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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Louis Staples

Princess Diana, Donald Trump and toe-curling cringe – SNL UK is saving television from its boredom crisis

Saturday Night Live UK – a sketch from the first episode, featuring George Fouracres as Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, and Hammed Animashaun as David Lammy, deputy PM, and the justice secretary.
“I just want to keep him happy, Lammy” … The SNL UK sketch that caught Trump’s attention. Photograph: Sky/PA

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump’s “special” relationship? It’s complicated. This week, hours before a scheduled phone call between the two leaders, Trump shared a clip of another conversation. It was a sketch from the inaugural episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) UK, in which a nasal and stressed Starmer, played by George Fouracres, repeatedly tried to get out of calling the president. “I just want to keep him happy, Lammy,” moaned the PM to his deputy. “You don’t understand him like I do – I can change him.”

After weeks of very real tensions over what Trump perceives as a lack of British support for US military action in Iran, the humiliating clip was a nightmare for Downing Street. But you know who it was a dream for? SNL UK, which just had its arrival announced by the most powerful man in the world.

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