This was published 7 months ago

Benji Wilson

March 23, 2026 — 8:37am

A TV producer, a streaming executive and a group of stand-up comics walk into a bar.

“Let’s transplant a much-loved satirical sketch comedy from one country to another, replace the entire cast with unknowns, try and make jokes about Sir Keir Starmer , one of the world’s least funny men, and then show it in Australia,” says the streaming executive to the others.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA,” they reply.

That’s the joke: there are so many reasons not to try and re-create Saturday Night Live in London and then pray for ratings in Australia that, quite sensibly, they used it as one of the gags in host Tina Fey’s opening monologue. It was whittled in to a topical jab as well – why do a British version? “Like so many large-scale US operations these days,” Fey deadpanned, “no one really knows.”

That quaver of self-doubt and Brit self-deprecation ran through the whole show, and it was the right tack to take.…