I’m ready to admit it… SNL UK is better…
With Series 1 almost at an end, I’m ready to admit: SNL UK is better than the original (at least this year).
A quick qualifier, I’m an SNL diehard and have never bought into the notion that there was a “golden era of SNL.” Every cast has its merit, every decade has its strengths. I’ve never thought the show had lost any steam… until SNL UK came along… (also, I’m from a militantly Irish family, in other words, far from an Anglophile… but I can’t deny the UK version’s superiority any longer).
The UK version sheds many of the shibboleths that the US version has failed to question or even acknowledge. The SNL of the 70s and 80s had a rebel energy, its teeth were sharp, and no Fs were given. SNL UK seems infused with a bit of that old blood as it takes bigger chances and isn’t afraid to fully commit. By comparison, this year on the US side has felt stodgy, almost formal. The wonderful bit at the end of the latest UK Weekend Update, where a centenarian David Attenborough in a singlet fights off the entire animal kingdom, is a perfect example. Is it high comedy? No. Great writing? Hardly. But it shows that SNL UK isn’t too proud to be silly, and that devil-may-care attitude uplifts every aspect of the show, from Jack Shep’s risk-taking impressions, to Paddy Young’s shit-eating smize after every punchline.
A change so simple as to have the host segue straight out of a sketch to the musical guest feels inspired in this new context. Why hasn’t the US version ever done this? It puts the high-wire chaos of a live show on full display, reminding the audience just how elevated the stakes really are. The US version in contrast, feels almost beholden to its 50 years’ worth of polish. They are so good at what they do on the prodution side, they can hide the seams… but they forget it’s the fraying ends of a live show that makes the concept so watchable in the first place.
And the UK cast is preternaturally skilled for a rookie year. Hammed Animashaun has the weird and wacky energy in one sketch and the grounding straight man energy the next, something SNL has always needed and which hasn’t really been perfected since Ferrell. Emma Sidi has been so consistently strong you almost wish she’d leave room for the other women. Jack Shep shows a versatility that feels almost effortless. (And kudos to the show for not always leaning on his sexual identity for every sketch… Bowen Yang was often at his best playing against type, but it was a role the US version seemed almost tentative to put him in. On SNL UK, someone with Shep’s talent is thankfully given free and unfettered reign.)
Weekend update has always been a highlight of the show, and every new anchor pairing struggles to find the right chemistry before a live audience. It’s such a common and understanble phenominon its not even questioned that a new team be given a season or two to get their feet under them. Not so with SNL UK. Ania Magilano and Paddy Young got it right from day one. Curtain and Aykroyd would be proud.
AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON GEORGE FOURACRES! The man is promising to be a generational talent! The distinctly British, wonderfully deranged 45 Seconds with Fouracres (where I had to acknowledge, with some chagrin, just what kind of Irish my granddad was) feels like a statement for the entire ethos of the show:
SNL UK is here to champion comedy, and it knows that laughter isn’t decided by committee. True comedy steers into danger and embraces the chaos.
I still love the US version, as sluggish and buttoned-up as it’s felt this season by comparison, but the news that SNL UK has been picked up for series 2 needs to be celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s a huge win for comedy at a time when the world has never needed it more.