SNL UK's cold open turns PM Andy Burnham's bean stockpile into a Channel 4 pile-up

The sketch and its target

SNL UK's cold open took aim at PM Andy Burnham's bean stockpile with help from familiar British TV personalities ^[1]. George Fouracres played Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the sketch ^[1].

The joke starts with the Stand Up to Cancer special that Burnham and Liverpool's mayor Steve Rotheram did on Celebrity Gogglebox, which aired Friday ^[1]. In the sketch, the pair channel-flipped through Channel 4 ^[1]. Burnham downed a whole canister of Twiglets after the PM revealed his favourite doomsday-prepping snacks ^[1].

The TV faces in the queue

Celeste Dring did an impression of Celebrity Traitors host Claudia Winkleman ^[1]. The impersonated Winkleman said that putting 22 celebrities who are too famous to play the game seriously into a castle produces not much ^[1].

Jack Shep played Graham Norton interviewing Prince William, who was played by Freddie Meredith ^[1]. Norton asked Prince William whether it was true that Harry reached out this week ^[1]. Prince William responded by telling Norton to shut up ^[1].

A Great British Bake Off parody followed. Ayoade Bamgboyea played Alison Hammond, described as the only person everyone in the country likes ^[1]. Larry Dean played Noel Fielding, described as a sleep paralysis demon ^[1].

The bean idea has a source

The cold open ended with future PM Burnham, played by Paddy Young, visiting his present-day counterpart ^[1]. Future Burnham gave his present-day counterpart the idea to advise Britons to stockpile beans in case of a cyber attack ^[1].

Two more Burnham cold opens

The episode featured Cynthia Erivo as host, with musical guest Blossoms ^[1]. In a separate cold open, Donald Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) crashed a meeting between Prime Minister Andy Burnham (George Fouracres) and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Freddie Meredith) ^[2].

Trump asked Burnham and Zelenskyy to swap jobs with him, saying he would take over the UK while they took America ^[2]. After Burnham refused, Trump turned to Zelenskyy, who also refused ^[2]. Zelenskyy said that Trump should not want his job because it involves so much time spending with Burnham ^[2].

In another cold open, Burnham was taking a victory lap over his UN performance, where he took on Putin and the Russian government ^[3]. Angela Rayner (played by Celeste Dring) praised Burnham for smashing his UN speech ^[3]. Oasis brothers Liam Gallagher (played by Jack Shep) and Noel Gallagher (played by Freddie Meredith) arrived and offered Burnham a guest guitarist role on their next tour ^[3].

The sketch then revealed that Liam and Noel Gallagher had been Russian spies the entire time ^[3]. Liam Gallagher claimed that Oasis has always been Russian psyops and that their songs were made in a lab by Kremlin scientists ^[3]. Burnham argued that he could hold a general election tomorrow, referencing the PM's alleged flip-flopping on calling for one ^[3]. The cold open incorporates a key line from the song Wonderwall ^[3].