Peter Serafinowicz guest stars as Nigel Farage in ‘SNL UK’ Cold Open
Peter Serafinowicz, who starred in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and Star Wars prequel “The Phantom Menace,” opened “Saturday Night Live UK” with a guest appearance as right-wing politician Nigel Farage.
The cold open started with a voiceover explaining that the year was 1946 when it zoomed in on the British Prime Minister’s residence, Downing Street in London.
A gray-haired man sits at his desk with his back to the audience, leading the audience to assume it is likely “SNL UK” cast member George Fouracres reprising Keir Starmer. But as the man spins around in his chair, it turns out he is Serafinowicz as Farage, whose real-life Reform Party made huge gains in Britain’s local elections this week. Meanwhile, parody Farage is on his mobile phone (with an English flag on it) wishing Sir David Attenborough a happy 120th birthday.
As he hangs up, he says, “I love being Prime Minister” before “SNL UK” cast member Ayoade Bamgboye enters the room as Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, with Farage welcoming her as his deputy. “Big news day, Prime Minister,” she tells him. “Thanks to our deportations, the population of London is finally made up of one finger.”
Farage replies: “Excellent, excellent.”
Badenoch adds: “And one last thing: King Trump assures us that he has almost reached a ceasefire across the Strait of Hormuz.”
The duo then bond over what a great team they make since the merger of their respective parties, before Farage announces that they are late for the “straight pride parade” and they leave.
That’s when Fouracres enters – dressed as a beleaguered Starmer – alongside Celeste Dring as former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who resigned last year after it emerged she had paid too little tax on her second home. It has been revealed they have traveled to the future in a time machine to show Starmer what could happen if he does not resign following the disastrous results for Labor in this week’s council elections.
Fouracres looks at the newspaper and sees that Farage has been Prime Minister all along – and notes that “SNL UK” has been renewed for another season (as Variety exclusively revealed last week) – before Rayner urges him to step aside so she can lead the party.
At that moment, Al Nash walks through the time machine closet as Winston Churchill before the trio performs the classic ‘Live from London, it’s Saturday Night!’ plays. introduction.
