Live from Empire, it’s Saturday night! Sorry, we’ve always wanted to say that. But Saturday night it is, and with it has come the final episode of Saturday Night Live UK’s triumphant first season. Eight weeks ago, the air was thick with apprehension, scepticism, even some mild pre-emptive second-hand cringe about the notion of an SNL UK. Pessimism, lest we forget, is the British national pastime. But then, nary a coy Princess Di impression and some 45 Seconds With Fouracres later, the tide started to turn… the laughs started flowing… and suddenly we found ourselves witnessing a new generation of British comedy stars being born before our very eyes.
Over the last 56 days, we’ve watched this misfit crew — Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi, and BTS superfan Paddy Young — go from strength to strength, flexing their funny bones alongside a stacked cadre of guest hosts. From George Fouracres’ Mario being put on blast by Aimee Lou Wood’s Princess Peach, to British themed pubs with Jamie Dornan, to Jimmy Fallon gatecrashing Nicola Coughlan’s opening monologue, it’s been a blast.
Now, as the curtain closes on Saturday Night Live UK Season 1 and the long wait begins for SNL UK Season 2’s arrival in September, we thought it high time to give this formidable cast their flowers. And so, without further ado, here are Team Empire’s picks for SNL UK’s 12 funniest moments (so far). Got what it takes, our list…
SNL UK’s 12 Funniest Moments (So Far)
12) Pub Song
Two weeks into Saturday Night Live UK’s run, the series’ writers could’ve been forgiven for pacing themselves a little — playing the SNL hits, as it were. And play the hits they did… just not how we could’ve ever expected. New Zealand comedy pop duo Two Hearts — aka Joseph Moore and Laura Daniel — outdid themselves with ‘Pub Song’, an earwormy banger all about Brits abroad and their obsession with finding a British themed pub (pub, pub). Come for Al Nash rapping and Annabel Marlowe busting a move; stay for Jamie Dornan reigniting his Barb And Star musical flame. It’s the British-themed pub, pub, pub, pub, it’s run by Harry and Jane… JK
11) Traitors: A Very Confident Mistake
Even before SNL UK’s first episode aired, there was a collective sense that the show would have to do a Traitors sketch sooner or later: after all, it is the biggest thing on British telly right now and a bona fide global phenomenon. But how do you parody a show that’s already a self-generating meme goldmine? By confronting the series’ very real, sort-of problematic issues with racial bias by renaming it ‘Great Big Crab Man’ and then having its contestants fail to recognise the very obvious Great Big Crab Man in favour of repeatedly pointing the finger of blame at Riz Ahmed, that’s how. From Celeste Dring’s spot-on Claudia Winkleman impression, to the wildly misspelled namecards, to George Fouracres’ heavily made-up Crab Man, it’s a laser-targeted banger. JK
10) Looking Theroux The Mirror
One of the infrequent but always brilliant recurring bits on SNL’s mothership show is the ‘Meet The Family’ sketch. You know the one: they take that week’s host — Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Christopher Walken — and have the cast serve up their own impressions until the star themself walks in and the crowd goes wild. Capping off a great season with an unexpected guest spot, SNL UK did its own version of this SNL classic with the one and only Louis Theroux. The giggles begin the second Larry Dean and Al Nash raise their hands to their chins and start trading “Shall we get started?”s and “Should I be saying that?”s. They ratchet up when the ever-delightful Ncuti Gatwa steps into frame. And then Louis himself walks in, and the four of them start talking in unison, and it’s uncanny, and mad, and utterly remarkable. JK
9) Undérage: The Anti-Aging Cream
SNL is no stranger to parody ads, so what better way to kick off the season than with ‘Undérage Girls’? Yes, you heard that right. The cast’s pre-recorded debut featured an anti-ageing cream that works just a little too well. Come for Tina Fey, Emma Sidi and Celeste Dring’s uncanny recreation of model-led make-up adverts; stay for Jack Shep’s boom operator calling Al Nash a “sick bastard” as he poses with Fey’s ‘Undérage Girl’ in a comedy of escalating silliness that feels quintessentially SNL. In case anyone was worrying SNL UK would just try and copy its American sibling, getting a ‘nonce’ drop in the first pre-record really set the tone for the rest of the series. HS
8) Live From QVC’s Jewellery Store
The beauty of a ridiculous SNL sketch lies in how straight-faced its performers play it — something never more clearly on display than in Emma Sidi, Nicola Coughlan and Ayoade Bamgboye’s reactions to Sidi’s Kirsty Frapp and her very unsubtle “personal issues” (namely a giant extended index finger). Not only is this sketch bang-on in capturing the over-familiar personalities and uncanny valley of daytime shopping channels, it somehow gets funnier and funnier as it ascends into absurd body horror, elevated by Sidi’s perfectly pitched Essex accent. We dare you to try not to laugh at the side-splitting delivery of the line: “What is wrong with my f*cking hand?” HS
7) Night Time Incident
Sometimes all it takes to make a memorable bit of sketch comedy is a timely (and slightly mundane) subject and an absolutely barmy out-of-left-field twist. ‘Night Time Incident’ delivers precisely that. Taking the yearly ritual of putting the clocks forward as its starting point, this week two worldie quickly devolves into demented, horror-tinged chaos as we learn that Jools Holland (of Hootenanny fame) is some kind of boogieman bogeyman who imprisons the souls of those who forget to change their clocks in his sinister ‘boogie-woogie wonderland’. George Fouracres, Al Nash, and Paddy Young (in a rare excursion from the Weekend Update desk) all deliver outstanding heightened Hollands, and the punchline — ‘lose an hour, not your dad’ — is a doozy. JK
6) Weekend Update (All of it)
It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged that Colin Jost and Michael Che’s Weekend Update is SNL US’ most consistently funny segment. And Blighty’s version, anchored impeccably by breakout stars Ania Magliano and Paddy Young, more than measures up. Over the past eight weeks, Magliano and Young have nimbly handled local council elections, ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the Epstein files, and BTS’ reunion, making the kind of jokes you just don’t see on British telly anymore with a well-placed giggle and a smoulder. They’ve also had some very special guests, too. The father and son that still do skin on skin is an Empire fave, as are Jack Shep’s hairy-chested Scrimpch and Ayoade Bamgboye’s Martin Lewis obsessed fertility expert. (Now there’s a sentence we never thought we’d write.) JK
5) DadSwap
Daddy issues find a new meaning in this Apple-coded advert for Dad Swap, an app allowing users to swap their dads for new ones that have similar interests. The kicker is that halfway through the ad it’s revealed that most users have developed romantic feelings for their new father figures (“technically it is allowed!”). Is it a decidedly cursed turn? Sure. But it’s also one that yields hilarious results as we watch Al Nash, Jack Whitehall, Annabel Marlow, and more shamelessly flirt with their new dads, all while George Fouracres’ app creator slowly recognises the monstrosity of his creation. HS
4) Shakespeare And His C*nty Little Earring
Who better to deliver SNL UK’s first c-bomb than Shakespeare himself, showing off the c*ntiest earring in all of Stratford-upon-Avon? The show’s take on the tragedy of Hamnet sees how London life changes Britain’s most famous thespian, imagining what happens when Shakespeare fully assimilates into Zone 1 life, from returning in Paul Mescal-coded running shorts to the sound of a stolen Lime scooter screeching outside as he barrels through the door. This is a parody any Londoner can get behind, brought together by the hilarious George Fouracres, Tina Fey, and a K-holing Jack Shep. And lest we forget Larry Dean’s Hamnet, who gets a happier ending here than in Chloé Zhao’s movie — revived and dancing to Rihanna. Shakespeare would be proud. HS
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Honourable Mention: Best Guest Host — Aimee Lou Wood
The staple of a great SNL host is that they truly embrace the show for what it is (looking at you Ryan Gosling), and the UK edition of the show has had its fair share of those already — from Jamie Dornan playing a kidnapper to Hannah Waddingham singing about wine to Ncuti Gatwa playing the first Black Shrek Bond. But if we’re picking favourites — which we very much are here — then as the host who scatted in her opening monologue and bellowed cries of “I’m a certified card-carrying godamn weirdo,” The White Lotus and Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood with her high energy and freak flag flying unpredictability felt especially at home with the UK’s band of misfits.
Hopping from sketch to sketch with glee, she first delivers an unhinged take on a Doctor Who companion (what the f*uk is that?), a Gen Z take on the (now vaping) Famous Five, and delivers (spoilers) Empire’s top two favourite sketches of the season. Waltzing through the episode with a smile it’s hard not to have as much fun as she’s having. Scat away, Aimee. HS
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3) 45 Seconds With Fouracres
By the time George Fouracres took to the stage to ask ‘What kind of Irish is your grandad?’, it was already abundantly clear that SNL UK would not be the car-crash experiment some very vocal quarters online had been clamouring for. We’d had Shakespeare and his cunty little earring, we’d had Undérage, and we’d had Jack Shep’s Princess Di reveal, too. But ‘45 Seconds With Fouracres’ — in which Mr Fouracres plays four different Irish grandfathers in under a minute, sings an Irish rebel song, and traps Nicola Coughlan while maniacally shouting ‘Nothing is real!’ — gave Saturday Night Live UK its first truly viral moment. And what a moment! JK
2) An Italian Plumber With Princess Problems
From the moment one of the iconic Question Mark Blocks produces a tinnie (that’s a can of beer for our American readers), it’s clear SNL UK’s reimagining of the jump-happy Italian plumber is going to be something special. Taking a kitchen-sink approach to Mario and Princess Peach as a couple on the brink in their New York apartment, what unfolds is a parody featuring a chaotic Yoshi appearance, a takedown of Luigi’s beautiful mansion (“It’s a full of ghosts!”), and a sketch surprisingly well-versed in Mario lore. The whole thing is made all the funnier by Aimee Lou Wood and George Fouracres’ impeccable execution of their parts… and how very close they come to breaking. Plus, an extra 1-Up for those italian accents and that ending cameo. HS
1) British Pork Advert
From the moment it was first announced, the biggest question surrounding SNL UK was, in a word, why? Saturday Night Live is a well established American institution. Fresh British sketch comedy featuring new names on the scene died on the vine a long, long time ago. Why would anyone want a Saturday Night Live UK? In the absolutely extraordinary, twenty-plus year gestating ‘British Pork’ sketch, we got our answer. Why do we need SNL UK? Because only SNL UK has got what it takes to deliver something as niche, weird, mildly traumatising, and utterly piss-your-pants funny as this.
Inspired by a genuine ad for porcine produce from the mid 1980s (an ad that, it should be noted, standout SNL UK alum George Fouracres has been obsessed with for over two decades), the sketch sees Fouracres and co slowly losing it as they imagine how such a nightmarish bit of telly history came to be. There’s a creepy, bacon-slathered Pork Board (including SNL writer and Wrexham AFC exec Humphrey Ker). There’s Fouracres holding on for dear life as he corpses his way through a bit he clearly can’t believe has actually made it onto TV. And there’s Aimee Lou Wood, guest host extraordinaire, gurning like it’s nobody’s business as she channels the wife who’s got what it takes. It’s no wonder Saturday Night Live UK’s Season 2 renewal announcement came almost directly after this. It’s real value for money… plenty to go round. JK
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This list was created by Empire Online Writer Jordan King, Social Media Editor Harry Stainer, and Deputy Online Editor Ben Travis, and written up here by Jordan and Harry. For more laughs and more telly talk, check out our lists of the best comedy movies ever made and the greatest TV shows of all time.
