The debut episode of “Saturday Night Live U.K.” opened with a dig at the relationship between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Trump.
Starmer, played by George Fouracres, is visibly nervous at calling Trump. In recent days, the president has criticized his British counterpart amid the war with Iran, including for what he called a “late” response by the U.K. to allow the U.S. to use its bases to strike Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I was a little surprised at the U.K. They should have acted a lot faster,” Trump told reporters on Friday.
As his phone rings, the fictional Starmer wonders, “What if Donald shouts at me?” as a photo of a smiling Trump sits in the background. But Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, played by Hammed Animashaun, instructs his boss to “just be yourself.”
Yet once a fictional Trump picks up, Starmer shrieks in fear, hangs up the phone and puts his head in his hand.
“I just want to keep him happy, Lammy. You don’t understand him like I do. I can change him,” Starmer remarks. He later admits he is “out of my depth” and wonders how former British Prime Minister Liz Truss — who was on the job for just 50 days — made “this job look so easy.”
After Lammy enlists the help of a “Gen Z adviser,” Starmer sends the president a voice memo.
“Hi Donald. I’m afraid I can’t go to war with you,” he begins. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still be chums. America and Britain have a long, proud tradition of cooperation, and nothing can take that away.”
Starmer then says the president should “remember the good times,” such as D-Day, the “first week” of the Iraq War and various U.K. references in the television show “Friends.”
“Most importantly, remember the one where Ross and Rachel were on a break,” the U.K. leader continued. “I think perhaps that’s what we need. Not forever, just until you’ve got all this war out of your system.
“Listen, we want different things,” he continued. “I know how badly you want to start World War 3, and that’s great. You should absolutely do that. But we can’t be a part of it. You can, however, use the naval bases whenever you want.”
After Starmer finishes the call, Lammy commends his boss and says, “You did the bare minimum, and that’s all people expect.”
“Thank you Lammy. It just goes to show, while we may not agree with everything America does, we can still be civil and embrace their wonderful, unproblematic culture,” Starmer replies, to laughter.
Julia Manchester contributed reporting.
