SNL UK has found extreme weirdness, and it works

The second episode of Saturday Night Live UK concluded with Jamie Dornan having a pair of testicles attached to his hips in an attempt to befriend a rugby player. A few sketches earlier, there was a hilariously endless Les Mis inspired musical about menial workers who make the ends of takeaway wraps stick to the foil wrapping. There was also an advert for a food truck selling baked beans, fronted by brothers hoping to atone for the actions of their murderous ancestor. And that’s not to mention a skit characterising Jools Holland as a demonic, many-bodied enforcer of the clocks changing.

All of this stuff was very, very weird. These skits were all deeply unusual and even bold for a sophomore episode of a TV comedy show aiming to achieve the sort of broad, mainstream appeal that SNL in the USA had during its heyday. But they’re also essential if SNL UK is going to succeed.

There’s no reason for the British version of Saturday Night Live to simply retread the path of its Stateside progenitor. SNL’s cultural footprint in the UK is fairly small, with only a scattering of occasional viral clips – hello, Ryan Gosling’s Papyrus – breaking containment and spreading to these shores. Almost nobody here watches the full hour of the show and so there are very few preconceived ideas as to what SNL UK should be.

In that context, the best thing it can do is strike out on its own. And let’s face it, the way to do that is by being decidedly odd and decidedly British.

The second episode of SNL UK leaned into this beautifully. It had a great mix of broad ideas executed well – such as the expertly done cold open sketch about the former Prince Andrew – and truly bonkers concepts milked for every potential drop of silliness.

This is something that was largely absent from the decent-but-wobbly inaugural episode, which only flirted with true strangeness in an enjoyably chaotic skit involving George Fouracres impersonating various types of Irish grandparent. This was a moment when the episode truly came alive and a cursory flick through TikTok will show you that it’s “living rent-free” in the heads of many content creators.

SNL UK is going to thrive through discoverability via social media and, let’s face it, the internet thrives on absurdity and out-there comedic ideas. Given the fact the show’s cast includes several comedians who made their name online – including social media specialist Al Nash – the talent and know-how is there to get these sketches out into the world. Though, bafflingly, the team at Sky seems to be cherry-picking just two or three skits to put out on social media each week and the TikTok feed only features one video at time of writing – an introduction to second guest host Jamie Dornan.

Social media is absolutely key to the success of SNL UK going forward, so here’s hoping that Sky becomes less skittish about sharing sketches. Of the four I mentioned in my opening paragraph, only the Jools Holland one has made its way to YouTube. Presumably this is a strategy to try to ensure people watch the full episodes, but this feels frankly quite short-sighted. The weirder excesses of SNL will do better as out of context social media bits than they will as part of an hour-long TV show.

But here’s hoping that SNL UK stays odd and idiosyncratic. There’s no point chasing American eyes with safe skits when the best hope for the long-term future of the show is to embrace the uniquely British oddity that can help the show to thrive with audiences both old and young. 

So that’s more testicles, more criminally concerning food trucks, and lots more demonic Jools Holland.

Saturday Night Live UK airs weekly on Sky One and is streaming on Sky/NOW.

Header Image Credit: Sky