Saturday Night Live UK is already a phenomenon thanks to genius tactic

Saturday Night Live UK is already stirring up a storm on social media (Picture: Sky)

Saturday Night Live UK premiered with a bang over the weekend, and it’s already making waves.

The popular variety show featuring sketches, celebrity guests and musicians has been running in the US for 50 years, and SNL legend Tina Fey herself jetted across the pond to host the inaugural UK edition.

After months of scepticism that this famed American format could make a splash in the UK, all eyes were on Sky at 10pm on Saturday to see how our cast of comedians would fare.

In fact, the debut shows boasted a whopping 226,000 viewers tuning in live to see what all the hubbub was about as it opened with a political sketch and went on to feature acting icons like Nicola Coughlan and Rege Jean-Page.

All in all, despite the immense pressure, it has launched to a praise-worthy start with fans and critics alike sharing their pleasant surprise at just how many chuckles the show elicited.

From an excellent helium gag to a Horrible Histories-style Hamnet spoof to an entire fake advert dedicated to nonces – for the most part, it captured the wry, sharp humour of the nation.

With a range of sketches and all-star talent, clips from the first episode are doing the social media rounds (Picture: Sky)

But the momentum hasn’t stopped there. Since it aired, both official and unofficial clips of the premiere’s best bits have been going viral across social media, convincing people to catch up, tune in next week, and pick out their favourite comics.

It’s often how the US version of the show reaches audiences that may not tune in every weekend and forms a part of the cultural conversation – for better or for worse.

In recent months, Harry Styles’ opening monologue addressing queerbaiting and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Ariana Grande’s impression of a space-going Katy Perry and the Harry Potter themed Heated Rivalry spoof have all gone viral, to name a few.

Now, the UK is following hot on its heels.

Over 30,000 posts have been generated discussing the show, according to data insights company Sprouts Social after searching key terms across Reddit, X, Facebook, YouTube and Tumblr. And engagements have reached up to 430k and counting.

This is an especially effective method to get more eyes on the show, considering a subscription to Sky comes at an extra cost, so there will be those who can’t access the show live or on catch-up.

Tina’s opening monologue, which included surprise appearances from talk show icon Graham Norton and Canadian actor Michael Cera, already has 1.7m views on YouTube.

Meanwhile, video clips have garnered tens of thousands of likes. On the official SkyTV Instagram, Ania Magliano and Paddy Young’s Weekend Update brought in over 18,000 likes.

The Weekend Update has especially proved a hit (Picture: Sky)

One clip of the Weekend Update discussing the BTS reunion tour went viral on X, gaining almost one million impressions with praise from the fandom for its deep-cut knowledge.

Weekend Update is not alone with several other moments making a mighty impression.

Jack Shep’s Princess Diana impression during the David Attenborough Last Supper sketch already has viewers demanding more (he also wowed as a dancing foetus later in the episode).

‘BAFTA for this icon,’ putasinghonit wrote on X.

‘The Lady Diana impression was hilarious,’ Roxy Clark echoed.

‘The guy who played Princess Diana and the dancing foetus is one to watch,’ Philip Nolan posted.

George Fouracres, who kicked the episode off as Keir Starmer, is already building a fanbase for his brilliant episode-ending skit ‘What kind of Irish is your Grandad’ that also starred Derry Girls legend, Nicola.

Dubbed ‘completely unhinged and absolutely brilliant’, George is already being compared to comedy legends online.

‘Go with me on this, but George Fouracres may genuinely be the millennial Bob Mortimer,’ David Chipakupaku said.

And it reached the heights of praise with one user, GothanChief, declaring, ‘SNL UK has started off on such an insanely high note with this skit’.

With a whole new audience untapped through viral social media clips and a slew of good reviews under its belt, SNL UK is already finding its feet as aBritish phenomenon outside of the legacy of its counterpart.

With an extended eight-episode run, Jamie Dornan and Riz Ahmed will host episodes two and three, respectively.

Saturday Night Live returns to Sky One at 10pm on Saturday, and the first episode is available to stream on NOW.

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