SNL UK has done the impossible by winning over a nation of sceptics rooting for its downfall. Now, some of the brightest comedy minds in the country are gearing up to nail the landing.
It’s the quiet before the storm on Monday morning. Later that day, Humphrey Ker will be plunged into the electric writers’ room of 2026’s runaway hit and pitch his ideas for the season one finale featuring Doctor Who icon Ncuti Gatwa as the guest star.
After that, it’s a mad scramble to select the creme de la creme, produce and direct your vision and have it all ready in time for the live TV show come Saturday.
‘Weirdly, SNL UK approached me two years ago asking: “Is this something you’d be interested in?” and I was like: “Yes, I would bite your hand off to do it.”’ Humphrey tells Metro about how the gig of a lifetime fell into his lap.
He jokes that he was never formally offered the job, but everyone acted as though he had it, so… he went along for the ride.
‘I got into sketch stuff at university, and there was always the dream to work on one, but a lot of that stuff went away. You got a little pilot they put on BBC Three, and then they’d never make any more of it.
‘So I was unbelievably excited [for this],’ he explains about how refreshing it is to see a mainstream sketch show do so well.
After all, TV sketch comedy is a time-honoured craft in the UK (‘it’s ingrained into our DNA’), harking back to the days of The Two Ronnies, through Mitchell and Webb to the present day, when we’re going through, what he hopes is a resurgence.
And a huge part of the show’s success is thanks to its bold sketches – although not everything makes the final cut.
The sky’s the limit at SNL UK
Beyond the stellar cast, a large part of the show’s success has been down to the bold, envelope-pushing humour imbued with pithy political commentary, on-the-nose satire and out-there gags.
The show has unapologetically taken sharp jabs at Nigel Farage and his Reform posse (formerly Prince) Andrew and the absolute mess that is the Trump administration – just to name a few.
‘Honestly, I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how much we’ve been allowed to get away with. We thought we’d be in more trouble about some things, or there would be more things that they’d just be like: “No.”’ Humphrey says about the creative freedom.
Not everything has snuck into the final episode, but not for the reasons you would expect.
‘I wrote one about a romantasy novel. It included some extremely graphic language, which we got through dress rehearsal, but it didn’t quite make it onto the show.
‘All the way through I was like: “Surely they’re not going to let me talk about fingering as much as this on Sky One”, but they did. It didn’t make it onto air, I suppose, but I don’t think it was because of that.’
Still, there was no guarantee that SNL UK – the ‘smarter and funnier’ cousin of the 50-year American institution – would do well.
Bracing for the SNL UK backlash
‘We first started work on this series in January, and throughout all those weeks I was like: “God, this is really funny.”’
Things changed after the public announcement, when people started ‘slamming the show, left, right and centre, making them second-guess the entire endeavour.
‘It’s hard not to have your confidence knocked by people just bagging on you real hard for a month and a half,’ he recalls.
The day of the premiere episode, he says there was a real ‘gallows humour’ as they braced for impact.
‘We did the cold open for the very first show, and it was going down gangbusters with the audience; Everybody was looking around at each other, a bit like: “Oh, I think it’s going well.”’
Since then, it’s on the up and up – raking in relieved reviews, a steady audience and a devoted fanbase who have already picked out their favourite characters and catchphrases. In short, SNL UK has got what it takes.
As Humphrey reflects on the uproar: ‘We live in an age where no one will admit they’re wrong about anything, [whether] that’s in politics or in culture or in sport or anywhere. We’re in an age of entrenched opinion. You can’t find common ground with people. It’s okay to admit: “I was wrong, and actually it’s really good.”’
The guest stars make the show shine
The other element is no doubt the absolutely stacked line-up of guest stars, with SNL legend Tina Fey kicking off proceedings, followed by the likes of Nicola Coughlan, Riz Ahmed and Aimee Lou Wood.
‘I completely revere Tina Fey, but I also had the added unfortunate bonus of really fancying her as well. That’s just a bad combination to then act normally around someone,’ the comedian admits with a laugh.
Although he had his karmic justice when everyone was falling over themselves for Jamie Dornan the week after.
He shares that the usually serious actor was ‘so game’ to try anything, which caught them all by surprise.
‘Obviously, we had that sketch where he cut his balls off and stuck them to his waist.
‘I remember Omar Badawy, the writer, just being like: “Oh God, I don’t know, can I really [tell Jamie]: “Hey, I want to do a sketch where you cut your own balls off” and Jamie just being like: “That’s my favourite one.”
Essentially, ‘the crazier, the better’.
His hopes for the SNL UK finale
Looking toward the finale with Ncuti, Humphrey has no doubt the cast and crew will want to end on a high, and all try ‘extra hard’ to get a cracking sketch in the final show.
Humphrey’s game plan is to go all in on Ncuti’s ‘Scotishness’, naturally.
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‘We’ve got Larry Dean in the cast, and we’ve got [name] in our writers’ room, who’s a brilliant Scottish stand-up comedian. I lived in Edinburgh for five years for university and have a real love and affinity for all things Scottish. That’s a real angle that I want to try and attack this week.’
After the show wraps on Saturday, the weekly rush will be over for a while before the cast returns for an extended 12-episode season in autumn. But there’s no rest for the wicked as Humphrey is also eyeing the return of his hit docuseries Welcome to Wrexham.
As SNL UK ends, Welcome to Wrexham makes its grand return
Back for its fifth season, the show follows Hollywood stars, Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds, as they attempt to run the titular (and struggling) football club based in a working-class town in Wales, aka the real-life Ted Lasso.
‘You get to re-celebrate the highs and, I suppose, relive the lows as well. But I’m excited for people to see what’s being cooked up,’ the showrunner teases.
After four years, it has cultivated a large and devoted following, something Humphrey doesn’t take for granted.
‘Not to be evangelical about it [but] getting to see lots of people [who] historically wouldn’t have been interested get into football at all is amazing.
‘Getting them into Wrexham is doubly amazing because it’s so important for the city,’ he adds about the influx of visitors.
‘Those people come in, they spend money, and they bring opportunities to the area. All these things are a gloriously intertwined mass that is just tremendous,’ he shares.
Humphrey also notes that the ‘understandable’ criticism that has been levelled at the club since the show started, of being ‘Disney FC’ and ‘funded by Hollywood money’, will be addressed this season.
‘Our turnover has been much higher than any other club in the division,’ he admits.
Before adding: ‘But we’re now reaching a point where that’s not necessarily the case. It’s a season full of challenges and stresses that maybe hadn’t previously been evident.’
At times, the team was left wondering if they would even make it through alright.
And with Ted Lasso returning, the comparisons will also no doubt be back in full glory, although as Humphrey points out, Welcome to Wrexham shone a spotlight on women’s football teams long before Ted did – an element of the show he remains immensely proud of.
‘They stole the idea from us, that’s what I’m saying,’ he quips.
SNL UK returns with the season one finale tonight on Sky One, NOW and HBO Max at 10pm.
Welcome to Wrexham seasons one to four are available to stream on Disney Plus. The first two episodes of season five are out now.
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