'Saturday Night Live' is an American comedy institution.
It's turbo boosted the careers of many of performers and writers from Chevvy Chase to Kate McKinnon, Larry David to Conan O'Brien, Eddie Murphy to Seth Meyers.
So you can kind of understand why Lorne Michaels, its legendary executive producer, has decided to stick to a successful formula when creating a British franchise version for Sky One.
But given Britain has a long and proud tradition of acerbic satirical humour, surely something's gotta give and it doesn't have to stick rigidly to the old 'SNL' formula?
'Saturday Night Live UK' landed on Sky One looking like the American version, sounding like the American version and pretty much waddling like the American version.
The opening credits of various members of the cast on the streets of London was a direct recreation of the US show.
The set was an exact replica.
The trademark opening monologue, Weekend Update, guest music performances and the show's blend of live and pre-recorded sketches were straight out of the 'SNL' playbook.
And if those guardrails weren't enough, American 'SNL' legend Tina Fey was on hand as its first guest host.
The result was exactly what you'd expect - a show, like its US parent, packed full of overlong sketches and performed with all the gusto of a student improv group.
There was a cold open with cast members, George Fouracres impersonating the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Hammed Animashaun as the Deputy PM David Lammy and Jack Shep as a Gen Z adviser who called his boss "Starmzy".
In a typically bloated and mostly unsatisfying cold open, Fouracres' Starmer sounded a little like Zippy from the 1970s ITV children's show 'Rainbow' and fretted about making a break up call with US President Donald Trump over the war in Iran.
But hey, at least they all got to shout at the end of the sketch: "Live from London, it's Saturday Night!"
Fey's monologue was like most celebrity monologues on the US show very awkward and stagey.
The monologue, like many of the US show's ones, was also buttressed with unexpected cameos by 'Bridgerton' and 'Derry Girls' star Nicola Coughlan, 'Superbad' and 'Juno' actor Michael Cera and Bandon's own chat show icon, Graham Norton.
There were live sketches about David Attenborough hosting a last supper, Hollywood movie stars being told their movie was crap, a hospital birth sketch, a 'Hamnet' spoof and one about a store designed to make women feel more confident about their breast size.
There were also glossy pre-recorded sketches about a cosmetic ad for a skin cream called Underage, an IT team whose sole purpose was to annoy Internet users and one about a very disturbing Paddington tourist experience.
The problem with all of these were they were all far too long and about as funny as a tax form.
On the one occasion there was a laugh - Jack Shep's impersonation of Princess Diana - it was milked to the point of exhausting tedium.
And like the American show, watching the cast reading off autocues as they performed live was a bit irritating.
'Weekend Update' was like its NBC equivalent full of lame, supposedly satirical gags about Donald Trump, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the Beckhams and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch delivered smugly by Ania Magliano and Paddy Young.
It made you yearn for the satirical sharpness of 'Private Eye,' 'Have I Got News For You,' 'Spitting Image,' 'The Day Today,' 'Saturday Night Armistice,' 'Brass Eye,' and the 1980s Channel 4 shows 'Saturday Live' and 'Friday Night Live'.
During Fey's monologue, Cera's contribution made great play of the fact that unlike the US version, 'SNL UK's cast and guests could swear.
But if that's its own distinguishing feature, then there's cause for concern because that will not count for much with UK or international audiences.
If it is to really make its mark on the British TV comedy landscape, 'SNL UK' needs shorter, sharper, more caustic sketches that don't sound like they have been dreamt up by a committee of American satirical writers trying to comprehend UK politics.
They also need to embrace the tradition of surreal humour in Britain a bit more, given the history of that brand of comedy from The Goons and Monty Python to Spike Milligan, Alexei Sayle, Vic and Bob, The Fast Show and The Mighty Boosh.
The best moment of the night ventured into that territory in a strand called '45 Seconds with Fouracres,' with George Fouracres delivering a provocative Bob Mortimer style song called 'What Kind of Irish Is Your Granddad?'
While not quite a gem, it was the best of the night and offered some comedy potential.
As for Wet Leg, they were very underwhelming as a musical guest act and helped fill the time.
On the basis of the first episode, Fouracres and Animashaun looked like the members of the cast most likely to make a breakthrough from the show but they need to be cut loose a bit more.
With seven more episodes to come, there's plenty of time for 'SNL UK' to improve by forging an identity that is distinct from its US parent.
The question is: are Sky One's NBC owners and Michaels brave enough to let them?
(The first ever episode of 'Saturday Night Live UK' was broadcast on Sky One on March 21, 2026)
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