SNL UK After Party 10/17/26 - S2 E5 “And Yet Here You Are, Bold as Brass”
Host: James Norton
Musical Guest: The Streets
The British invasion of America may have passed us by, but the American Invasion of British late night television is well underway.
Grab your scones and let’s check out this week’s SNL UK After Party!
Cold Open:
British Prime Minister Burnham (George Fouracres) meets with Ukrainian President Zelensky (Freddie Meredith). As they discuss world events (with Burnham referring to Zelensky as a “cheeky Charlie” - you gotta love the Brits), none other than U.S. President Trump bursts in as played by American SNL cast member James Austin Johnson.
Trump declares he is like Beetlejuice in that if you say his name he appears, and also because he is a sex pest.
Trump proposes a job swap with Burnham, which the PM declines. Trump is understanding, stating that the US is a “terrible place full of disgusting people.”
JAJ then goes off on one of his Trump rambles, about how he’d deal with England’s small boat (i.e. immigration) issues by building beautiful big boats “bigger than the cliffs of Dover.” He notes that is a UK reference, and he doesn’t get it.
Trump then makes a joke about Man City, saying he’d prefer to go to Lady City, and insults SNL UK for not even having a guy who can do Trump.
He then drops an expletive and is delighted he can get away with that on the UK version of the show.
When Trump is asked if he has a point, he states that he usually doesn’t, and then we get the live from London line.
While American audiences may not be thrilled to get a Trump cold open on any given week, the UK audience ate it up. JAJ got a rousing welcome, and the somewhat stale bit got an energy boost that made it play extremely well.
It was fun, even if you are a cheeky Charlie.
Monologue
The show was hosted this week by James Norton. He is, apparently, a huge BBC star, noting his appearance on the program Happy Valley. I admit I have never heard of him or the show.
Apparently he often plays despicable characters, but that doesn’t stop British mums from fancying him. He says moms love him like Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut.
He wants to dissuade that demographic from liking him, so he tries to show how bad a person he really is. He says he’s so bad he doesn’t have a television license! (Something that is not a crime in the U.S., and is a minor infraction in England).
He then spots a cat sitting in the front row of the audience, and says he will flip it off to upset the mothers. He can’t bring himself to do it.
It’s a cute, funny monologue and Norton does come off as quite likable (try as hard as he may to convince us otherwise).
Cervical Screening
In this pre-taped spot trying to get more women to get preventative health care, it is revealed that Norton is providing the service.
The whole joke is that he is hot, so the women want him to conduct the exams.
One woman (Ayoade Bamgboye) says “I’ve had 30 smear tests; that’s arguably too many.”
This is the old “hot host” trope that we’ve seen approximately 8 million variations on. The premise here is just not strong enough - and certainly not original enough - to sustain the entire runtime of the sketch.
Black History Month
October is Black History Month in England - they go with one of the longest month instead of the shortest. Here, a supervisor (Norton) seeks to celebrate the month by making his staff engage in exercises that would be at home in The Office (either version). The supervisor pays uncomfortable attention to the only Black employee (Hammed Animashaun) while spilling forth platitudes. He then unveils his poster campaign. To raise awareness of diversity, inclusion and equity, he has a poster that reads “Minorities D.I.E.”
In a recruitment poster for diversity he says he is seeking all colors of people, so his sign says “C.O.P. needed” and has Animashaun’s picture on it.
Moments later a police officer comes in and takes Animashaun away.
Animashaun’s reactions convey an almost resigned weariness of the ridiculousness that he has to endure due to British white guilt.
This is a smart sketch that strikes at a lot of targets, and it does so with solid laughs. When a sketch comedy show can get laughs while also skewering multiple social issues, you’ve got yourself a strong writers’ room.
Berlin 1849
Well, okay, so maybe not 100% strong.
In this sketch, a German gentleman from the 1840’s (Norton) seeks to introduce his bride (Annabel Marlow) to German society.
When the couple enters the venue, it is a weird techno rave. Throughout the party, Norton introduces his wife to several of his exes (who are also his cousins).
This is all done to a frenetic electronic beat (we see two Victrolas being DJ’d by musical guest Mike Skinner of the Streets).
This sketch goes more for shock value than anything else, and it doesn’t really land. The whole thing becomes tedious and it certainly overstays its welcome.
But, it is a technically well visualized piece.
He Read the Book
This is a pretaped promo for a Netflix documentary about women who have had to cope with going to a movie with a man who has read the book it is based on.
This clever sketch strikes at mansplaining and pseudo-intellectualism (granted the Venn Diagram overlap on those can be pretty significant).
This is another well done and smart piece that manages to hit the right tones.
Weekend Update
This week’s segment opens with a “previously on Weekend Update” recap of what appears to be an action packed BBC show (featuring last week’s show host Danny Dyer...I was really sick last week so I didn’t recap that episode. It was really good, and Dyer was a great host).
I liked this nonsense. SNL UK is not afraid to stray from pat conventions.
The news this week opens with Ania Magliano saying “Share your location and grab your pepper spray, we’re headed to the White House.”
The first story is about the termination - after five days - of White House Press Spokesperson Katie Zacharia. It was noted that she held herself out as a lawyer, even though she failed the bar exam. “But she did pass a more important test of looking tantalizingly like (Trump’s) daughter.”
They also cover French riots over the economy (and offering a joke about items the French can’t afford that I won’t repeat for fear of being deemed anti-French, though for some reason we all seem to be okay with these jokes. I’ve given up trying to figure it out.).
There’s discussion of the new Wallace & Gromit film which may give Gromit some lines for the first time. Paddy Young in deadpan seriousness asks “How can you give Gromit a voice when so many women around the world don’t have one?”
He then does a story about an improv club closing by doing a mock horrible improv set, concluding “And that’s why the club is closing.”
They even take a stab at the controversy surround Shane Gillis’ appearance on the US SNL.
The desk guest this week is nothing special. Mercury is a Sunday football coach who talks about how refs need to toughen up to crowd abuse. However, he is very gun-shy and scared. His proposed comebacks are weak and amusing. “If someone says you’re an idiot,” one could respond with “Really? You really think that?” Likewise if someone says “I hope you die alone,” he suggests pointing out that if it’s next Sunday he won’t, because he will be at a game.
Overall, this was a solid Update, but not a hall of famer. Although a joke about the Romans and pistachio nuts made me laugh at just how gloriously stupid it was. (When the Romans ate them, they’d say “mmmmm”, which is 5000).
Every Pug Deserves A Best Friend
Ok. Ok. Bear with me on this.
Fouracres and Norton are pugs introduced by their owners. They wear big, dumb pug outfits, and speak to each other in that absurd theatrical upper crust British accent that we all know.
I won’t go into a line by line here, but one pug calls another an addlepated ninny hammer, and when a cat (Marlow) shows up, they all bad mouth birds, with one of the pugs calling them “barbarous libertines”
This was an absolutely delightful sketch and while both Norton and Fouracres were terrific, Fouracres’ performance here was next level. He is an all around great player, but this is the exact kind of thing that he is undeniably brilliant at.
At the end when they go to the park, they belt out a “Hup, Hup, Huzzah”. Honestly, I wonder if the English find this as absolutely hysterical as I do. (Also, just look at the title for the sketch. That is top-tier British sketch titling).
Vogue House
Designer Flavio (Norton) is debuting a fashion line for the first time in years. His staff is taking notes, but they know he doesn’t handle criticism well.
Turns out the new line is simply a series of Michael Jackson looks, but claims he doesn’t even know who that is.
This leads to a seemingly unending stream of Michael Jackson song lines woven into conversation, such as Flavio noting he didn’t have much exposure to pop culture, because his parents would lock him in his room and tell him he’s “bad, Shamone.”
It ends with someone whispering to Flavio reasons he shouldn’t do such a line.
This sketch failed to stick the moonwalk with its single premise and reliance on Norton’s “weird” character.
The Goodbye Wave
Best Sketch: Pug Play Date, and I will brook no dissent on this.
Worst Sketch: I’m going to go with the Cervical Screening piece. Just because it’s such a recycled idea from a trope that I would like to perish. SNL often has attractive hosts. Enough already.
Random Notes:
- I was not familar with The Streets. British rap is definitely a different animal. I’m not going to say I loved the songs, but I did find them interesting.
- I love the little differences in the show. The way the host enters from the staircase behind a window is great. I’ve previously mentioned that I like how the host goes straight from a sketch to introducing the musical guest. It makes it feel like there’s more of a flow.
- This cast seems to genuinely be having fun. It shows and it makes the proceedings more entertaining. They haven’t had time to grow jaded and blasé yet. Though, in fairness, that’s Kenan Thompson’s whole thing at this point, and it works for him.
This was a breezy, fun episode. The BBC actors they are bringing on to host are doing a great job. Great actors who are willing to throw themselves into comedy have always been just as good (and often better) than traditional comic performers in this format, and Norton certainly continued the trend. A few weaker sketches do bring this episode down a bit, but, overall, this one was fun.
Grade: B+
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