up than most SNL US cold opens as of late (in spite of feeling a little bit rushed and over truncated). C+

Monologue

• Well, I unironically appreciate Jacks' rip roaring enthusiasm for this shows' mere existence right off the bat and I genuinely like his shots fired at Love Island up top.

• Other than that, I'm just getting heavy "British John Mulaney" vibes from this dude (and that's probably because all his marriage/fiance talk reminds me quite a bit of Mulaneys' early stuff and their styles of slight self depreciation are a bit similar).

• His delivery (and absolutely NOTHING else about him) reminds me of another heavily, heavily watered down James Acaster (and that may be because he and Jack are probably the only up and coming British comedians I know of outside of...well, this show's cast).

• Still, I was expecting a bit of a "here's some stuff from my own standup act" type monologue" tonight and I'd say I enjoyed it. I'd hesitate to outright call him a hack but he's not exactly reinventing the wheel here either. This isn't the most inventive standup ever or anything but it's...palatable. C+

Gary Thomas Gets A Series Of Bigger And Bigger Shocks

• Hmm...going into this I had a feeling that this had to be based on some specific video (thanks to a certain someone in a certain Discord server for digging it up and sharing it with the rest of us) and this does work a little better for me with the full context behind it.

• So, I guess this takes the fairly recent SNL US trope of doing near shot for shot remakes of some old music video or piece of obscure viral footage that someone in the cast or writing staff was obsessed with or fixated on that week (as can be seen here, here, here and also here) and just mixed THAT with something uniquely British? Already I have some mixed feelings about it.

• At first, I was wondering why they essentially put Ayoade Bambogye in a bald cap and drag to have HER play the role of Ian Wright until I saw that they were basically just having Hammed Animashaun come in at some point to play Garys' dad (who might have been my favorite character in this piece and I loved that Hammed chose to play him as a secret Lenny Henry Fred Dred style Jamacian accented rasta).

• I did like how every character in this had an increasingly different and deranged backstory to the point where Jack's character was a jogger he hit but somehow didn't kill one night.

• Oh, come on. Really? A professional TV show still doing Harambe jokes in 2026? A whole damn decade too late? And with the cheapest, crappiest gooniest looking gorilla costume they could afford?

• Jesus Christ, wasn't two portrayals of Dobby the House Elf in one season of SNL US more than enough? Ah, I suppose the British show does have some sort of home field advantage here so I can let it slide just once more.

• I wasn't crazy about this sketch. It was fine. I just really didn't like the way it ended.

• Actually, the more I sit with this the more it reminds me of some early-to-mid period Lonely Island Digital Shorts since this also essentially takes one recurring gag and memes it to death. It was interesting to see SNL UK attempt something in that vein, but this wasn't as good. It felt too much like it was made specifically for a British audience to really work like that. C+

Soccer Kid Swap

• Speaking of things that felt like they were written specifically for a British audience only where Ayoade Bambogye apparently plays a male soccer player...

• So, this is an actual thing? British soccer...er, sorry "football" players actually walk out onto the field with random children as their unofficial "mascots"? And these kids are contest winners and it's not a part of their "Make A Wish" equivalent or anything but more like their equivalent of throwing out a ceremonial first pitch at a World Series game? Also, why did Jack deliver his lines in a Mario like Italian accent?

• Yeah, sorry, I wanted to like this sketch more and feel like I got the basic underlying gag to it...but there was just too much to parse out if you don't follow British sports. Still, I can tell Jack and the cast were giving it their all. C+

Mastermind

• Ah, yes. No well known English sketch comedy show worth their salt can ever get away with NOT doing a Mastermind parody. It really is like a legal rite of passage over there.

• I absolutely loved how this was executed. They established a universally relatable concept and immediately follow it up with a string of silly nonsequitirs. 

• Who amongst us hasn't their own mother talk their early off unwillingly at some point about the regulars in their neighborhood and distant relatives THEY interact with in their own lives but WE don't?

• This is the type of basic sketch premises that could just as easily have been done on SNL US as SNL UK (in fact, I think SNL US may have already done something like this)

• The only part that didn't land with me was Hammeds' opening line saying he was good enough to host quiz shows but this other British TV presenter "couldn't read the news"? 

• I'm guessing Hammed was impersonating a man who either started out as a TV news anchor and later in his career moved on to hosting Mastermind or is currently still doing both gigs? Was this a subtle dig at the lack of, um...racial diversity among British TV presenters or are the only two black hosts on British television currently feuding with each other?

• Oh well. I did get a kick out of Hammeds last question being interrupted by the buzzer leading him to remark "I've started, so I'll finish" as well as Jacks' sideways glance when Hammed remarked "that's why you should always listen to mommy".

• I was wondering who those two extras were next to Jack and Celeste but they ended up being very inconsequential to this sketch as it cut itself off just as Celeste delivered what would be her only lines in the whole thing (it may have been a real non-ending but at least it didn't go on too long).

• I got a kick out if the guy with the bad hair transplant Jack's mom talked about being one of the contestants although if he even had one line, why not give even that to Al or any other male castmember? Oh well. Still a fun sketch. B-

DadSwap

• While I did get a kick out of Larry responding to Als' art school announcement with "what's that got to do with WWII?" I thought this pretape wasn't gonna have legs at first.

• The visuals of Jack and Hammed in their own little punk rock band were funny.

• Once Jack mentioned his own real dad struggling with his sexuality, I could immediately tell where this was going.

• Thankfully, this turned out to be more thoughtful and nuanced than I was expecting as they had George there to explore this premise by weighing its pros and cons and ruminating on the logistics and full consequences of what what he hath wrought on the world and attempt to completely wash his hands of it in real time as this unfolded.

• The parts of George's performance I liked the most were probably his increasingly frustrated "yeah, i know" responses to everyone pointing out how falling in love with their new swapped "dads" isn't illegal and his explaining to Celeste that using the app to get a guy her own age is just her getting a boyfriend and not a "dad."

• Speaking of the women in this cast, that WAS Annabel as the one who fell in love with her new "girl dad", right? The fact that they put whoever it really is in a wig that looks a lot like Emma's real hair threw me for a loop (and just when I thought I was able to tell those two apart from each other, too). Oh well, I didn't let that affect my enjoyment of this pretape that much. B+

Masters

• So, this one's just "what if Greenhilly or The Vogelchecks took place on a golf course with some millenial/Gen Z cringe mixed in" huh? Well, I didn't totally hate it.

• Yeah, with all the quick pecks on the mouth from the start this definitely reminded me more of a subtler, more tasteful and more gracefully presented version of The Vogelcgecks than Greenhilly upon rewatch.

• At least this moved on fairly quickly from just closed mouth kissing to everyone starting a polycule. The addition of Hammeds' delivery man at that point was a funny enough wrinkle (especially when the others kicked out Jack's character in favor of him).

• Jack's character deciding to get into a relationship with Als' caddy was pretty much the only logical way they could've ended this, so that's some solid sketch writing there. 

• The ending with Jack & George felt a little too telegraphed for my taste, but they made the most of it (especially with that line about not being invited to the upcoming Saudi Arabia).

• Well, I was pretty ambivalent toward that sketch but I have to say it came across as fairly socially progressive and modern minded. Too bad it wasn't particularly funny. C+

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Peter Mandleson, Planter, Chico In Court, Ferry Cuts

• Anias' Best Jokes: Kier Starmer In Saudi Arabia, Moon Mission, AI Fat Tool, Shroud Of Turin

• Al & Celestes' horse & jockey commentary may have been the funniest moment of the show for me. It's nice to see this show try out some new pairings with its cast and have them play off each other with expert chemistry.

• I love how Paddy not only bought back his BTS runner this week but also upped the ante with it by delivering most of it in Korean.

• Not sure what to make of Jack & Annabels' Gen Z commentary. I mean, I liked the sound effects and impressions they did, but that was about it. The rest of it felt like they dug up some old Twitter meme from about 2019 or so and turned it into an Update commentary. I did get a kick out of the sudden cut to Paddys' confused expression when Jack called him a "rude old bitch".

• It reminded me a bit too much of the type of overly hammy Update pieces Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman would do together on SNL US until Bowen left (and considering the first one of those that I thought of was this one which I pretty much panned in my review of it...I think the less said about this, the better). C+

Drunk Peter Pan

• Hey, another Al & Celeste pairing! Even as the straight men of the sketch, I liked getting to see this again so soon.

• Any other MSTies out there who've watched certain parts of season 13 getting heavy Emily Marsh vibes from Celeste in that wig?

• This may have actually been my favorite sketch of the night. My biggest laugh came from how blatantly visible Jacks' wires were and how they were just in service of smashing him into candy glass and breakaway furniture.

• Some of Jack's casual insults to Als' character were pretty funny too like "absolute mood hoover" and "shut your mouth, you piece of virgin" as well as his whole rant about all the different ways "Neverland sucks now".

• I wasn't too crazy about the ending though. Once Al's character said something about how "we've all got weird exes" I was expecting a reveal that his "weird ex" was Tinkerbell or something more creative than just "everyone suddenly comes around on the idea of a three-way".

• Still, even this was a bit more entertaining than the few "drunk and/or depressed jilted Peter Pan or Tonkerbell Tinkerbell barges into Wendy Darlings' house and behaves inappropriately" sketches that SNL US has done with the likes of Ed Asner, Claire Daines, Jim Parsons or even Robert Deniro". B-

Falling Down A Hill w/Helen Birch

• This was a fun, near black out length piece of condensed quiet physical comedy. It reminded me quite a bit of Phil Hartmans' "Robot Repair" from SNL US. 

• I'm not quite sure if Celeste is impersonating the actual UK artist & author Helen Birch but if she is, this would be a very sympathetic and understanding portrayal of her....if she actually did fall down a hill while filming her own British TV show. B+

Robert & Judith & Henry & Ethel

• Hmm...Jack Shep as an Ed Wynn-esque 1930s flapper drag queen seems like it's going to be a bit much. This also feels like the type of hammy Bowen Yang centric sketch that I didn't care much for (mainly because I'm not the target audience for).

• Still, as literally cartoonish and purposely stereotypical as this seems, I can appreciate the way he's absolutely throwing himself into this character. I did like him saying he slept in a graveyard and his shoes were filled with blood and the sheer boldness of his line about "stepping quickly into each other's holes".

• The twist with Celeste actually taking a liking to Sheps' character felt a little predictable but I liked how she made her slapsticky entrance hitting Jack with the door causing his cake to go slightly into his face.

• I liked Emma's character as well because she's the only one who made this over-the-top, transatlantic accented, old timey style of acting work for her and not add to the sheer sensory overload of this sketch. Plus, her being in the same sketch as Annabel made me realize that it WAS Annabel in DadSwap and that I CAN still tell the two of them apart. C+

Ranking SNL UKs First Series From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
3. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
4. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, as much as I hate to say it...this might have been the weakest of SNL UKs' initial run so far (it still easily wipes the floor with the episode of SNL US that aired mere hours after it, but that goes without saying).

• It might be due to the fact that this is the fourth of four episodes in a row (it's rare SNL US does that many in a row but these kids are just starting out) but this felt like the most wildly uneven episode of SNL UK yet to me.

• Writing wise, the show has made great progress in maintaining its unique British identity which I appreciate seeing (even if it comes at the slight cost of making some sketches feel that much less accessible to an American audience)

• Unfortunately, the portions of this episode that DID feel accessible to me as an American viewer were just the basic tropes and elements that I could distinctly trace back to what I have seen numerous times on SNL US (which this episode of SNL UK had the most of out of any of them so far).

• One thing I did like about this episode is that they gave a lot more screen time to Celeste Dring (who I felt has been a bit underused to this point and has the previous sketch experience with her group "Lazy Susan" to have earned some of her own showcases on this show).

• They seem to not only continue to be pushing Jack Shep as the star for viral clicks but also pushing Jack and Annabel together as a duo in a way I find a little obnoxious.

• They also seem to have pulled back on George Fouracres a bit but I have heard one of his close friends has died within the past week or so so that might have been his choice and if so, it's conmendable he even showed up at all. 

Closing Thoughts

• This coming weekend, SNL UK will return with a new episode hosted by Nicola Coughlan and musical guests The Foo Fighters.

• I liked what Nicola bought to Tina's episode so I'm glad they got her back as an actual host so quickly. 

• Although I'd much rather discover a new British act I've never heard before, good on SNL UK for now having had both a well known American host AND a well known American musical guest!

• Hopefully, I'll have the time and energy to get my review of that one out sooner rather than later so you can all read it in a timely fashion but you'll probably see my review of the Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood SNL US episode from 2007 well before then. See you again real soon!

SNL UK: Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.04.2026)

Starmers' Address

• Hmm..still not too crazy about opening the show with sudden applause but it didn't exactly detract from this opening or seem completely out of place so I'm not too bothered by it this time.

• I can't say that this was the worst SNL UK cold open thus far, but it does feel the most like any "typical" SNL US cold open that we could've seen them do stateside in the past 15 years (especially about four or five years ago during the brief window of time when James Austin Johnson played then President Joe Biden...so yeah, it felt the most like these two specifically).

• Yes, this really does combine SNL US' approach to commenting on the politics of Obama and Biden administration's with their "line of cast members each coming on to deliver a few lines and then leave" structure of cold opens (like this one in particular) except this one is more straight forward and direct in their calling out of Sir Keir Starmers' faults.

• Good to see Fouracres bring this back. His Keir Starmer is a fun impression to start the show off with as proven in the premiere (well, as "fun" as you can have with any type of political humor these days). I do also like how purely British this cold open is in that they only address England's troubles without dragging any of America's numerous problems into it (aside from a vague reference to our troubles with Iran and Israel here and there).

• Als' Harry Kane is a fun character, too. I'll admit it is the one British cultural reference I have no context for here so I can't say much about the impersonation itself. 

• I do get that the basic characterization here is just "big lunkhead athlete gives your standard, media trained post game interview that clearly requires all the innate charisma he can muster" and I did chuckle seeing that element get shoehorned in here.

• I do like Emma's Olivia Coleman impression, though. I mean, it might not be as accurate as Cecily Strongs' impression (seen here) but I am familiar with Olivia mostly through her work on Mitchell & Webb adjacent sketch shows (which is ironic since this sketch does assume US audiences mostly know her from performances the Cornetto film trilogy and Oscar bait dramas like "The Favourite") and I do see that Emmas' doing this impression out of affection and admiration, just playing off Olivia's personas from the likes of "Bruiser" and "Hot Fuzz".

• Annabels' Peppa Pig was a nice bit of light absurdity to end this cold open with. I liked their very minimalist, light on nightmarish prosthetics approach to bringing this kiddie cartoon character to life.

• The group "Live From London..." didn't bother me here either but I wish just once they could try just a segue into a solo version of that. C+

Monologue 

• Hmm...I admire Riz Ahmeds' ability and eagerness to poke fun at his own background the types of roles he always gets, but on the other hand...that's the very thing that makes this feel too much like any typical SNL US monologue done by an actor not known for their comedic roles in the past eight years.

• I do like how he tied his own identity crisis rant into a meta comment on how SNL UK hasn't even had one genuinely British host yet (but I can at least tell they're taking baby steps in that direction). 

• Riz is a very confident host which sets a great tone for the rest of the show. I like how he tied this whole monologue together with his "we Brits like it when things are a little bit crap" speech. As much as I could unpack and parse, this was a very rousing and fun monologue to start the show off with. B+

Why Are Phones?

• Immediately, I got heavy Lonely Island vibes from this pretape. It seemed like a direct cross between their "Rescue Dogs 3D" digital short and their "Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions" song from the Andy Samberg hosted 2009 MTV VMAs (in that this also seems like it would've worked better as a movie awards show segment than on a sketch show what with all the clips from actual modern smart phone scenes from TV and movies that they must have had to pay for clearance to air...which I'm just now realizing may be the thing keeping this off YouTube as a standalone clip).

• Putting that aside, I do appreciate how thoroughly and intricately they deconstructed the tropes of how movie characters use smart phones (particularly the "fictional apps only" thing) and how seamlessly they transitioned into doing tge same for the similar trope of why cops seem to only socialize with other cops evdn when they're off duty.

• Interesting way for them to work in Ayoade Bambogye into this sketch and give her some screen time.

• I did see someone say that it's funny that both versions of SNL did their own country songs this week and that SNL US' was better. I might honestly call it a draw on that one myself. 

• I mean, the SNL US "Words To Live By" felt like it was modeled after actual (modern) country pop music and this felt like it was more...trying to parody square dances or bluegrass by comparison? Plus, this one felt like it had less reason or justification to be framed specifically as a country song.

• Anyway, fun pretape to follow the monologue even if, like the monologue, it felt maybe a little too dense and briskly paced for its own good. C+

Great Big Crab Man

• Ok, I gotta get this out if the way right up top. Before I actually watched this sketch, I noticed the title of the YouTube upload was "Traitors: A Very Confident Mistake". Weird way to describe the sketch, first of all. They must've been chasing YouTube views with that title.

• Secondly, I wasn't quite sure how this was supposed to be a "Traitors" parody as I haven't watched "Traitors" enough to be familiar with it outside of the fact that Alan Cumming is the host and no one appeared to be doing an impression of him. 

• Then, I remembered that "Traitors" is yet another show adapted from a European reality show and skimmed over enough "Traitors UK" promo material to see that Celeste was actually doing an uncanny (well, at least visually) impression of actual "Traitors UK" host Claudia Winkleman. I'm guessing Emma must've been impersonating a specific contestant based on the strong choice she made with that accent.

• Anyway, that being said, this was also a very fun sketch (even if it feels like it heavily borrows from the template of this fairly recent SNL US sketch). The sights and sounds of (who I assume was) Fouracres in the big red crab costume played well against the rest of this sketch. Plus, it does actually confront a lot of blatant racism you hear about going on a lot in England and it does feel shorter and more direct on rewatch. Riz and Ayoade in particular were also pretty great here. B-

Operation

• This sketch was a real roller coaster, but I loved how thoroughly they committed to this from a writing and performance stand point of taking the viewer along all these different turns along the way

• I do appreciate how this wasn't solely focused on Rizs' singular obsession with clean pulls in the Operation game (because ot was starting to feel just like this SNL US sketch) and that the writers showed us Riz and Celeste reconciling their relationship RIGHT as she is about to leave him.

• I also liked the visual of Al made up as a real life version of the Operation patient followed by the additional "twist" of Riz not realizing his operation skills don't translate to real lifesaving abilities as he is baffled by all the blood and internal organs he has to pull out of Als' character with cooking tools.

• By the way, I also appreciate how this sketchs' inevitable vomit by Jack was tastefully done into a bucket as invisibly as possible and I got a kick out of the police accidentally setting off Als' light up nose buzzer when they accidentally hit his stretcher against the doorway.

• Once again, props to the writers for making this sketch as grounded and realistically, consequentially absurd as possible. This may have been the most Pythonesque sketch SNL UK has done yet insofar as they were able to stop themselves from getting "too silly" before the actual ending. B-

OG FM

• Ok, this is definitely just a refined and reskinned SNL US sketch. Specifically, it's Jimmy Fallons' Z-105/Joey Mack sketches mixed with "The Shout Out Show" from early 2002 with Hammed, Ayoade and (hilariously) Al playing their parts as basically Kyle Mooneys' "REAL HIP HOP" character.

• Still, all the cast members and Riz performed this extremely well. Each of their lines were very funny and I liked how this built to an actual well executed climax with Riz just straight spitting fire at the end. I'm sure they wrote this sketch specifically to play to his strengths since he did mention being a rapper in the monologue. B-

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Navy Jibe/Yellow Submarine, Easter, New Online Subscription Laws

• Anias' Best Jokes: Bridge Bombed, Navy Jibe #1, Zuckerberg Bunker, Police Guns Found

• Emma as "Generic Love Island Bimbo" definitely felt like a Colin Jost/Cecily Strong Update two-hander from the FIRST Trump presidency (or like something from the actual Love Island parody SNL did in 2019 with Phoebe Waller-Bridge). 

• Sadly, while I liked her performance I have to say this is the one time in the entire run of SNL UK so far that they didn't manage to automatically improve on a pre-existing SNL US formula. I only say that because any comedy show could do this and it would only really land with people who actually watch and keep up with Love Island or any other reality show (which I do not so this was just a bit of cute, cockney white noise to me).

• I think this goes without saying how troubling it is that now even SNL UK is doing Update characters in big animal costumes. 

• Seriously though, Jack's adorable doormouse does feel like a more palatable version of something Lorne would've made Bowen, Sarah, Marcello, Kenan or Michael Longfellow would do.

• Still, I'm grateful that Jack found a way to do this without going too garishly over the top with it.

• Al and George's "skin on skin contact father and large adult son" commentary may have been the comedic high point of this Update. Much like Jack earlier, I love how committedly they both sold the absurdity of this premise without trying too hard. B-

The Bastard Seagull 

• Did...this sketch open with canned applause fading out?

• Anyway, this might have been my favorite live sketch of the night and my singular favorite performance from George Fouracres in the entire run of this show at this point. He pretty much owned this sketch and made a meal out of his role, especially near the end.

• Riz also played quite well off of him and did a great job of matching his energy. Hammed gave a very fun Kenan Thompson-coded performance in this as well.

• I don't want to sound like a broken record but I feel like there's truly an insane number of modern SNL sketches from tge past decade or so that fit this format of "group of people jump all over one main characters blowing their single minded obsession with an incredibly minor personal issue out of proportion where most enabling them by pressing for more information while one or two others just urge them to move on" but I had too much fun with this to really care enough to even try and remember a previous example of this.

• I appreciated how it ended just before they belabored the joke but just shoving a Seagull puppet in front of the camera and just segueing into the second musical guest performance just felt a little too tacked on to me. Otherwise, a near perfect sketch. A-

Bunny Lamaze

• Yeah, SNL US has done a few "strange lamaze classes" in the past few years but this felt a bit closer to the "outlandish gay couple trying for a baby in a physically impossible way" sketches that Bowen Yang did in recent years with Adam Driver and Jon Hamm. 

• Still, this at least added an additional layer of absurdity to this with the implication that the Easter bunny is unaware that the chocolate eggs he half lays/half defeated every year are 100% chocolate and thus edible and thus they can't be raised like children.

• Hammed and Riz played their roles well and certainly elevated this material. It must've taken some incredible restraint on the show's part to not cast Jack in Hammeds' role but I guess...Hammed just looked more realistic as a giant bunny rabbit? C+

Ranking SNL UKs First Series From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
3. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• While I very much appreciate how committed the writers were to fully fleshing out all the premises and concepts they had this week, I feel like there was some major backsliding in terms of this show establishing its own unique British style and identity.

• I only say this because nearly every sketch in tonight's episode felt like a major punch up on a sketch SNL US would've done or has done already.

• For this reason, I had to rank this episode as only the second best of this first series so far. That isn't to say the debut with Tina was the worst episode so far. This is just saying that while the show has established itself, they didn't quite take as many risks as they did last week with Jamie.

• Riz was a very strong host and I feel that cast balance has improved. They seem to be using George, Al and all the women more this week although they're holding back a bit more on Hammed and Larry.

• They seem to be using Jack a bit less but since they obviously want to lean into him as someone who draws in a younger audience, at least they're using him just enough to not have him feel like he's dominating the show...so that's good.

Closing Thoughts 

• The next episode of SNL UK (which will probably air tonight or tomorrow depending on when and where you're reading this at this point) will be hosted by English comic Jack Whitehall. He's a bit divisive and a bit posh from what I've heard (and he apparently played at the Riyadh comedy festival last fall) but not totally hated. I'm unfamiliar with him myself so I have no idea what to expect. I'm sure he'll do portions of his own act for his monologue but I just hope he doesn't give us an insane Ben Elton style rant.

• At this point, it's probably a safe bet that you'll see my review of the upcoming Colman Domingo/Anita episode of SNL US before you get to see my review of that one. One thing you may get to hear before you read that is the upcoming new episode of We Heart Hader podcast (which should hopefully also be out as you're reading this) where Deej and I continue to review Documentary Now Season One with "The Eye Doesn't Lie". 

• After that, we'll return to reviewing season 33 of SNL US with the Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood episode for which I will also post a review of on thus blog which you can read while SNL US at least will be on a break (great timing on that one, huh? I'm not totally sure if SNL UK will also be on a break or not by then). Anyway, see you real soon kids!

SNL UK: Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)

Starmer Calls Trump

• Wow, I see we're already keeping one of SNL US' on and off traditions of starting off cold opens with unnecessary thunderous applause for no reason whatsoever. It's OK. I don't really have a problem with it here. I'm just pleased this show is going to have a hot crowd on its live debut. The audience reception may make or break this show.

• Already I'm getting slight Kenny Everett vibes from George Fouracres performance as prime minister Keir Starmer (or maybe it's just the Gizzard Puke-like voice he's using?). The sketch itself is giving me a slight mix of "Spitting Image" and "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" vibes (this does remind me of the first Mark McKinney/Mark Carney sketch I saw them do)...which is nice. It's already set itself apart from SNL US a bit for me.

• As soon as George uttered that "I can change him" line, I knew this was headed in a direction I was going to like. Sure, it's pretty much the inverse of this sketch ftom SNL US and a bit reminiscent of a lot of SNL USs' hacky ass "lol Trump & Putin are gay boyfriends with each other" jokes from 2016/17 and it's portraying Trump as the dominant one in the "situationship" but it's still in service of a UK sketch comedy show just straight up calling their country's leader a spineless worm who can't stand up to Trump on his own in a way that's much more pointed and direct than the cutesy bucket of buzzword salad crap in SNL US cold opens that they try to pass off as political satire nowadays.

• I wasn't crazy about Jack Sheps' stereotypical GenZ character (hell, hearing the word "throuple" still makes me want to "throw upple") but at least he served and he tied this sketch together somewhat. I did like the subtle meta dig at "embracing America's unproblematic culture" just before they did the first ever utterance of "Live From London..." B-

Monologue 

• I do like how the opening montage, theme music and set design make this feel like a new, seperate from SNL British comedy show (at least cosmetically). Hell, this shows' theme music sounds like something you'd hear snippets of coming in and out of commercial breaks during a typical episode of SNL US.

• Tina was a welcoming and friendly presence. She did a fine job of delivering a rare non-promotional host monologue fir which the sole purpose was just laying the groundwork for what this shows' basic format would be for those UK viewers unfamiliar with SNL US. I did like her line "one boy is either Scottish or choking".

• Still, her portions of this monologue felt like any typical SNL US monologue from the past 15 years or so. In fact, with all the additional cameos it specifically feels like a much less insulting and much more ingratiating version of the same monologue she did in May 2018 for the SNL US season 43 finale with a little bit of her season 33 monologue from February 2008 thrown in (the first and last time she actually hosted the show on her own side of the pond). 

• I could've done without Michael Ceras' bit but I was just as pleasantly surprised with SNL UKs' ability to drop some unpleeped F-bombs on live TV as he seemed to be.

• Nicola Coughlan was by far the strongest part of this monologue. She sold the subtle passive aggressive bitchiness of her part well enough that I would also like to see her host one of the remaining 7 episodes of this series (hopefully, this gets renewed past its initial 8 episode order and she gets more chances). Hell, her Shrek joke makes me wonder how Mike Meyers himself would do as a potential host of this show?

• Man, I haven't seen Graham Norton on my TV since Comedy Central aired some version of his talk show here in the US 22 years ago but he did a great job of bringing this to a satisfying conclusion. I definitely chuckled at the "auto glass/safelite" jingle at the end. B-

Underáge by Pedólay

• Wow, bold choice for this shows' first fake commercial pretape. 

• It certainly displays a sharp edge that SNL US has been lacking for quite some time (or maybe it just appears that way because certain segments of the UK are much vocally and virulently against pedophiles than we are in the US...in spite of how we're all just finding out about how they've been covering for some of their own big ones for decades).

• Still, for the punch this packed, it could've been tightened up a bit (especially for a pretape so it doesn't hit too many unnecessary beats after the big reveal of its basic joke).

• Was that Paddy as Celestes' husband? Was this his only non-Update sketch appearance in the whole show?

• Hammed as the aggressive cop was funny and one line I liked was "my husband lost his recording contract and some, but not all, of his fans". 

• I did think the interrogation scene at the very end was a nice touch as well.

• The more I watch and sit with this, the more it feels like the type of pretape we would get in SNL around 2017/18 that would be left by Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon...but this felt a bit fresher and more bold. C+

David Attenboroughs' Last Supper

• Even though this is a well worn premise I know I have seen SNL US pull off many times before (see "When Great Minds Meet" in 1988, "Historys' Greatest Overthinkers in 1993, Rachel Dratch as James Madison on Weekend Update in 2000) I was delighted by the execution of this one. 

• George Fouracres portrayal of Sir David Attenborough was a great centerpiece of this sketch (even if the voice he used sounded a lot like his Keir Starmer except raspier and less congested). George had the best lines and is quickly emerging as one of the early standout performers in this cast.

• I'll admit there were about four portrayals of figures from British history I didn't recognize but that didn't really hamper my viewing experience (maybe reading Beardie Vikings' review whenever he posts it to his blog will help me fill in a few gaps).

• Even Jack Sheps' Princess Diana was done tastefully and Tinas' Agatha Christie wasn't too over the top. It was neat to see Paul and Jack come close to breaking. B-

Hot Streak

• OK, Hammed is emerging as the second standout performer of this cast. The way he asked Tina and Jacks' actor characters why their movie fucking sucked so bad and forcefully criticized them right after a Fallon-like heaping of praise on their characters had me falling out laughing. 

• I also loved how seamlessly this transition into a poignant commentary on the modern human condition. 

• Definitely one of the high points of this premiere episode. I even got a kick out of Hammeds' character being named "Ed Boovies" just so the title of the fake show within a show could be "Boovies Goes To The Films" A-

The Budger

• While I feel this could've gone a bit harder in the paint on the basic premise of "how to make the average person's internet experience worse" and still have given off "relatable" vibes, I still enjoyed how it captured the banality of those small annoyances around modern smartphone and PC web browsing (even if they skipped over some of the dangerous misinformation and bigotry you can easily encounter online from time to time).

• I appreciate the specificity in the writing as well as the "spy junk tech thriller" style in which this was filmed. Those aspects of this piece combined with the fact that I was watching an Emglish language foreign sketch comedy program really gave me "Baroness Von Sketch Show" vibes.

• It's a shame they didn't introduce us to the person in charge of pushing those little tutorial pop ups in various smart phone apps that come up whenever you get a new smartphone and open up your same old apps in it to point out various features in said apps like you didn't already know how to use them or the person in charge of making wireless bluetooth earbuds glitch out whenever you're actively listening to something on your phone through them because I'd really like to meet that person and have a chat with those specific people sometime soon.

• I liked the subtle visuals of guys casually sipping from whole containers worth of coffee and pouring entire containers of sugar in their coffee without looking away from their screens. However, I think Larry Deans' "X-man" interview could've been rewritten so that fast paced dialogue is missed over audience applause.

• While I feel they could've tightened up the suspenseful "budge" segment at the end, I liked the tense drama behind it. Speaking of, was that Ania as the woman scrolling through her phone on the couch? It didn't quite look like any of the other women. 

• I especially liked the "do you get paid for your job?" back and forth between Hammed and the unseen interviewer. B-

Ultrasound

• Wow, two segments in a row that give off slight BVSS vibes! This shows' really got something.

• I say BVSS vibes because this also had a very specific, very modern "relatable" idea behind its writing...but it was VERY much executed in the style of most modern SNL US live sketches very much to its detriment. 

• In fact, I would venture a guess that Tina heavily punched up this script at some point after read through because it largely seems to be in her voice (especially her opening rant about how her kids are mean to her).

• Yeah, this is something I could definitely see being done on modern SNL with the fetus being played by either Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman or Marcello Hernandez. Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman would definitely be the parents as they're the best at overexplaining what someone is doing out of anyone in the current SNL US cast.

• Hmm, in fact...I think I may have ALREADY seen how modern SNL would have executed this sketch since it remind me a lot of this one...and this one...and this one (which seems to share a similarly odd idea of what the inside of a womans' damn womb looks like). Hell, Jacks dancing as the fetus reminded me of this in a good way.

• I don't mean to knock this sketch entirely or accuse the show of plagiarism (hell, it's certainly not an "adaptation" of anything). I was just saying that...I didn't know if this sketch worked for me personally at first but it grew on me after a couple rewatches.

• I did like Celestes' line "I'm not a doctor. I'm just a stupid rocket scientist." I'm not that surprised at Tinas' "pop that puss" line because I believe it's possible that SNL US could've also gotten that on the air. Hell, I even liked how Tina transitioned out of this sketch into introducing Wet Legs' first performance right after the type of ending that SNL US has been doing increasingly for every fourth or fifth sketch since Covid. C+

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Anias' Best Jokes: Starmer U-Turn, Prince Andrew Moves

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Dubai Under Fire, Nato Holds Back, Helium Shortages, Andrew In Prison, BTS On Tour

• Damn, this version of Update has the flashiest set for any comedy news segment I've seen since The Daily Show!

• Even though Paddy had more of the jokes that really hit for me, I still really like Anias' presence as his co-anchor. I mean, DAMN, she's the one that took (the former) Prince Andrew straight to the fuckin' woodchipper!

• I liked how sharp and edgy tge writing behind these Update jokes were with out the edginess feeling too forced. 

• Maybe I can see some of these same jokes being delivered by Jost & Che here in the states but they still sound classier and pack more of a wallop when delivered not just in a British accent but by a fresh new pair of comics who actually have some spark and life in their eyes.

• Yeah, I gotta say I'd DEFINITELY take Paddy & Ania over Jost & Che at this point.

• Al Nash as Capt. Birdseye definitely seems like the type of correspondent desk piece that would've been done by Andy Samberg or Bobby Moynihan during Seth Meyers solo run as Update anchor on SNL US but a lot shorter and with a sudden reveal of a darker twist at the end. Still, there was great fun to be had there. B+

A Changed William Shakespeare 

• Hey, we finally get to see George again...AND he's doing a different voice!

• Tinas' got just enough acting chops to pull off the "forlorn, neglected wife" part here.

• Wow. Never thought I'd hear the phrase "cunty little earring" go out uncensored on the airwaves of any version if SNL.

• I got a kick out of the way George delivered the lines "Methinks I might write another one of these...PLAAAAAAAYYYSS" and "I must to London. My next staging awaits. Henry The Fourth Part II: Henry The FIIIIIIIFFFTHHH!"

• Yeeeeaaaaahhhh, this is starting to feel like a sketch SNL US would do with Jason Momoa as host (specifically "The Ghost Of Christmas Extra" if anyone remembers that one from 2018 because it ain't on YouTube).

• Well, I will admit that just straight up replacing George with Jack in the middle of the sketch is an interesting tactic that I'm sure SNL wouldn't do if they were executing this sketch...but they would certainly have him talking like a contestant on RuPauls' Drag Race if they could. No doubt about that.

• I'll also admit that Jack had a few bits and lines I did like (riding in on a Bird Scooter, Stratford-upon-Avon/London-upon-Ketamine, "Charli Ten 100 Ten", unintentionally stumbling over the phrase "glow up era", "'Tis but a K-hole") but not everything he added to this sketch made the rushed as hell ending that much better.

• Wow, we get TWO utterances of the word "cunty" along with a vague, empty, evdn more confusing explanation of why some can say it and others still can't followed by a sudden dance off to a 15 year old Rhianna song complete with a Charli XCX lookalike and some drag queens? What God did we please?

• Yeah, this sketch really cemented in my mind that Jack Shep is going to be the Bowen Yang/Marcello Hernandez of this show. I don't mean that as a criticism of his actual performances but rather as a commentary on what roles he's given and what spot he fills on the show.

• Jack Shep seems to be the youngest person in this cast by far so he easily fits the Marcello/Pete Davidson/Samberg/Fallon archetype of "guy who's strictly for the young audience to fawn over and will probably annoy the hell out if any viewer over the age of 40". He'll be the one the show leans on for viral buzz moments to draw the teens and early twenty somethings in from social media.

• He also gives off Bowen vibes because so far he's...well, I'll just say he's been the one giving us all of what I like to call the "campy" performances and leave it at that.

• Hey, it's not my place to speculate on anyone's personal life. I'll just say that. 

• Also, before actually watching this episode I had seen the minor spoiler that there was some honest to God audience booing in the show that I didn't actually catch with my ears or hear during the show. I'm going to assume it was at this sketch just because this really is the only sketch I can even imagine one person legitimately booing at. C+

Live Paddington Bear Experience 

• Hey, there's Ania again as the mother of three. I for sure recognize her. So, I guess she and Paddy are mostly going to appear in pretapes outside of Update.

• At first, I was expecting this to be a Bill Burr type thing where we keep cutting back to Annabels' Bachelorette Party just because that's how bad SNL US has brainwashed me.

• I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was another gore pretape where the gore effects were played subtly and with sheer obliviousness to a collective trauma rather than for cheap, tired obvious shock value. I guess I just broke the SNL US conditioning.

• I'm glad to see this more resembled a grittier "Happy Fun Ball" than Sarah Squirms' takes on "A Christmas Carol" and "Scooby Doo".

• Tina was great in the mockumentary portion as the dim, callous producer. All the other post interviews were great (especially Hammed, Larry and Ania).

• I also got a kick out if Al as the bored janitor casually tossing a severed foor in a trash can. 

• Even this would've been a couple years too late for a timely parody, this HAD to ge a parody of the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience, right? A-

Bra Fitting

• Hmm, I guess this sketch presupposes that all women (especially British ones) are just as insecure about their breast/bra/cup sizes as all men are about their penis sizes? 

• From the way it was written and the specific British slang used, it took me about two thirds of the way into this to surmise that this is where it was going. 

• Still, as strange as this was to parse, I liked Emma's performance. She really made this work. 

• I get the sense that some of this show's writers must've been 30 Rock fans if they get that show over there since they were obviously keen on having Tina play another pathetic Liz Lemon type character.

• Hey, there's a reference to the MBJ/Lindo BAFTAS/Tourettes incident! I wondered if it would be really necessary for SNL UK to reference it this far after the fact but the audience seemed to like it.

• The Regé-Jean Page cameo felt a little forced but if this audience needed another Britush celeb cameo to keep them interested this close to the end of the show, I can put up with it. C+

45 Seconds With Fouracres

• Hey, nice to close out the show with the exact type of goofy nonsense you might expect to find on something like "Fast Show" or "Codco" or something more obscure and British of that ilk that you could only see on Sunday nights on the That Week In SNL Twitch stream!

• It's also nice to see a personal showcase from one of the early standout performers on this show. I'm calling it George Fouracres is gonna be the JAJ of SNL UK. 

• The second Nicola Coughlan cameo was a nice touch. I wonder if they truly followed SNL US tradition and wrote the hosts monologue much later in the week than the rest of the show and this is what they originally asked Nicola Coughlan to cameo in and then figured "well, as long as we got her here..." A-

Overall Thoughts

• Wow, I must say I was quite impressed by this whole show. I didn't quite know what to expect but what I got was a strong debut!

• Sure, I noticed some structural parallels between SNL UK and SNL US in the sketch writing department (with as much SNL US as I have seen in my lifetime it's pretty hard not to) but for the most part I was pleasantly surprised by how this show managed to retain so much of a uniquely British identity and sense of humor in its presentation as to make it into what I like to call "SNLINO" (or "Saturday Night Live In Name Only")

• Yes, there was enough sharp and pointed sketch writing here to make this a welcome breath of fresh air from modern SNL US in 2026 (especially after the dull as dishwater Harry Styles episode...funny how easily a British SNL episode with an American host just so easily trounces an American SNL episode with a British host).

• One thing I really liked about this episode is how it immediately drew me in much more than a lot of recent SNL US as of late. You can tell by the way this review doesn't start off with a series of Mikey Day-esque immediate hot take reactions of me describing what I am seeing in the moment. This is partly because I wanted to take it all in the first time I saw it and see if any possible format deviations had an effrct on the show as well. 

• The first time I watched it (out of several) I didn't once feel the urge to divert my attention from a screen just to take notes on a sketch as it was playing. The closest I came to actually doing this was during the "Hot Streak" sketch just Google the names of Tina & Jacks' characters to see if they were impersonating real people (they weren't) and I consider this a marked improvement of SNL UK over SNL US.

• As far as cast usage goes, it looks like George, Jack and Hammed dominated the night with some small assists from Al, Celeste and Emma. Hopefully, Arcade, Larry and Annabel will get to do more in the coming weeks.

Closing Thoughts 

• Next week, SNL US will still be in reruns while SNL UK gives us another brand new episode with Christian Grey himself, Jamie Dornan as host. I don't know what kind if comedic chops Mr. Dornan actually has but with a non American/non SNL US alumni as host, I do look forward to seeing how SNL UK further breaks out if the shadow of SNL US and further establishes its own British identity.

• I plan to review that one as well but before I do I urge you all to check out the review of the Brian Williams/Feist episode from SNL US season 33 that I will post this weekend as soon as the new episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast hits your preferred podcast portal and you can listen to Deej and I review that episode rather than just reading my review alone.

• Hopefully, that episode isn't going to be delayed due to any technical or production issues that came up on my end when we tried to record it. After that, we'll be working on a review of the Documentary Now! episode "The Eye Doesn't Lie" (a spoof of "The Thin Blue Line".

• See you then!