Here’s the first episode’s monologue by Tina Fey.
It really does channel the American SNL vibe. And that’s not necessarily a good thing. I’ve watched a couple of the sketches and they are really hammy and the impersonations aren’t very good (like the Keir Starmer impression).
Tina Fey’s monologue was very good though. But having Graham Norton make a guest appearance in it is like a cheat code.
It was a decent hand-off / launch. It’s expected to take a bit to get their feet. Will be interesting to see how it goes. I do hope it ends up more British humour than American
Yes, and quite annoyingly, no one seems to want to talk about it. As a longtime fan of the original SNL, I’m extremely curious about it, but everyone I’ve asked around here keeps saying “there’s only been one episode, give it time. Chill”
Yeah, I get that. But what did you think of the first episode? No one wants to say. It’s driving me nuts.
There’s a lot of discussion of the first episode here: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=119160.240
I’ve linked to the start of the live discussion, as I reckon 8 pages of pre-release speculation is a bit much for most people, but YMMV.
My initial thought is that George Fouracres is the standout performer in this episode, but given that he has plenty of sketch and “proper” stage experience he’s got a big headstart on some of the stand-ups. He provided my two big laughs, one in the Hamnet sketch, and in the final “45 Seconds…”. Emma Sidi also does well with her one main character. Post-Fast Show, the sketches do seem very slow and dragged out; that’s the SNL way, it seems.
Finally. Thank you very much.
Again, as a member of generation X and a New Yorker, I am an absolutely massive and loyal fan of the original SNL. Even when it’s bad, it’s good. I’m also a huge fan of British comedy, so I hope and think I’ll probably like the UK version. Maybe. If it’s good. maybe even when it’s bad. We’ll see. i’m also a bit of a theater guy, so a lot of my enjoyment comes from the effort put into it, which you can always really really see. sometimes, watching them fuck up is the best part. 😊
Just recently, it became available to download off bittorrent, so I’m gonna watch it now and judge for myself, but I really do appreciate the effort you made to post this comment.
Cheers
SNL is mediocre of itself. Its following is based on it being on for 50 years and having a management team who have been canny at exploiting its cast and characters in various spinoff media. There are the occasional stand out sketches but it’s 95% dreck, perfomed by people phoning it in by reading cue cards.
So without the heritage of the US version, the UK edition is going to be very niche and people are going to wait to commit to it or not.
The best bits of 30 rock are when they make fun of how genuinely bad snl is most of the time.
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UK here, did not know about this. Will continue on as if I still don’t know about it.
There is tons of great British tele and we don’t really need any more yank rubbish.
Desperately needs its own YouTube channel.
Also the Starmer bits were spot on 😂
Yeah and we hate it
EDIT:
also watched the American “Have I Got News For You?” and it wasn’t as good as the British one but that’s just how it is.
