Fans Were Worried SNL UK Would Be Too American, But I Don’t Understand Anything In This Sketch

Ahead of Saturday Night Live UK’s premiere, there were a lot of questions about how American the show would be. It turns out the answer is not very American. Through two episodes, the comedians have mined uniquely British subject matter like the Royal Family, David Attenborough and the variance of Irish accents. As an American comedy fan who is very seasoned in pop culture, I’ve been able to enjoy and appreciate most of it, at least apart from one sketch that is still living inside my tea kettle.

On this week’s episode, the show presented a sketch about Daylight Savings Time, which, as an American, I can definitely relate to. Everything else beyond that initial premise, however, not so much. The basic bit was framed as a horror movie and followed a family, which included host Jamie Dornan, who forgot to change their clocks. They were being haunted by a British celebrity named Jools Holland who broke in to bring Hootenanny and his Boogie Woogie Wonderland. You can watch the madness below…

Night Time Incident | SNL UK - YouTube

Watch On

Clearly, the crowd was eating everything about this sketch up. There was steady laughter throughout, and I saw several social media posts and Reddit threads with fans talking about it positively. For me as an American, however, it was almost three minutes of huhs and wait whats and who’s thats? I clocked references to Paloma Faith, Jamie Cullum, Olivia Dean, Jessie J, Joss Stone and Sting, one of which I’m very familiar with, two of whom I’m vaguely familiar with and three of whom I was unaware were notable people.

It might sound like I’m complaining about this sketch not being for me, which feels like a uniquely American thing to do, but I’m bringing up this sketch because it makes me hopeful that SNL UK is on the right track. This spinoff was never going to survive if it was catered to superfans of the original show like myself. It’s Live From London for a reason, and it needs to find a way to connect with its target demographic, which is British people.

There was some initial excitement when SNL UK was first announced, but prior to its premiere, things turned a little sour, at least on social media. Perhaps it was because OG creator and showrunner of the American version Lorne Michaels was executive producing. Perhaps it was because American comedian Tina Fey was chosen as the first host. Perhaps it was because the teasers and promos weren’t the best. Regardless, people built up this idea in their heads that the show was just a repackaged version of what we get in America. It’s definitely not.

There is something here. With only six more episodes before the end of its first season, SNL UK’s future is still in doubt. The price tag is reportedly pretty high per episode. It’s finding an audience and putting up good numbers on social, but it’s unclear whether that’ll be enough. I hope it is though. We don’t need a foul-mouthed version of the show that's in mostly the same as the American, but what we do need is space for more young talented comedians to create for a large audience. Hopefully this can be it, and hopefully we can get a decade of fun sketches, some of which I can relate to and some of which I very much cannot.