SNL UK is a welcome comedy of errors

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. 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 others crash spectacularly. I think its bravery should be commended, and it will be interesting to see how it grows as all involved become more confident with the format, and learn what works best and how to finesse it.

We would love hear what you think makes American and British humour different, let us know in the comments.

Saturday Night Live is on Saturday on Sky1 and streaming on Now TV

Naomi Joseph

The Conversation