Top 10 Funniest Sketches from SNL UK Season 1
#10: “Peter Pan’s Midlife Crisis”
This sketch sees Jack Whitehall play an older, deeply washed-up Peter Pan who returns to reconnect with Wendy, only to discover she’s moved on with her life and married a successful neurosurgeon. Whitehall fully commits to portraying Peter as the world’s saddest man-child, bitterly trying to flex his flying abilities like they’re still impressive in adulthood. The physical comedy absolutely carries the sketch, especially whenever Peter drunkenly crashes into furniture while attempting dramatic takeoffs around Wendy’s bedroom. It gets funnier the more pathetic Peter becomes, especially as his cocky bravado eventually shatters. Beneath all the chaos though, the sketch cleverly reframes the boy who won’t grow up as someone emotionally stuck in the past while everyone else matured.
#9: “The Last Supper”
If “SNL UK” wanted an early statement sketch, this was it. George Fouracres plays David Attenborough, who uses his brother Richard’s “Jurassic Park technology” to resurrect iconic Britons for one final dinner party. What follows is pure chaos. Winston Churchill, Isaac Newton, Princess Diana and others immediately derail the discussion into arguments over appetisers and food portions. Jack Shep absolutely runs away with the sketch as Diana, delivering every line with exaggerated doe-eyed sincerity. Host Tina Fey popping in as Agatha Christie only adds to the madness, especially once she starts treating the dinner like a murder investigation. It’s overcrowded, loud and very British, which is exactly why it became one of the breakout sketches of the premiere.
#8: “Downing Street: 2046”
“SNL UK” delivered perhaps its sharpest political sketch of the season with this dystopian cold open set in “2046.” The audience is initially led to believe George Fouracres is once again playing Keir Starmer, only for the dramatic reveal to show Peter Serafinowicz as right-wing politician Nigel Farage instead. Serafinowicz perfectly captures Farage’s smug confidence as he casually discusses deportations, “King Trump,” and his coalition with Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, played to perfection by Ayoade Bamgboye. The sketch then swerves into sci-fi territory when Fouracres’ exhausted Starmer and Celeste Dring’s Angela Rayner arrive via time machine to confront the potential future awaiting Britain. Between the political satire, absurd escalation and meta jokes, this was “SNL UK” at its finest.
#7: “British Pork Ad”
The Aimee Lou Wood-hosted episode has been hailed as perhaps the best episode of the entire season, and it’s because of sketches like this. This one is a faithful recreation of a genuinely bizarre 1984 British pork commercial, and the discomfort is entirely the point. George Fouracres leads as the dad, who has to deliver his lines with an intensity that makes the whole thing feel deeply unsettling. The slightly-off reactions, the loaded glances between the parents… something is very wrong at that dinner table, and nobody can quite articulate what. Fouracres corpsed hard during the sketch, as did almost everyone else at the table. He later apologized on Instagram, saying he'd been obsessed with the original ad for years.
#6: “Operation: A Party Game With A Problem”
This sketch managed to turn a children’s board game into a full-on psychological thriller. After a man fails while playing Operation at a party, he soon becomes horrifyingly obsessed with mastering the game. This obsession slowly destroys his marriage, his career and eventually his entire grip on reality. This escalation is what makes it brilliant. With every time jump, host Riz Ahmed commits with the seriousness of someone starring in a prestige drama. Most people could smell the climax coming from a mile away. But yet, the way it’s executed is so bizarre, that it might actually leave you terrified. Indeed, comedy and horror are two sides of the same coin.
#5: “Mastermind”
“Things my mum has told me about people I've never met and have no connection to.” That was the specialist subject in this parody of the long-running game show. As a “Mastermind” category, it's almost too good and the sketch absolutely delivers on every ounce of its potential. Host Jack Whitehall plays the contestant, who piles up brilliantly absurd anecdotes about people he has zero personal connection to whatsoever, from the stable of his own mother. Hammed Animashaun's impression of host Clive Myrie is razor-sharp, made even more delightful by the fact that Animashaun is himself a former “Celebrity Mastermind” champion. The biggest complaint from fans was that it ended too quickly, which is usually the sign of a great sketch.
#4: “Looking Theroux the Mirror”
The first season of “SNL UK” delivered a string of unexpected cameos, but this one certainly took the cake. The sketch begins with Larry Dean putting on a hilariously accurate Louis Theroux impression, perfectly capturing the soft-spoken awkwardness and overly careful phrasing that defines the documentarian’s style. Then things escalate. Al Nash appears as another Theroux reflection, followed by host Ncuti Gatwa in the same wig and outfit, creating an increasingly absurd trio of identical Therouxes questioning one another in circles. Just when the sketch couldn’t get any more surreal, the real Theroux appears at the door to complain about the noise. The deadpan seriousness from everyone involved somehow makes the sketch even more ridiculous.
#3: “The Bastard Seagull”
This is probably the sketch that best captures SNL UK’s weird little identity. Framed like a gothic literary reading, several authors gather to discuss humanity’s greatest horrors. While the others describe vampires and werewolves, George Fouracres solemnly recounts the time a seagull flew into his bedroom. Fouracres enters looking completely ruined already, covered in filth, with disheveled hair. His narration grows increasingly dramatic as the seagull evolves into a genuinely terrifying force of chaos. The dead-serious delivery is crucial here. Fouracres takes a premise that shouldn't sustain more than thirty seconds and somehow stretches it into something magnificent. Of course, the titular creature eventually makes an appearance, immediately proving his point.
#2: “Traitors: A Very Confident Mistake”
There aren’t many shows that have gripped Britain in recent times quite like “The Traitors.” So of course, “SNL UK” had to take aim at it. Celeste Dring's impression of Claudia Winkleman is unsettlingly accurate – the coat, the fringe, the theatrical gravitas, it’s all there. The sketch uses this as a launchpad to take aim at something real: the racial bias conversations that have surrounded the show since its first series. Rather than addressing it literally, the sketch conjures a “Great Big Crab Man” as its central metaphor. Visual gags, sharp writing and knowing winks to “Traitors” superfans make this one land on every level. Biting social commentary wrapped in a giant crustacean costume. Genuinely, what more could you ask for?
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
“45 Seconds With Fouracres”
This Recurring Sketch Features Fouracres Raising Important Issues in His Oddball Style
“Hostage”
A Kidnapper Takes a Hostage Only to End Up Emotionally Invested in Her Situationship
“Pub Song”
Proof That British Tourists Can Travel Thousands of Miles and Still Go to a Wetherspoons
“Falling Down A Hill With Helen Birch”
60 Seconds of Setup for One Gloriously Stupid Payoff
“Night Time Incident”
The Sinister Jools Holland Nightmare Fuel We Never Knew We Needed… Until Now
#1: “An Italian Plumber with Princess Problems”
Every so often, a sketch arrives that transcends the format entirely. This is that sketch. Mario and the Princess have saved the kingdom, completed the quest, and are now living in a Brooklyn apartment where things are considerably less heroic. George Fouracres as Mario comes home after losing yet another job. Aimee Lou Wood plays the Princess as someone deeply tired of living with a man who apparently does nothing but day-drink. The two deliver performances with a raw, committed emotional intensity, the likes of which we haven’t seen since “Marriage Story.” Yoshi tears the place apart. Jack Shep appears as a mushroom Mario suspects the Princess is carrying on with. Every single element works. To achieve such a pitch perfect sketch in the first season is incredible.
Did your favourite “SNL UK” sketch make the cut? Let us know in the comments below.
