Jimmy Fallon just became the unexpected star – and puppet master – of the latest episode of Saturday Night Live UK.
Actress and host Nicola Coughlan was delivering her opening monologue of this week’s episode on Sky One, joking she had consumed “a staggering amount of cocaine” to get into her SNL character.
“It’s an honor to be hosting,” she said. “It sort of feels like I manifested it somehow — it’s almost like this place is like magic. Just at that moment, American talk show host and former SNL cast member Fallon sprung out and shouted, “That’s because it is!” as the crowd erupted and the energy got wild.
“It’s SNL royalty Jimmy Fallon,” the ‘shocked’ Coughlan stammered, before Fallon encouraged her into a madcap, energetic walkthrough of the entire set to prove the power of the SNL host. “As much fun as this is, can I just get back hosting,” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here, Nicola: to teach you the biggest secret of SNL that no-one wants you to know… well, don’t tell anyone but it’s LIVE,” shouts Fallon. You’re not getting it – it’s actually live. You can do whatever you want, you can go wherever you want. You’re the host, they don’t stop you!”
He then took her into the audience, where they ruffled the hair of one man and met “Sir Paul McCartney himself,” who was very much not Paul McCartney. “Everyone in America thinks everyone in England is in The Beatles,” explained as the wild energuy spread.
Fallon and Coughlan then bumped into Paddy Young and Ania Magliano preparing for their Weekend Update. “Give them some news,” Fallon instructed Coughlan, to which the Derry Girls and Bad Mood actor said: “Jack Shep… he does his number twos in your dressing rooms, later nerds!” before slapping their notes on the floor.
“You’re getting it now, the power,” shouted Fallon, as they continued through the set, past beefeaters, musical act Dave Grohl, who agreed to be Coughlan’s “best friend” and on into cast member George Fouracres’ dressing room, where a short interaction ended with the Keir Starmer impersonator taking a bottle to the head.
They then bumped into Hammed Animashaun, who reminded them the stage was empty – “Are we doing the show?”
“The show?” responded Fallon. “This is more than a show, this is MAGIC!”
The trio then shimmied back on to stage, with Coughlan and Fallon embracing as the madcap segment came to an end, and the show cut to a sketch in which Coughlan sent up her film The Faraway Tree with an explicit rap for studio executives.
“It’s the faraway tree, and it’s magic as fuck/Thick leaves, Nicky C and a magical trunk. It’s a big fucking tree/Gets a new land a day. And you think it’s big now/It’s far away.”
As the Willow Gate execs pushed back, Coughlan introduced them to ‘Keith’, an on-set caterer, who happens to Fallon in character. “My name is Keit, I do the on-set catering/For when the cast and crew’s energy is wavering. Anything they need, you know I will get it/Look there’s my motherf***ing name in the credits.”
As the sketch ends, Coughland revealed she and Keith had “started dating… and let me tell you things got pretty freaky!”
SNL UK returned this evening after a one-week hiatus. Aimee Lou Wood will host next week, and is no doubt planning to send up the American SNL‘s sketch about her last year, which many thought breached decency standards. Previous week hosts have included Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan and Riz Ahmed.
Earlier this week, a Deadline analysis of SNL UK‘s debut run showed the show had passed 86 million views across its official online accounts on YouTube, Instagram Reels, X/Twitter, and TikTok, meaning it is consistently going viral – and this number does not include the various bootlegged videos. However, ratings on Sky One have slipped from 226,000 in episode one to 120,000 in the most recent one, and its streamed views on Sky’s NOW are not even registering in online viewing reports from overnights.tv, the measurement company, meaning they are extremely negligible.