menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

SNL UK is a welcome comedy of errors – what to watch, listen to and read this week

31 0
27.03.2026

When it was announced that Saturday Night Live would launch a UK version there were a lot of naysayers, including me. I’m not a total hater, there have been sketches I’ve found genuinely funny in recent years – like this one poking fun at the incomprehenisbility of the metric system. However, on the whole, SNL is not my kind of comedy, there’s something too obvious about its type of humour.

Most people would probably agree that American humour and British humour are different. We love comedy sketch shows, but ours are darker, more sarcastic and absurdist. Would SNL UK try to imitate the original or would it boldly forge its own path? Based on the first episode, the showrunners have gone with a bit of both, using the tried-and-tested format, but applying a British sensibility as much as possible.

Now I wouldn’t say I loved every minute of it and neither did our reviewer, TV comedy expert Tom Hemingway. There were bloated sketches, dud jokes, cringey performances – but also moments that shone. For instance, Ania Magliano and Paddy Young’s Weekend Update had some solid and daring political jokes, including one particularly brilliant one about helium and the Strait of Hormuz. Then there was the mad comedy attack, “45 Seconds with Fouracres”, where he dashed through Irish accents in a skit about “what kind of Irish is your grandad?”

It was imperfect, but I don’t think we’ve had something like it that dares to try and fail on British TV in a while. It was like being at a live comedy show where things are a bit unpolished and some jokes soar while........

© The Conversation