‘SNL UK’ Just Opened the Door to a Major ‘Saturday Night Live’ Formula Shake-Up

Published Oct 19, 2026, 4:24 PM EDT

Greer Riddell is a London-based culture journalist and critic writing on film, television, audience behaviour, and the wider media industry. She is a Writer and Social Media Coordinator at Collider and TV Editor at FILMHOUNDS.

Her recent collaborations include Netflix, Warner Bros., DC Studios, Hulu, and Disney+, producing features on titles including Saturday Night Live UK, Severance, Sitcoms, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Stranger Things. Her recent reviews include Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85’, Scrubs Season 10, and The Boroughs. Her work has also included coverage of UK film festivals and features published in Film Stories Magazine.

James Austin Johnson’s surprise appearance as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live UK was more than a fun cameo this past weekend. It showed how the British arm of Saturday Night Live can borrow from the American original without losing its own comedic identity and references. During the October 17 episode hosted by James Norton, Johnson brought his pitch-perfect Trump impression across the Atlantic to interrupt the UK’s cold open starring George Fouracres and Freddie Meredith. Trump had been referenced on SNL UK before, with Paddy Young voicing the president over the phone in the Season 1 premiere’s “Sir Keir Makes a Difficult Phone Call,” but this was the first time the character actually appeared in person.

Rather than introducing their own impression, the British series brought over the actor who has played Trump on American Saturday Night Live since 2021, which felt like a genuine collaboration and crossover rather than a guest star just dropping by. Plus, it opens up the possibility for future collaborations between the two shows, which can only boost the viewership of the entire SNL franchise.

‘SNL UK’ Just Brought an American Comedy Staple Across the Pond

Johnson took over the Trump impression from Alec Baldwin in 2021, becoming the sixth performer in SNL history to play the president, excluding Trump himself. His approach captures Trump's familiar mannerisms, speech patterns, and outrageous exaggerations. As Johnson told USA Today, he plays the president's ability to be funny, “intentionally or otherwise,” which is an unexpectedly “powerful” quality.

That combination worked particularly well in SNL UK's cold open. Prime Minister Andy Burnham (Fouracres) meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Meredith) at Downing Street to reaffirm Britain's support for Ukraine. Their discussion begins with new missiles being delivered by the notoriously unreliable parcel service Evri, followed by Zelenskyy's plea for America's Starlink to be reinstated, admitting it would also help him stream The Celebrity Traitors.

When Burnham mentions Trump, the president quickly appears, comparing his entrance to Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice: “You say my name, and I appear.” Johnson then quickly adapts the familiar character to his new surroundings. Manchester City Football Club's financial rule-breaking became an excuse for Trump to declare he'd rather visit “Lady City.” Similarly, following news coverage of a fatal tiger attack at a Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Trump announced, “I'm team tiger guy. I like all orange predators.” Even Marks & Spencer's popular Percy Pig sweets get a mention!

James Austin Johnson's Trump Works So Well on 'SNL UK'

Image via Sky/Eva Pentel/Matt Crockett

These aren't just British references for the sake of endearing the UK audience to an American cast member stealing the limelight. Johnson takes British news stories and cultural references and filters them through Trump's familiar personality. His absurdly self-assured delivery makes the references funnier because he treats every subject as though it exists to serve him. It even follows real-world events where Trump shared AI videos of himself wrestling the tiger.

His exchange about Freddie Meredith is particularly sharp. Trump questions why SNL UK doesn't have anyone capable of playing him, despite the cast's training at RADA, before dismissing the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as the “Royal Academy of Dogshit Actors.” The joke acknowledges the crossover while capturing Trump's tendency to dismiss established institutions and insist on his own superiority. By addressing Meredith, an actual cast member, Johnson also blurs the line between performer and character. He draws attention to the fact that everyone is acting, which somehow makes his Trump feel even more real. Breaking the rules of the sketch feels entirely in character for someone who has spent years disregarding political conventions too.

There's also a practical reason the casting works. SNL UK already has performers associated with British political and royal figures, from Fouracres' Burnham to Larry Dean's King Charles III. Asking someone to take on Trump would invite comparisons with Johnson, whose impression is so well established, and distract from the series’ own success. Bringing Johnson over avoids that problem while allowing the British cast to concentrate on the figures the audience knows best.

This ‘SNL UK’ Crossover Could Be the Start of Something Much Bigger

Image via Sky/Eva Pentel/Matt Crockett

Johnson’s appearance suggests that SNL UK doesn't need to distance itself entirely from its American predecessor to establish its own identity. It can draw on the original's history while adapting familiar characters to British stories and sensibilities. The episode also offered an interesting contrast during Weekend Update, when Ania Magliano delivered a searing response to Shane Gillis' controversial monologue on American SNL the previous week. Johnson's appearance showed what the two shows can achieve together, while Magliano's commentary demonstrated that the British version is perfectly capable of developing its own voice and isn’t afraid to take risks.

Weekend Update itself could be ripe for a crossover. Magliano and Paddy Young's appearances at the desk have become some of the British show's most recognizable exports, with their segments frequently shared online and compared with Colin Jost and Michael Che's equivalent. A mischievous exchange between the two pairs could play on their different approaches to politics and the boundaries of acceptable comedy, particularly given the British show's greater freedom to use language that American network television must avoid. For a crossover built around an established character, however, King Charles III seems an especially lucrative candidate for the American show.

Larry Dean's impersonation captures the monarch's distinctive speech patterns and mannerisms, offering plenty of comic potential and exaggeration akin to Johnson’s Trump. Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex could be equally interesting choices. Imagine King Charles III encountering American political life or discussing US pop culture with the same bewilderment that Johnson's Trump brings to Percy Pigs. Harry and Meghan could offer a different angle on the countries' complicated relationship, with jokes grounded in their experiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

No further SNL collaborations have been announced, and future crossovers shouldn't happen simply for the sake of it. The key is finding characters and performers who can bring something distinctive to the other show's audience. The appeal of Johnson's appearance as Trump wasn't just that SNL UK secured an American star — it was that the show found a way to make an established American character part of its own comedy. So if future crossovers follow that example, both series could have plenty of fun borrowing from each other without either losing their identity.

Saturday Night Live UK premieres on Saturdays in the U.K. on Sky One and streams the next day on Peacock in the U.S.

Saturday Night Live UK