Inglorious Brothers

Saturday Night Live US and Saturday Night Live UK S2E16

• Justin & Matt Harper • Season 2 • Episode 16

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:16:39

On today’s show, we’re taking a close look at the brand-new version of Saturday Night Live that dropped recently on NBC and Peacock: Saturday Night Live UK! We’ll give our takes and opinions on the new show, how it stacks up against SNL Original Recipe, and we’ll assess the current state of the original show as well.


Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Follow us on Instagram

Subscribe to our other podcast, Beyond the Slipstream (it's about pro cycling, just fyi...)

Follow Justin's gaming life in Instagram

SPEAKER_02

It's the pop culture show with Cult Classic Swagger. This is Inglorious Brothers. I'm Matt Harper, and together with my brother Justin, we dive into the deep end of the zeitgeist each week to bring you cool talk and hot takes. No genres too specific, no topic too broad, and no rabbit hole too deep as we open our minds and enjoy each other's company.

SPEAKER_01

Sound good? Then let's ride.

SPEAKER_04

Hello and welcome to Inglorious Brothers. I'm Justin and I'm here with my brother Matt. And on today's show, we're finally taking stock of a little corner of the pop culture landscape that's been on our radar for a couple months now. Saturday Night Live, UK. That's right. In case you haven't heard, Saturday Night Live, the venerable and beloved late night sketch comedy show, which has been broadcasting from Studio 8H in New York City's Rockefeller Center for 51 years running, has launched a British version of the show. It just dropped its seventh episode of the season or uh series this past Saturday, hosted by Ted Lasso's Hannah Waddington, with indie folk rocker Miles Smith as the musical guest. To say the show bears a similarity to the U.S. version would be an understatement. In many, many ways, it is exactly like the US version, but British. Similarities include the format, the cold open, the monologue, and weekend update. But there are subtle differences too. And it is in these that much of the enjoyment of this cheeky version of the show is found. We will assess the quality of these first seven episodes on the show today and compare the UK show with the American Original Recipe SNL as it stands here in 2026 around the halfway point of its 51st season. So stay tuned, or rather, live from the internet. It's the Inglaterra. Welcome to the show, everybody. Um, Saturday Night Live holds a special place in both Matt and I's hearts. Uh, it has been a staple piece of our pop culture um diet for you know my pretty much my entire life and pretty much Matt's entire life. Uh this you know kind of came up on our radar, you know, a few months ago when we realized that that uh they were gonna be doing the UK version, and then we immediately were like, oh, we were we have to talk about this on the show. And so finally here we are. And I, you know, I won't say that I'm disappointed because I do think that it is pretty cool. But much to my chagrin, I almost feel like it might be too formulaic. I don't I don't know how you how how you feel. But I I feel like it I was I wanted something that that stood apart and it it stands very much adjacent. And I I don't know. So what what are your what are your first thoughts?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I had never even had a thought that, hey, wouldn't it be cool if they had a British version of of the of Saturday Live, one of my all-time favorite shows, as you just said. Um so I was just pleasantly surprised to hear it, because I love Saturday Live. This means I get twice as much of it. They're all speaking English, you know, like sign me up. So so I I don't I don't know that I had a need for it to to differentiate itself from the original show. And in fact, one of the things that we talked about last year when we were doing the 50th anniversary SNL and we went deep diving on, you know, original recipe last year. Um, I think one of the points that I commented on because I I went back and watched like the very first episode with George Carnell on that, like the the the entire template for the show was there like on the first show. And just the fact that that template has stood the test of time is just kind of mind-blowing if you think about it. That it hasn't changed a bit. You know what I mean? It's still cold open, guest, musical guest, opening monologue into this things, yeah, like everything. The weekend update coming right after the first musical number, like it's it's there, and it's it's just like a perfect jewel of a of a you know, a setup or or whatever you want to call it, a structure. Um and so the fact that they can take that thing and just drop it in England, and all the references change, and the people they're doing impersonations change, but but the structure, it works, it just works. You could drop that structure into India, and you could drop it into you know Africa and Australia, wherever the hell you put that. I just I feel like it would work. It's rock solid. Um, and it it pays a lot of homage to the original show. It it makes no bones about the fact that it's excited to to get the chance, the honor of being, you know, the first spin-off. And there's a there's a sense that they really want to do it justice. That I agree with.

SPEAKER_04

I totally agree with. They they absolutely want to do the original justice. I agree with that statement.

SPEAKER_02

And I have to say that like when when I first started getting back into the ri original Sarant Live a couple of years ago, like for me there was like a curve. Like I had to get to know the new people. I was walking in with like no, there's there was no cast members that I was familiar with, with the with the with the possible exception of Keenan Thompson, who's who's been on since like what the early 80s. Um so uh, you know, I kind of had to learn that cast, and now they just seem like they're in my DNA, you know, like the current cast and all. And I think it's kind of the same way with the SNL cast. You know, at first it just they they seem so just who are these people? Like I hadn't hadn't heard of a single one of them, but now like as they're starting to groove into my consciousness, um, they're really, you know, becoming people that I'm attached to in my in my same ways, you know. Uh and there's certainly some that stand out over over some of the other, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I I will say I like the musical guests on the UK version better than pretty much any musical guests that that the that the current version of the original um composits. I don't and again, maybe it's because I I'm I don't know these bands. Maybe they're giant, maybe, you know, maybe they are you know huge artists in their own right, and I just you know I'm unaware of them. But um, you know, I feel like I was like, oh man, like in, you know, typically I'm like, unless it's somebody that I'm interested in, I just bypass, you know, if it's somebody I'm completely uninterested in, I typically I I'll watch it for a minute to to see, you know, if they've got something interesting visually going on or whatever. But if it's just like cookie cutter, I just jump, I just skip it. And I found myself being like, oh wait, like, all right, let's see what's going on here. Um the second episode was Wolf, what was it? I happened to my notes. Wolf Alice, dude. Yeah, so good. Don't bury the lead. The first episode was wet leg.

SPEAKER_02

Like wet leg was freaking incredible.

SPEAKER_04

Wet leg was good. They weren't as good as Wolf Alice. My opinion. My opinion.

SPEAKER_02

But but they were both cool. Yeah. Now we could do it. I guess on production uh on on air production meeting, we need to do a show about like the return of rock. Yeah, it's definitely so back, and I love it. But go ahead.

SPEAKER_04

So, you know, I felt like it got funnier the more I the more episodes I watched and the more I got comfortable with people, like instead of it being I think I think you really nailed something there. There's something about being comfortable with the cast that does help make it funnier. Because I noticed as I went back and was watching some of this season's um you know, original recipe SNL. The cast members that I connect with, I typically find their stuff to be funnier than others. And it felt that way as well. And it also felt like, especially after the first episode, they they started to hit a stride. I don't know if there was just a lot of nerves in that first episode, but you know, there was a lot, there was so much coming at me on that that I I don't feel like I enjoyed it nearly as much as I enjoyed it the the neck the subsequent shows.

SPEAKER_02

There was there was an electricity to it though. There really was, and like having Tina Faye there, she's like Saturday Saturday Night Live royalty. It like it just it was a very good choice to have her there to anchor that kind of thing. Um and uh I mean one of my favorite sketches of the year was on that was on that episode, I have to say. She's absolutely incredible. It was the one where Tina Faye like was in the dressing room trying on bras, and the the woman was like yelling. The jugs, the jugs episode.

SPEAKER_04

The the jugs of sister, and and she straight up like feels up Tina Faye in this sketch and everything. But yeah, she's very funny. She's one of the funniest ones on the show. She's top three. Yeah, Emma CD is is definitely top three. Um I also like the guy that looks like um I I should pull the cast up because I don't know any of their names. Um, the guy that kind of looks like low-rent uh Martin Freeman.

SPEAKER_02

George Fouracres. Yeah, he is yeah, it's four acres. He's he's he is he is possibly number one on the show, in my opinion. I mean, he's the guy that does the uh prime minister. He's gone out really nicely voice. Um he is that guy's hysterical. I think quite possibly the funniest thing that I've seen on that show in seven episodes so far is uh is when he did which version of Irish Is Your Granddad at the end of the very first episode. Did you catch that? Yes. Incredible. That is just like a tour de force of accent work uh that's just on another level. Like that that was incredible. Um these guys, these guys can really like I don't even know where to start. These both of these casts are so freaking talented, it's ridiculous. Like when you look at some of the stuff that these guys are pulling off, they are so good. And like that guy's accent work and and and just the accent work in general on the show, the way they differentiate all these different class accents amongst the British, incredible.

SPEAKER_04

When two of my favorite moments, when they did the David Attenborough Last Supper, okay, and they had that young blonde kid playing uh Princess Diana, but then in the next show, they like showed some sort of like they were in like a flashback or something like that, and where they had like Prince, it was the cold open, and they had they had Prince Andrew like is gonna be like a secret agent to take down Epstein or whatever, and they showed like a a newspaper of in you know with like a headline about Diana dying, and it was him as Diana on the newspaper. I was like, Yeah, yeah, I was like, that's good. Like that's yeah, chef's kiss. That's exactly what you need on Saturday Night Live. Those little callbacks that make you go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember when they did that. Even though it was literally good. Literally what? I was gonna say, even though it was literally the episode before that. It wasn't really, it's hard to call back something, you know, but it was they've they're only on the second episode.

SPEAKER_02

No, that's good though. Uh that creates like a uh uh through line for a season, you know what I mean? Yeah. Um well, let's talk about some of like the similarities um and and the subtle differences, because I there's a lot of it that I really love. Like um, and following this on Reddit is so good because people are just all over every aspect of the show and drilling into the details. But one big similarity is that the cold open is basically almost always a political thing, you know. Like the their their prime minister, what's his name? Star Star Mayer. Starmer Starmer. Starmer, um, you know, is right at the center of it. And we've seen on the American SNL uh for incredibly long time, it was just it was just Jag doing Trump like week in, week out. Like, and now they've they've pivoted, and suddenly Colin Jost is doing more acting than he is weekend updating because he's on there every single week, as Pete Heggs said.

SPEAKER_04

The one with where where Cash Patel, where they're in the bar.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, with Cash Patel, oh my god, this past week, dude. This past week was yeah, it's crazy to see uh what's his name? It's cash patel. It's hysterical though, dude.

SPEAKER_04

It's a very good job. When he did the eyes, just like him. Yeah. When he did the face, oh my god. But yeah. If you if you haven't seen this week's SNL, the cold open is amazing. You'll I'm sure you can find it on YouTube. It's it's very, very funny. It's all about the drinking and it's right.

SPEAKER_02

So so but what but my point is like, okay, so similarity, cold open, usually politically based, and I love that. Uh and that's one thing that I just like I love about the show in general is that it's willing to, you know, speak a tiny little bit of truth to power. Um, although it's it's interesting the the takes that it it takes on some of the political people, you know. Like I I find it, I find James Austin Johnson's Trump kind of fascinating in a way, because like they don't play him as dumb at all on the show. He's he's smart, and he's usually like the smartest guy in the room on the show, but he is evil, you know what I mean? But but they turn it into like a just a banal, like everyday kind of evil. Like, I don't know. To me, I think the acting on the show, on both shows, is really, really good. I think that all the players they have are quality and they can really do a lot. Um, I think it is probably always has been and always will be like the challenge is the writing. Like, you gotta, you gotta do killer sketches, you gotta write killer sketches. These people, these people will will hit the ball out of the park if you give them the material. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04

And I think that in both cases, especially early on this season uh at SNL Classic, the writing was not there early on in the season. Like, I mean like there was misses in this too. I thought the ham I thought the hamnet sketch could have been funny, was not funny. Like, you know, it it had bones to be funny, and I just felt like it it it wasn't funny. Right. There were funny parts of it, but I I'm with you there. Well, like I liked the guy, like the guy that was playing Shakespeare, but then they switched him like in the middle, they like you know, switched characters. Like I wouldn't have done that. Like he like I would have rather seen him evolve as opposed to them switching characters as the evolution. So I don't know. Didn't didn't make a didn't make a ton of sense to me.

SPEAKER_02

But if you if you contrast that, okay, so take that. Um contrast that with the sketch. I was gonna try to pull it up, but I think it was it was it might have been just like a week ago. Um the Mario, like the the you know, Super Mario coming home. It was like it was like a it was like a house household drama.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Like that was hysterical, absolutely hysterical. The and I think that was that that was the same guy, Fouracres, playing Mario, right? And and just like killing it. He was like it's like it's like Mario as portrayed by Marlon Brando, you know, just like all the histrionics and I mean that that's a that's the version of them landing that that that parody of some something, but totally landing it. Like I thought that was absolutely hysterical. So so they're not they're not incapable of of writing good sketches for that show. There's plenty of them. That Tina Faye sketch was hilarious, but that one was sort of equal parts the writing and then the performance. Like that that woman uh is just so so good.

SPEAKER_04

Well, she's she steals a lot of a lot of sketches that she's in. Like and she's one of those, she's a she's a good chameleon that can play young, play old. She like kind of you know filters in, you know, very well.

SPEAKER_02

Um Ashley Padilla is becoming like the the workhorse of the show. She's like the Phil Hartman of the show where she just she can just like anchor every sketch.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, no, I'm I'm with you on that one. Um you know who else is really good on that, on on the and I and I felt differently because they I felt like they were they were trying to pigeonhole him into something is Marcell.

SPEAKER_02

Marcello?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, or Marcelo, yeah, Marcello. I felt like for a hot second after he did that that this the Sabrina Carpenter sketch, and they wanted him like they were like kept going back to that like over and over again. And I was like, man, I really hope they don't just make this character one-dimensional. He is very, very good, and he's almost better when they don't expect that nonsensical shit out of him. Like when they just kind of let him be the character. He is like he's coming on a lot more than I thought he would.

SPEAKER_02

Well, he he also got the killer, he brought a killer impression to the table this year, which is uh the Sebastian Manascalco. He's done that, he's done really good. He's done two of those, two of those man, those, two of those uh Sebastian sketches, and they're he is hysterical in those, absolutely. Like I can just sit there and watch him the entire time. So uh I like to see that. Another um another recent impression that they have already realized they've they've got a winner on their hands. Um, have you have you caught uh Cullhanes, Jeremy Culhaynes, uh Tucker Carlson? What are we doing here? What's going on? That is incredible, incredible. Like keep on he he needs to be pivoted to like cold open. You know what I mean? He can he could work right there in that in that cold open uh agreed spot as well. So um yeah, very impressive on that front. All right, going back to the similarities though, all right. So you got the cold open the politics, okay. So then it's so then it's live live from you right live from London at Saturday night. Same, same exact, you know, usually a couple of people getting in on the action. Um they got the jazzy soundtrack, uh, you know, jazzy, kind of sax-based, but different, right? You know, the same but different. And then they've got the announcer. They went with a female announcer instead of a male announcer. Um, she has a somewhat annoying way of announcing the names, but it's starting to grow on me. She's like, she goes up at the end.

SPEAKER_03

She's like, uh, you know, I can't think of like George Foregas Anne Magliano.

SPEAKER_04

Like it's I think it's just her just her style of doing it. Yeah, yeah. Because you gotta remember she's doing it for the studio. You gotta remember she's doing it for the studio audience, too. So like that's her way of introducing those people.

SPEAKER_02

And then um one thing that that the uh that Reddit absolutely loves about this moment of the show is like when the host first comes, they like walk across that staircase and they can look out that window before they come down the stairs and then turn out onto the stage. Um, and people will like do a little something or other up there in that window. Uh love that, you know what I mean? Saturday Live classic, they just come out of the middle of the door, back of the stage, and walk through the band. On this one, they pop out the top, cool little window look. You know, so it's like its own thing. It's the same thing, but it's its own thing.

SPEAKER_04

By the way, just speaking of coming through the door in the band, I loved, but I wish they had done it done more. Um, Alexander Skarsgaard, like like giving you know flowers to the band, I thought was great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I loved that. I loved that.

SPEAKER_02

But they, you know, so they both got the good bands, and then it's like monologue exactly the same. Sometimes, you know, they pull in people from the audience or like Jimmy Fallon walks on and participates. That one was great. Like Yeah, it's a and I love how they how they're willing to like like they want the old Saturday Live to be a part of the new Saturday Live.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, no, no, no, I agree. But I it It was neat. It was really cool how um how when they did that, even though it was like you could tell, I mean, obviously it's a forced thing, they still made it feel really natural in a in a way. I don't I don't know how else to describe it, but it like it just even though it just makes sense, you know? Yeah, it did.

SPEAKER_01

It felt totally seamless, yes. It's just like of course Jimmy Fallon's there. Why wouldn't he be there? This is SNL, right? That's what he does.

SPEAKER_04

Right. The you know but there's I don't know, that there's also there's also times where I wish that I had that there that there was something that differentiated it a little bit. Like sometimes I feel like it's like, am I just watching a you know a transplanted version of the exact same show? They're not like I want them to do something to own it for themselves. I don't know why that is, but it's it's I I have this feeling when I see when they when you know, because in in the US they Americanize British shit all the time, and this is the the reversal of that. And when that happens here, you know, with a TV show or whatever, I always want them to put their own stamp on it, and I wish that they had something that was there, like something that was theirs that wasn't necessarily a part of the show. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02

That would be cool. That would be cool. Um, maybe something like that will evolve, though. I mean, you know, I hope it does. I really do. I think you're probably right. I think the biggest it could be is like within a sketch, it could be like a kind of a sketch that they don't do in the American style. Because they're not gonna get rid of the rest of the structure. It's gonna be No, it's gonna be the main structure. You're right. All of that is gonna is gonna be the same. Um and I love, I mean, there's definitely like a warm comfort, you know, it's like putting on a warm sweater that show, you know, you get that just plays out exactly the way you've been watching, you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times over the years. Um, but at the same time, sometimes like a punchline will roll out and you will hear the studio audience laughing their ass off at it, and you will not get you will have no idea what they're talking about. Like it'll be some British thing, and you'll be like, uh-huh. Like as as the whole audience is dying of laughter in your own.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, there's a lot, there's a new Yeah, there's a lot of references that I that you that and maybe that too To people too, to British people too. They talk about British people that Well, and maybe and maybe that too has something to do with that like that disconnection maybe that I feel when I'm watching it is that you know I don't get all the references, whereas there's just about nothing that SNL references that I don't understand. So Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I I kind of like that. To me, it's like a little bit of a challenge and it puts a little bit of mystery into it. Um, I think the sketches that really sort of like walk the line, like that that that 45 seconds before Acres, the the first one, he did a funny one later on, too. That's like that's like a sort of recurring thing. But the first one that he did with your Irish granddad, you know, I probably missed 50% of the jokes within those characters that he that he just spooled out so quickly like that, um, that the audience was laughing at. But I've seen a lot of movies with people with Irish accents of of every stripe. And so just hearing how how uh focused each one of those accents were, how dialed in he was on the very particularities of each of those accents, that was more than enough for me to just be busting the gut, you know, and that's that when when the sketches can kind of walk that line, I think it's perfect.

SPEAKER_04

How about the uh yeah, no, I'm I'm totally with you on that. How about the the F the first F bomb?

SPEAKER_02

That's another interesting differentiation. What a wrinkle. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, dude, until I didn't even notice it until they pointed it out. Because it happened and then they called to it. No, no, you're right, but I I I definitely noticed it when I was. It just rolled with me. I didn't, I didn't like it didn't click that it shouldn't be there.

SPEAKER_02

Here's the next question that that leads to. Will will there ever be like brief nudity on that show? I don't know. Who knows? Can't they do that as well? Like I think so. I mean they're they're they are definitely different. Especially when you're talking about like a late night show, like a late night cable show or whatever. I like I don't know. Um because but that's very interesting.

SPEAKER_04

Can you imagine like a dick on Saturday Night Live? Sorry, wow. Wow. Yeah, that would be easy. That would be wild. Um full frontal nudity on Saturday Night Live. That'd be wild. What what a what a time to live in. For sure.

SPEAKER_02

Well, uh I s so we get the we get the opening monologue that's you know, they come out very, very similarly, and then we get like what three, four sketches between in the first big block of the show before we get to the musical guest.

SPEAKER_04

Um well and you get the you get the like the produced bit directly.

SPEAKER_02

In and amongst the sketches, you get like produced bits. Um and uh I feel like they are just as good at those produced bits as as you know the quality level is there, the production level, the production values are there, they're doing they're doing musical ones, you know, like fake music videos, they're doing fake commercials.

SPEAKER_04

Um I thought the fake commercial for Underrage. Yeah, Underage Yeah, Underage was very good. And then um the British pub rap song was very, very good. Um I wonder how much I wonder how much crossover with like production they have. Like I wonder if like certain people from the original show are working on on the UK version to kind of like guide them in the right dire you know what I mean, like in the right directions. I would be interested to know. It'd also be interesting. It'd also be I'd love to see a behind the scenes like how they're doing because like we we have a good idea of like how writing at SNL works, that there's you know, head writers, and you know, the it it is a um you know it's an amalgamation of everybody writing stuff and bringing it to the table early in the week, and then they start to flesh out the the the episode based on you know the writing that comes in and you know this sketch or that sketch, and certain people find you know are you know in a groove are gonna definitely get their stuff on. And so it'd be interesting to see how that works with it being so new and there not being any precedence as far as who's writing what, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

I um I think their choice of hosts is um very interesting and and and well thought out because if you look at the hosts they've had on there thus far, they started with Tina Fay. Of course, she's an internationally known quantity. Um that bridge that bridges your gap. That bridges your gap between the two. It makes sense. Well, and it totally establishes it establishes the link that like these two shows are are in communication with each other. Oh, that's something I was gonna say earlier. I'm I'm waiting for the very first time that we see like we're watching SNL US and some sketch is going on, and a character enters and it's one of the SNL UK players that's doing a walk-on on the American SNL and the in this in the audience goes ape shit. That would be awesome. You know what I mean? Because then it would be like confirmation, like that we are we are one.

SPEAKER_04

I think with the time with the live time difference, there's no reason why they couldn't technically like bring one, like, especially in their cold open, like just you know, flop the screen and show you star, like have him play Starmer, you know, five hours later on Saturday on Saturday Night Live. It'd be horrible. Right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but that would be awesome. Like on a phone call or something. Trump is talking to him and he's there on the TV. Yeah, that would be that'd be fantastic.

SPEAKER_04

Or vice versa. Like how, like, maybe not maybe Trump, like, you know, because it's he's got five hours before the show, like he gets on a phone call on a screen for them. That'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_02

At one point, they were talking to Trump. There was one of those cold opens, they had Trump on the phone, and someone was doing a Trump impression, but I don't know if it was Jadge. I'll have to look into that. But anyway, so the the host that they've had this year, Tina Faye, then they had Jamie Dornan. He's a pretty well-known actor in the United States, Riz Ahmed. Everybody knows who he is. Um, they had this guy, Jack Whitehall. I did not know much about that guy. Did you know Jack Whitehall did?

SPEAKER_04

I didn't know much about what him. And he was probably my least favorite out of the the first bunch.

SPEAKER_02

Same. And then you had Nicola Coughlin, and she is on that show, Dairy Girls. She actually did a walk-on at the end of that. That four acres thing. She she walked on at the end of it when they were singing the Irish songs and the whole audience started singing the song.

SPEAKER_04

Well, didn't she come out in the monologue too? She might have, yeah. She probably did. She was definitely on the first episode for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Um so, you know, she's a known quantity. I know people have watched that show. It's funny. And then you had Amy Lou Wood. Melissa McCarthy vibes. Yeah, big time Melissa McCarthy vibes. And then Amy Lou Wood is kind of like uh she was on that that uh uh whatever island show. She's the one that SNL got in trouble for last year because they were parodying her buck teeth. Remember that? Like uh my my girl Sarah Sherman was like play what's what was that show that everybody watched? It was like Love Island? No, it wasn't Love Island, it was it was like set at a resort, like Oh, the White Lotus? Yeah, White Lotus. She's on the White Lotus, okay. So people know her, and then this past week was Hannah Waddingham and she was on Ted Lasso. So it's like they're very thoughtfully choosing uh hosts that will bring an international audience in and not someone that's like so specific that you're gonna be like, I have no idea who that person is. Like, I'm not watching. Like, it's more like, oh, she's she's hosting? Yeah, I'm gonna check that out. So I think that's good.

SPEAKER_04

I thought Anna Waniken did a really, really good job, dude. And because that's game. She was all over the place.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, she's super, super game, and just like like I I appreciate a performer who was just willing to be bizarro, to be, you know, gross out, to be whatever, you know what I mean? Um because I thought she had one of the better monologues, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was funny. Um wait, what else?

SPEAKER_04

What was I just about to let's talk about weekend update. Right, yeah, yeah. Update. We're talking about the formula, we're talking about the things that are the same. Let's talk about update because I think that we are in one of the best eras of update on the original show. I think Michael Che and Colin Jost have done such a great job with weekend update for I mean, it's probably been like seven years or eight years at this point. Um you know, they're very, very good at it. And I like the the two that are doing it. I probably like uh I wish I should pull the cast back up again. It's Patty, it's Patty and Anna. I like Patty better than Anna, I will say that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, they're both pretty good. I mean, I think Pat Anya is more playing the straight, the straight person, and and and uh he's he's more the comic relief in general.

SPEAKER_04

And I will say, I felt like I was like, I had a note in here, I'm like a BTS jokes two weeks in a row, but it like it's now become a thing. So they're like doing the BTS thing like every single week.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, I know that they're both big fans of Beyond the Slipstream, so I mean it makes fun.

SPEAKER_04

Nice plug. Nice plug. Um but yeah, so it's it's I didn't get it at first, and so but it's I think that's like anything else, is that you know, with these types of shows, you do need to build up a relationship with it before and so the running jokes have a little bit of steam, you know what I mean? They have a little bit ahead of a head of a little head of steam when they when they do land.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and I think that like it will only make us more knowledgeable, like as we continue to take in this show. We'll know more about British politics and British stuff in general and and the and the the British you know outlook on the world from from watching the show.

SPEAKER_04

So um and they it's neat to see the juxtaposition of uh hearing a weekend update that that is skewering what we the things we don't see.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know what I mean? And they, you know, just like the American show, they have like people that come out on weekend update and do little bits and stuff like that. And I think the I think the the bits are are you know quite good.

SPEAKER_04

You know, they're as 50-50 as they are on the regular show, because sometimes those bits are complete have no gas in them whatsoever whatsoever. And sometimes they're very, very funny. Yeah. You know what I mean? For but you know, I feel like for every um what's the one that Bill Hayter did with the um I know. I yes, I keep watching. Stephanie like Sebastian. Stephanie Stefan. All right, for every for every one of those, yeah, for every one of those, you've got five or six that don't work. And you know, but every once in a while you're gonna stumble upon a Stefan. You're gonna stumble upon um drunk uncle. You know what I mean? Like, you know, there are there are some that that will trans that will cream will rise to the top, so to speak. But it's a great place to to practice those things and to trot something new out quickly.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I think those characters, they're all going to, you know, they will, you know, show to show, land on, you know, things that work, and then they'll be able to, you know, do them again, just like the the 45 seconds with Foreacres. Like that's that's that's gonna be a you know, pull it out every three or four or five episodes and you know, let them, you know, give the guy a couple of minutes to do his thing. Um, there's gonna be characters, you know. I just I think about my girl Sarah Sherman on the on the American show, and like she's just got like so many good characters that she can do, like on update. Um, you know, the one where she basically like turns everything that Colin Joe stuff says around into like him acting like an awful like rich guy pedophile, like, you know, and Colin this just in Colin Joe's blah blah blah, you know.

SPEAKER_04

Like how about the it's just speaking of her, how about the one of her as the weather girl when they like set her outside and Rockefeller set her? Yeah, dude, like it was uh man, she's she's funny, dude. She is incredible. Very, very funny.

SPEAKER_02

I I absolutely adore her. Well, uh let's let's let's finish out um kind of on the on the UK, and then I'd like to have uh at least something of a conversation about the state of play in the US with the show now. Um but comparing you you mentioned the musical guests. Now you said you thought the the musical guests for UK were were better um than the US. I I am ready to to make the case that that you're dead wrong. Um okay, so British SNL. Here are the this is a lineup of musical guests they've had Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, Casabian, Georgia Smith, Boo Fighters, Meek, and Miles Smith. So Wet Leg, awesome. I absolutely love that band. I think it was a perfect choice for the first episode. No problems with that. Wolf Alice, like you said, awesome. Loved them. Casabian and Georgia Smith. I didn't know either of these artists, and I can't even remember what they were. Um Foo Fighters. I thought both of those songs were totally meh.

SPEAKER_04

They're both new. They have a new album, they're both new.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, I figured so. And like it's cool, really cool that they were on there, and that was the that was the same episode where Jimmy Fallon was went running around, and I think they got into a sketch, maybe, and like they were in that they were in the runaround in the during the monologue, or at least Dave Grohl was. Right. So so I like all that. And interestingly, like at the American SNL, sometimes they'll do that where a uh musical guests get pulled into a sketch, like with Jack White and Mumford and Sons, which are gonna be part of me making my case for the quality of the American musical guests this year. Um, so Foo Fighters, I was kind of hit or miss on that, and then Meek and Miles Smith. I mean, Miles Smith is basically the British version of Noah, Noah Khan, the guy that they had on the American version this week. You know, guy playing the acoustic guitar kind of halfway between, you know, folk and rock, and you know, like they're literally. It's like the British version of it. Um, so I would say that lineup of those seven, you know, good really good in some spots, pretty meh in other spots, right?

SPEAKER_04

But I will say this is that, you know, they're not like they're they're trying to do their own thing with those musical guest choices, which I respect. And, you know, I've never heard of Wolf Alice, and I was completely blown away by that first song. Like the first song that they did was so good. Like, so so good. So in that aspect as bridging a gap and exposing me to culture that is that I am not exposed to, you know, in my current circles, I really like that. You know what I mean? And I'm not saying that the musical guests have been bad per se. I just think that they typically choose pretty safe musical guests on SNL.

SPEAKER_02

Um I don't know. They're I I think just like the comedy, the musical guests are up and down on SNL. Um and that was uh that was another point that I wanted to make about just comparing the shows in general is that well, uh I'll make that point later. I take your meaning as what to what you're saying, but if I look at this at this season um of American SNL, I will throw out a handful of performances and and choices that I think were fantastic. Um, the opening uh episode with Bad Bunny as host had Doja Cat. She's badass, and her both of her performances were badass. So that, like right off the bat, at the top of the season, um, they're they're hitting a home run. You got Brandy Carlisle, you got uh Aesop Rocky, the geese performance was amazing, absolutely loved it. And that was on the episode with Tayana Taylor, which was a pretty damn good episode, especially like when she did like the old uncle at the wedding. I did not see that episode. I will go back and watch it. Yeah, that one's really, really good. You gotta watch that. And the geese performance, the second song is just so badass. Um, and then we got Mumford and Sons. We got the very weird Gorillas performance where they played like their one big hit song from way back then. I'm like, really? Like you're playing Gorillas is doing like the little bit of a resurgence in. 25 years ago. Yeah, there's some they got something going on or something, but like I just thought that was weird. Um, one thing it's gonna be interesting to see is when will UK have their first episode where the host is also the musical guest, because like that is fully a thing nowadays. Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles, uh what's her name? Um, that just did it a couple weeks ago. U Olivia Rodrigo. Um, so they lean into that fully. Um, but then we also had Jack White performing. Um so I mean they they definitely ran up.

SPEAKER_04

The two Jacks there, the Jack White, Jack Black. I mean, they were they were doing a thing there, obviously.

SPEAKER_02

But but Jack White is badass. Like and he was and he was another one of those guys that that per that performed in a skin a skit as well. He he he walked on during during some sketch. Mumford and Sons walked on in a sketch.

SPEAKER_04

There was a sketch during that episode that I thought was absolutely hysterical. It was the Airbnb sketch where they where it was like the four of the younger cast members like rendering. The super host, yeah. And he kept like going in the closet, and then Lisa McCarthy came out as as his wife. That sketch was hysterical. Absolutely. Um oh there's another there's another sketch that I that I caught this week while I was like trying to digest as much as possible. Um the Ryan Gosling sketch where they were passing notes. Holy shit was that funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's one of the funniest sketches they've done all year long. And I I I love, I love, love, love a sketch that breaks them, you know, that breaks the character, you know, and they end up breaking the fourth wall, or they, you know, they start laughing. And that passing notes, you could tell that uh Padilla and Gosling had had not seen anything that they were reading, and Padilla, they gave her some crazy shit to read. Oh, yeah. And it destroyed her. And I thought that was so good.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think there was also stuff written on there that was like completely shocking that like they they was they they would instantly recognize, oh, this is so bad that I can't like actually say this. But it made them laugh, and then they realized, oh, they just put that there. They knew I wasn't gonna read this aloud. They're just trying to get inside my head, right? And that's why they were even laughing harder. I mean, that's some that is some like that's some meta stuff right there, which I which I love. That's the thing. I mean, the show they continue to like, you know, lean into just the weirdness and pushing the weirdness and just just coming up with with bizarro, total nonsensical sketches, you know, full committal in the performances and stuff like that. It's just like some of them are funnier than others, you know what I mean? Right, it's kind of the same way with the British.

SPEAKER_04

There was where which one had the was it the I can I watched so much SNL this week. Who had the like the the the lobster or the crab or whatever that was like in the sketch? Was that a was that a yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. They also didn't remember that. That sketch just fell so flat.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, okay, so so let me use that as a transition into like talking about specifically about like what's going on with the American side of the show. Um I think that there is a uh there's a uh an obstacle that you can you can run into in fall falling prey to nostalgia. Okay, so it's like I look back on classic Saturday Night Live, and I you know, I used to watch it absolutely every single week. Like it was it was just like I do now. Like it's it was must see TV, you know. I always watched it um when I was during the times that I was into it. Uh and I look back and I think of all these just classic sketches, you know, just from over the years. Like I got in at the Eddie Murphy times is when I started watching it, you know, and I just all the classic Eddie Murphy sketches and everything, but you they all run together and you forget that like on every one of those episodes where one of those classic sketches happened, there were four sketches that I would be hard pressed to remember, you know, unless I saw it and like, oh yeah, right, that way, yeah, yeah. Like, and so that's kind of the way it is now. You know what I mean? Like, if you get if you get one. All right, let's pull out. Over the course of the season, if you can get if you can walk away from the course of like one season of Saturday Night Live with let's say three classic sketches, I'd say that's a good hit rate, right? If every year we put three classic sketches into the canon of SNL, I mean, there's already lots of them in there. Like, you know, that would be a that'd be a good rate. Every decade we're putting 30 more classic sketches in. That's a you know. Um so you you don't even have to have a stone cold classic every week, but it's just like a it's a numbers game, you know.

SPEAKER_04

I think the thing that did the disservice to this particular season is that they lost some anchor care they they lost some anchor actors, you know, the uh this year. And I feel like it especially in the the first couple episodes they didn't know where to go with certain you know, with with with it certain, you know, with certainty or with um you know, they it seemed like they were throwing a lot of stuff at the wall just just to see what would stick rather than lean into the you know the the actors that they have. Because now it seems like so far about half you know, halfway through the season, that they're starting to hit a better stride as far as you know who's doing the heavy lifting. And you know, it's gotten a lot better. I mean, those first couple episodes were like damn near hard to watch, you know, and it's gotten much better throughout the season.

SPEAKER_02

For sure. Um I I uh I can't remember what I was gonna say. Um oh so yeah, we basically we we lost Bo and Yang, we lost um Um Heidi, uh Heidi Gardner or two both heavy lifters. Yeah, two big heavy lifters. But I think that has created space for some people to come in. I mean, I think number one, like Ashley Padilla, is now like anchoring the show in a lot of ways. And a lot of times she's just playing that goofy mom character or something like that. But she does like so well. That yes, but so, so well. Um, occasionally she gets to be just like batshit crazy, like that one sketch where they were in the in the work, like in the in the lunchroom at the work at the business or whatever, and she's just like, y'all talking about you talking about blah blah blah, you talking about what what was that sketch?

SPEAKER_01

Did you see that one?

SPEAKER_04

I don't know. But the one that the one that's coming to mind for me with her is the cat litter sketch. Was that this? That was that was in the the um the episode with Matt Damon. I don't I must have seen that one. Dude, the cat litter sketch was hysterical. Where the where they were like, they were they were like the cat litter turns blue when a human pisses in it. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, Matt Damon and her are like convinced that it's their son, and it ends up being the dog, and they're like attacking each other about his peak. Because once they established that it wasn't the sun, they like turned on each other that it had to be one of them. And of course, it's not Matt Damon, he like because that's the premise of it. So he turns on her with like this crazy viciousness, like, why are you pissing in the in the in the litter box? And then they show the dog, and and the dog is the punchline. It's like, oh, oh, you have a dog too. Yeah, it's probably the dog, and there was like the voiceover was like talking directly to them. Oh man, that sketch was funny, dude.

SPEAKER_02

Total absurdist humor. I mean, I I I it was it was incredible. Um, well, you definitely need to go. I think it was on the Jack Black episode, um, that sketch with with uh with her in the lunchroom, um, where she's like sitting at the table in the back. Yeah, it's a Jack Black episode, and she's like, Yeah, are y'all talking about y'all talking about Game of Thrones? You talking about Game of Thrones? And they're trying to ignore her, and she she she keeps yelling at them. And at one point, I can't remember what what it was she was asking, but she kept saying, Are y'all talking about blah blah blah? She she said like two or three different things over the course of the show, but at the end, she the whatever the one was that she lay in the end, she said it like 20 times in a row. I'm not joking. Like, I was like, Okay, this is avant-garde. Like it was getting really avant-garde. She just kept saying it, and they're all just like sitting there because they were like, just ignore her and she'll stop talking. And so they're all sitting there, and she and she she just keeps saying it, and you can just see her sitting back there, and she could just wait for a second. YOLA! And they're like, YOLA!

SPEAKER_04

She just because they probably weren't because they probably weren't expecting her to continue to go on.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolute. It was genius, it was genius. So um, so yeah, they're leaning on her, and then I feel like in the first half of the season, it was Dizmukes that was like all over like every sketch in the first half of the season, like kind of pulling that anchor roll as well. But now I think things are like starting to broaden out. I think um all of the all of the um featured players are on the come up. I think the standout amongst the featured players is besides besides Heidi, besides uh Ashley, is um uh Sloe Kostuka. She is hilarious. That she is I I'd laugh just looking at her, the way she does the little lisp thing and and her delivery, and she she can really dial a character in.

SPEAKER_04

They have not figured out how to use Cam Patterson, though.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

I feel like that experiment, I feel like that is gonna be a one-season experiment. I mean, he is super, he is super funny, like when he does crowd work and his stand-up, but boy, he is he is just he's so over the top, and I just don't know. And he doesn't have any acting background at all. So like I I just I think that they don't know how to utilize what makes him really, really funny. And I just I don't know that it's gonna translate to Saturday Night Live.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, he doesn't he doesn't do a lot for me. Um some some stuff that I feel like there was one thing that he did that I thought was really funny. I thought it was like maybe an update thing where he was like talking to a celebrity or something like that. Something like that.

SPEAKER_04

I there was a weekend update where he was I can't remember what he was doing, but it was pretty funny. Like there's certain, like like I said, there's certain things, but it's just like I don't know, sometimes you almost with those types of people for them to be really successful on Saturday Night Live, they've got to make those people push them push themselves out of their comfort zone as much as possible to where they are the wildest thing in a straight sketch. And they I just I feel like they haven't figured out how to utilize him in that way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well uh what do you think? What do you what do you think of Jane Wickline?

SPEAKER_04

Uh coming along for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, she's she's she's kind of she's kind of getting into that same space that Ashley Padilla is in where she's pretty reliable as like you know, the third or fourth person in whatever the sketch is.

SPEAKER_04

Um Sarah, Sarah, I can't think of her last name, but she's yeah, Sarah Sherman is becoming one of those where you know she can be super crazy and super avant-garde, but she can also be a perfect just third fourth person in a sketch.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, she's I she I'm already on record on this show as to how talented I think she is. Um I totally agreed. I think she can she has a better ability to like go on update and kill than than uh than uh Wickline for sure. I mean Wickline stuff on updates sometimes is pretty funny, but you know, she's just a different kind of approach. And Sarah Sherman, I mean the when she did when she did the punt like uh punch the monkey's mom, you know, like the there was like some monkey in the story, and she's like in this giant monkey outfit that's got like a pink bikini on it, so she's all furry, and she's like, Yeah, Colin, she's talking in a New York accent.

SPEAKER_03

Colin, you like this, Colin? You can't have it.

SPEAKER_04

Like so good. So good. Now, when when you get like all of those younger looking guys like DeSmukes and Wickline and um what's the redhead? I can't think of the redhead's name off the top of my head. Oh you know who I'm talking about. He was he was part of the he was part of the little group of guys that made all the videos. Like James Austin Johnson? Not him. Not not him. He's another one. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I know you know who I'm talking about. I can't think of that. Yeah, Ben Marshall. Ben Marshall. There you go. Like when you get all of them like acting like the younger kids, man, and and throw Marcello in there, like they do a really, really good job of playing off each other.

SPEAKER_02

Um did you did you notice that like in that sketch with Matt Damon, um, where he was uh he was like the teacher doing like the dance and trying to get the kids dancing, which which credit to him for for rocking out that that sketch, like Matt Damon, like that was you put in the work on that sketch, and I I I salute you for that, sir. Um did you notice that like every single cast member was in that sketch as a kid in the classroom? Like every single one of them, they were all in there uh doing the doing the high school kid thing. And it's kind of funny, like you look and there's like there's no fill fill-in people or anything.

SPEAKER_04

It's like the whole cast, which interesting I guess I I guess I didn't notice. Although it's also crazy to me that Mikey Day is now playing like the older character out of all of those people, too. Like Mikey Day is the is the mid is the mid-30s, mid-40s dad character, you know, all over the place.

SPEAKER_02

Here's what I'd like to see with the show in terms of cast. I'd like to see like like a Mikey Day finally like retire. I mean, he's been doing it for years and years. He's got other shit going on. Like he could retire. I love him, but like somebody like him could retire. Um Keenan could retire. I mean, it's you know, you know, so you can lose one, like maybe they get rid of Camp. Maybe they drop like either Tommy Brennan or Jeremy Culhane, I don't know, like you know, whatever. And don't hire else, hire anybody else on. Tighten the cast up a little bit because that's one thing that Reddit is all over is the fact that like that English cast, it's just like just those guys. There's no featured players or you know, people people in the minor leagues working their way up or whatever. It's like just those like nine people or ten people or whatever it is. So they're in lots of sketches, like they're just constantly rotating through and everything. And it really kind of not only, I think, is it good for them to develop? To the actors, yeah. When you get to know them better, you know what I mean? You just become more comfortable with them and more in tune with like what they bring. Um, so I would kind of like to see the American show sort of go in that direction. Like, don't you you know, give yourself a couple of years. Like, once you really have this thing distilled down to like like all the proper pieces of the puzzle, um, then tighten it up. You know, especially in the way that's the way it was. Especially in a big cast shift. Yeah. I mean, there were times back in the 80s when it was like when there was like seven people on the show. Like the this the main set of players, it was like seven people and the host. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04

That'd be interesting. So um how do you feel about Clo Chloe Feynman?

SPEAKER_02

Like, she's another one that's been on there for a while. Uh she's she's great. She can she do she works really well in those uh in those um, you know, character actor type roles, but like she I don't know, she she she needs something. She needs something to sink her teeth into. You know what I mean? She needs a character that a recurring character, I would say. Although I wish they would she has one character that that has recurred twice now, which you can give me as much of as you like, and that is that is as like Brailleur or whatever his name is, the host of snack homies. You know, snack homies is funny. I will give you love that's like to me, to me, that is that is one entry from the last year that enter enters the canon as like classic SNL because I get I it puts me in the same place as the Californians, you know, same joke over and over and over again, but it there's just something so ridiculously funny about it. I love it. And she is, of course, the host of the show. So um I will I will give her that. Um please give us another another episode of that.

SPEAKER_04

Um I you know who I want to see who I want to see. One of like if you're gonna if you're gonna like bring over, you know, former SNL players into SNL UK, bring over some of the former like big, you know, long-running hosts. Bring over a John Goodman or an Alec Baldwin, um, you know, one of the like the the five or six timers or seven timer clubs, like a Steve Martin. Yeah. Like, like that, if you're gonna bring like if you're gonna if you're gonna like borrow some shit from from you know SNL proper, like bring something like that. Like wouldn't it? I like like I don't know, man. In my head, just just thinking Steve Martin on there would would be I feel like that would be hysterical.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that'd be great. I mean, I don't know. I feel like the possibilities are endless. Uh when it when you start thinking about how how you could bring stuff from one show to the other show and cross in, you know, we touched on it a little bit before about uh you know having having Trump talk into Starmer and um yeah, the possibilities are endless. Uh I think that the that the American version is still doing like pretty top-notch um like pre-produced pieces. Um one I wanted to call attention to was like the the one um about the uh the gentleman's code. It's like how dare you, son, we're slapping each other. Like like that that is an incredibly good piece. Well, if you if you can appreciate like how well they are doing those characters, like they are they are killing it.

SPEAKER_04

In the beginning of the season, it was the produced bits that were carrying the show. I mean, there's no doubt those first couple episodes. If it wasn't for the produced bits, I don't know that I would have thought there was anything funny in there outside of updating the cold open. Yeah, I'd have to. The produced bits were doing a lot of work those first two or three episodes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I I did not get a chance to to do as much re-watching as I would have liked in preparation for this, but um, yeah, I do remember it being pretty grim there in the start of the season. I got a couple of people I talk about SNL with at work and just sort of uh just ruefully shaking our heads. Um how do you feel about Colin Jost's Pete Pete Hagseth?

SPEAKER_04

Love it, I think it is hysterical. And like I said, that that that bar scene with him and Cash Patel, and I can't remember who the third person was, then that sketch. It was Brett Kavanaugh. It was Matt Damon playing Brett Kavanaugh. That's right, he was because he was in the robes. That's right. Okay, yeah, it was Brett Kavanaugh. And uh that I mean that sketch, that was a that was a funny sketch, dude. Yeah, I like I like Jerry. He rolled it, he he rolled in and and I can't, he was like, he's like, it's cash money, baby, or whatever the hell he said when he came in. God damn, was it funny?

SPEAKER_02

Tom Haberford in the house. Um yeah, I think it's funny. It'd be funny if Che got if Che got some kind of a some kind of a recurring character like that, especially like if it was like a cold open news type character. Like, because you'd never see you'd never see Michael Chain in the street. Somebody it's gotta be somebody, but uh um I just thought of another diff difference between the two shows that I wanted to point out, and this is like not a big enough thing for it to sort of qualify for what you were talking about as far as like the show like having its own its own thing, you know, that we have not we have yet to sort of define. But uh it I like how the host walks out of the sketch and then walks over and introduces the musical guests, and it's all like in one continuous shot. Have you noticed that? I guess I didn't notice that, no. Yeah, like right before the musical guest is gonna start, the host is almost always in that sketch and the sketch face.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah, and they've got the and they they're still wearing their costume.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, makeup cur personal come up to them and you start working on them as they're transitioning over there, or they'll have somebody like leading them over there, like come on over there, and they'll put her in her place, and then she'll say, ladies and gentlemen, da-da-da-da. You know, right, you're right.

SPEAKER_04

Because then because in the American version, they're always just kind of like in that one spot and then they pan over. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I wish that's something I wish the American version gave us a little bit more of was like pull-outs where you got to see a wide shot of the stage and people starting to move and stuff like that, because they don't give you a ton of that anymore. I feel like they gave you more of that in the past. You know, this this sketch would end and you'd see them on the move um as the as the camera pulled out. It cuts out pretty cold. Yeah. You know, I listened to uh I I listened to that Dana Carvey, David Spade podcast, Fly on the Wall, and so they're often, you know, talking S N L, reminiscing about S NL, and there is, you know, certain There's more than one stage in there. There's not just the the main stage. Like there's there's multiple places where they shoot stuff at. Um some stuff just can't be seen by some parts of the theater. I think like if you're in there, they'll they'll have screens up so you can see the sketches that's happening if you're in one of those sides, but but there's only you know, they the these little areas face different directions and stuff. And like there's I know that there's one at the far end that they always talk about, like being like, that's a really tough spot to get laughs or something. It's harder to get laughs there than in other places because of the way the audience is configured and how far back you are, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_04

So um but you're right, because I can think of I can think back to like you know, like the Bye bye sketch with like the plane, you know, and the the where it was it was sketches like that where they would they would always show you the like the pullback of them like starting to to go off of that set.

SPEAKER_02

At the same time the in the in the one, not the Damon one, but the one the week before, they they had that uh that sketch where everybody was like being thrown down the down the stairs, and uh they kept like you would you would see them like tumbling down the stairs and then they pulled out and you actually saw the way they were doing that. So I don't know. I'm I'm I'm making my own case or I'm I'm I'm defeating it.

SPEAKER_04

I'm still with you that they don't do it nearly as much as they used to.

SPEAKER_02

And I really love the way they do it on UK, especially that transition from sketch to musical guest. I love the way they do that. That's really that's really cool.

SPEAKER_04

Um let's let's let's wrap it up. I'm sure we've been waxing philosophic about this for the better part of an hour now. So what is what is your verdict? Okay, like if you if you had to give it a grade, what would you what grade would you give to SNL UK?

SPEAKER_02

For season one of SNL UK, where you know you were coming out of the gate as a new product, um on a what on a five-star rating? Sure. I would give it a s I would give it a solid three and a half. I would I'm will I'm willing to grade at least the first season on a curve because it takes time for these things to mature. Absolutely. Um I mean, in this day and age with the technology we have, it's not it's not like it would have been 50 years ago, but uh you know, we have a lot more advantages now. Nonetheless, there's still an intangible quality that has nothing to do with the technology available to you that you must possess in order to, you know, really put out a quality product, in my opinion. Um, so I'll grade the first season on a curve and give it a strong three and a half.

SPEAKER_04

I would agree with that. Like I said, I think that it needs uh a little more, I don't know. I think I feel like it needs to it needs to make its own mark. I think you you have the template, but you know, make that template your own. You know, put your your spin on that template would be the one thing that that I would say is is don't don't necessarily lean into the formula and you know use the formula to your advantage.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I know that every time, you know, I pull up a new episode, I I am buzzing with excitement the way I am when I watch, you know, original recipe because I'm starting to identify the certain characters and the certain bits that I like. Um and and I know that every episode is gonna give me some hilarious accents. And uh I'm I'm very likely going to catch some absolute like absurdity in some in some form or fashion, some kind of just like absolutely absurdist notion that will that will give me a laugh. Um, I am getting excited for update each week because I know what Patty is like, I know what what Anya is like. Um I loved the this past week when it was what was the somebody had like found a letter from UK. I've not gotten I have not gotten to update from UK this week. Oh, okay. All right. Well, there's a good one about like a letter from your father or something like that. Just take note of that joke when when when Patty delivers it on the update when you watch it. But um uh I lost my train of thought.

SPEAKER_04

Oh well, I mean, we were just talking about the grading, the grading of it, and and I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

I I think time this season next if you gave me this season that I've had so far, but it was next season, it I'd probably be like in the three range.

SPEAKER_04

Um I believe that it has already been renewed for next season, so we should see at least at least two seasons of it. I it will it's still it's still I can't get used to them going live from London. I that is something I don't know that I will ever like them doing doing a you know uh the during the the you know the the cold uh the or the the actual opening of the show saying live from London. It's I don't know that one that one still hits because I want to like every time they start into it, I want to hear them say live from New York, it's Saturday night. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

Do you ever think we'll get a uh we'll we'll get a uh Australia, uh Sydney live from Sydney? Do you think we'll ever get a a live from from Cape Town? I'm just trying to think of English live from Dublin. We get an Irish version?

SPEAKER_04

No, I definitely don't think you'd get that, but I could easily see getting a you know live from New Delhi it's Saturday night live. Oh, that would be that would be interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_04

God, I'd love to watch that show. Uh 100%.

SPEAKER_02

But you know, yeah, but this is this is super fun. I mean, I'm I'm loving it. I uh we're getting double the size of this SNL, and that is that is fine by me, and that will always be fine by me. You know? I Yeah, no, I agree. There's there's more than enough of of familiarity that I'm I'm already hooked. I was I was kind of hooked from from episode one. I kind of I kind of just realized as I as I watched Tina Faye rolling down those stairs and coming out, I was just like, uh, yep, yep, all in. I love this.

SPEAKER_04

Was Tina Fey the right choice?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely. I thought we already touched on that.

SPEAKER_04

We did. I know I would you could you have seen anybody else doing it that you felt would have been better?

SPEAKER_03

Uh maybe. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

Would a Jimmy would a Jimmy Fallon would have been better? Would an Amy Polar have been better?

SPEAKER_02

I would take T Tina Faye over Jimmy Fallon. Um I'd say interchangeable with Amy Polar. I'd be more I'd be thinking more like something like a Scar Joe. Like like an American movie star with that's got international vibes. Yeah. That'd be interesting.

SPEAKER_04

I don't know. I I liked it being an SNL cast member. I will say that. I liked that being somebody from SNL. I mean, if you're gonna go that way, you know, you maybe go with like a Sandler or somebody like really big that came to Sandler obsessive. Sandler could have been a good one. What about like a Kate McKinnon? I mean, dude, I wish Kate McKinnon could come back to the show. I'd be fine with that. Kate couldn't do anything anytime anywhere.

SPEAKER_02

Like Kate McKinnon by herself is just funnier than Tina Faye. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like all day long. Kate McKinnon will destroy you in a way that Tina Faye, yeah, that's not that's not that's not her lane. So I don't know. Maybe that could have been a lot of fun. No, Tina Faye is funny. Tina Faye had many classic sketches, but she was But Tina Faye also conveys something because of her NBC connection. She was part of 30 Rock, like that's I think that's the key right there. Yeah. She she represents an air of of legitimacy and royalty and and status, you know, whilst also being a comedic actor and writer at you know, triple threat.

SPEAKER_04

Well, and her in her big claim is SNL. And 30 R. I mean, like, she is like that. Right.

SPEAKER_02

So and and she is in a classic movie that's like beloved by every millennial woman in the world, which is uh the uh whatever that movie is, uh like the um my wife would kill me. Fortunately, she doesn't. Oh, oh, she's in Mean Girls. Yeah, Mean Girls, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

You're right.

SPEAKER_02

Um so there's that, you know. Um she was a good choice. Alrighty.

SPEAKER_04

Any parting thoughts before we uh wrap this week up?

SPEAKER_02

Give us another snack homies, please. SNL. There's anybody from NBC amongst the five people listening to this show, please bring us another snack homies. More snack homies.

SPEAKER_04

All right. Well, on that note, for my brother Matt, I'm Justin Harper. Thank you for joining us on Inglorious Brothers for another week. We will see you hopefully again next week. Until then, have a great night. Have a great day, have a great week.

SPEAKER_02

We'll see you later. Inglorious Brothers is a Harporama production and a part of the Harparama family of podcasts. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Please like, subscribe, and follow, leave a five-star review, and most importantly, tell all your friends about us. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time. And uh, oh yeah, Ariva Derchi.