Saturday Night Live U.K.‘s Weekend Update is not afraid of the week’s most controversial topics — and this weekend’s edition proved it again, as co-host Paddy Young went straight at the headlines everyone else was tiptoeing around.
SNL U.K. Weekend Update (Credits: Variety)
The segment, from the Cynthia Erivo-hosted episode with musical guest Blossoms, opened its royal-news section with a joke referencing the allegations that emerged this past week regarding Meghan Markle‘s father. “In royal news, it’s been a big 24 hours for Meghan Markle, whose dad has been accused of being an alleged pedophile, in another pathetic attempt to win over the British public,” Young said, in the show’s characteristically blunt style.
It was the kind of joke that sums up why SNL U.K.’s Weekend Update has built a reputation for sharpness in its short life. Where the long-running American edition leans on veteran anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che, the British version has handed the desk to relative newcomers Young and Ania Magliano — and let them swing.
SNL U.K. Weekend Update takes on James Bond and Glee
The royal joke was only the start. The same Weekend Update also turned its attention to James Bond auditions and a Glee reboot, riffing on two of the week’s buzziest entertainment stories with the same no-sacred-cows energy. The mix — royalty, the world’s most famous spy franchise, and a beloved musical TV phenomenon — is exactly the territory where the segment thrives: stories the audience already has an opinion on, delivered with a punchline that assumes they can take it.
The Erivo episode itself was a significant one for the show, closing out SNL U.K.’s 2026 run before it returns with six new episodes in 2027. Erivo, the Wicked star, also fronted sketches throughout the night, while Blossoms performed as musical guest — a finale-night line-up designed to keep the show in conversation until it returns.
Weekend Update has become the show’s calling card in that regard. Its desk has already produced some of the series’ most talked-about moments, from its own cast of eccentric correspondents to jokes that would raise eyebrows even on British television, where swearing rules differ from the U.S. broadcast. This weekend’s edition kept that streak alive: topical, fearless, and fully aware that the biggest reaction often comes from the joke nobody else dared to make.
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
