Pairing him with Jorja Smith is a masterstroke of cool. While Whitehall brings the laddish, front-room humour, Smith brings the genuine, soulful artistry. She’s a Mercury Prize-nominated, critically adored singer from Walsall who has more credibility in her little finger than most pop stars have in their entire PR team. She’s not a flash-in-the-pan TikTok star; she’s a musician’s musician. Her voice, a blend of smoky jazz and R&B, will provide a much-needed dose of class and calm after what is guaranteed to be an hour and a half of Whitehall prancing about in a wig pretending to be a Tory MP or a particularly dim-witted fox. The combination signals that *SNL UK* is no longer just trying to be a pale imitation of the New York mothership. It’s trying to create a distinctly British blend of satire and style. The show on the 11th is now the hottest ticket in town, and for the first time since it launched, the rest of the country might actually tune in to see if we’ve finally managed to export comedy without it getting lost in translation.
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