Live from New York it’s . . . the second-best “Saturday Night”?
It makes me feel for-Lorned to say it. But “SNL UK,” the brand-new British counterpart to the 51-year-old American sketch-comedy series is, frankly, kicking NYC’s arse.
I watch both shows every week — UK airs here Sundays on Peacock — and the pattern is clear.
On NBC, if we’re lucky, there’s one solid sketch showcasing breakout Ashley Padilla. Marcello Hernández is going to be an Adam Sandler-level movie star, 100 percent, but I never want to see Domingo again. Most of the material over at Studio 8H these days favors a wacky, coked-up premise over structure or payoff. Nothing is smart. Scenes usually fall off a cliff.
Meanwhile in London, the far superior version with an accent has been consistently enjoyable from start to finish. Often it’s phenomenal. The spin-off is more hilarious, wittier, edgier and boundlessly creative. It’s proving “SNL” can be good.
And I’m not the first to say that. Of all people, “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels has said so.
“My design for it was that it would be the cooler of the two shows, and it would be the thing they beat us up with,” the man with the plan told Deadline. “It’s smarter, funnier, more original.”
That remark must’ve stung over at 30 Rock. Who needs TV critics when you’ve got Lorne?
The stunning success of “UK” — particularly on YouTube and Instagram where clips have racked up millions of views — could be a result of starting out with a target on its back.
Everybody, including me, thought it was a terrible idea.
You might’ve heard that British comedy is kind of a big deal. How could a half-century-old American format improve upon such a proud tradition?
But, hey, isn’t that how the original show began in NYC — as a hugely doubted underdog?
Both the 1975 program with Gilda Radner and Chevy Chase and the 2026 British one were scrappy and unfamiliar to skeptical audiences and faced mass confusion in the lead-up: What exactly is this and why is it happening?
In the mid-1970s, “SNL” became a smash that made superstars of its young cast.
Five decades on, you could feel those same plates shifting after the astounding first UK cold open on March 21.
George Fouracres played Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a tail-between-his-legs Dilbert type who most Americans don’t care much about or even know. He interpreted him as a scared little gerbil while the dweeb fretted over phoning President Trump about the war with Iran.
“I’ll try anything, I’ll do anything. Except take a stand,” Fouracres’ Starmer nervously sputtered.
It was the kind of pure-gold political satire our “SNL” — which leans nasty and infantile — is no longer capable of. They took an otherwise boring politician, much like George H.W. Bush or Al Gore, and boiled him down to his ridiculous essence. And to extremely embarrassing effect.
Starmer must be mortified. I would’ve loved to have seen his face when Trump, who also got dinged in the skit, posted the mocking sketch on social media the next day and rocketed “SNL UK” to a perch of instant cultural relevance.
Then last week, Fouracres’ PM returned on a reality-TV sendup called “Who Wants To Remain A Millionaire?” on which he got a question about former ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, a friend of Jeffrey Epstein’s.
“Is it ever a good idea to give Peter Mandelson a job?,” the host asked. The answers were: A) No; B) Of course, not; C) Not in a million years; and D) Yes.
Starmer asked to phone a friend.
“Who’re you going to call?,” the host replied.
“I’d like to call Peter Mandelson.”
Absolutely hysterical.
The “UK” cast is made up of all unknowns — for now. Nobody has been hanging out for 20 years yet, and so every sketch brings with it the excitement of discovering what else they can do.
Jack Shep has been a major force this season. On the first episode, the 26-year-old got a lot of praise for his perfect impression of Princess Diana.
A week later, he was another, more controversial royal: Prince Andrew.
The scene was set in 1997, and Andrew was summoned to the headquarters of MI5 to discuss a top secret project: A 29-year plan to make his brother Prince Charles look better by comparison before he eventually becomes king.
“And you actually want me to do all this stuff?,” he said. “Even the part about befriending a notorious pedophile?”
The non-topical sketches and videos have been just as strong. A spoof of the TV show “Traitors” was called “Great Big Crab Man,” and in it a contestant played by Emma Sidi kept guessing that everybody around the table was the Great Big Crab Man except the actual red, shelled Great Big Crab Man.
And in a deranged pre-tape, host Riz Ahmed played a man who became dangerously obsessed with the board game “Operation.”
The show is still “SNL,” of course. It will inevitably have some dips. If the program lasts, it will get new cast members we’ll insist are much worse than the old ones.
But in these glorious early days, it’s abundantly clear that out-of-luck Rockefeller Center could use a British invasion.