SNL UK’s breakout star Freddie Meredith: ‘It’s so live… it couldn’t be more live’
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Live from London, it’s the new star of Saturday night.
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Freddie Meredith tells Andy Beill he’s living the dream, having played everything from a Gallagher brother to an east London mosquito
Saturday 12th September 2026, less than two weeks after finishing his first ever show at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, Freddie Meredith finds himself in the Saturday Night Live UK studio opposite Jeff Goldblum.
“Having never experienced it live with the audience, with the cameras, and he's just there.
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he → tell → cameras
We've got two minutes till we go live.
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we → get → minutes
We're all sitting there and he's over near the crowd dancing and dapping up all the audience members and pointing at me: ‘Freddie Meredith, this guy, you're gonna love this guy!’
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you → sit → guy
I was like ‘What the f*** is going on, this is actually insane.’
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“I think that was the moment when the penny dropped that, wow, this is unlike anything I've done before.”
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I → think → anything
This was episode one of SNL UK season two, following a debut run which confounded expectations from viewers and critics alike.
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Many had preconceptions of the American original being patchy, let alone how that would translate to a British version with a cast entirely free of household names.
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that → have → names
Near enough immediately it found a loyal audience, whether watching in the titular Saturday night TV slot or, just as likely, watching in a hungover state on a lazy Sunday or being fed the highlights that have gone viral online.
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that → find → highlights
Meredith is a new addition to the show for this season, having been “very close” to getting through the auditions for the inaugural cast when SNL UK launched less than six months earlier, only to ultimately miss out.
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UK → get → cast
The assembled team of performers and writers were found having cut their teeth playing the live comedy scene, and many would make their return to the Fringe this year with the newfound profile of Saturday night TV stars.
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many → assemble → stars
Meanwhile, despite growing his name through roles in sitcoms including Such Brave Girls and on the London comedy circuit, Meredith remained a relative unknown to wider audiences as he took his show, Need a Light?, to the Pleasance Courtyard.
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he → grow → Courtyard
This earned him a nomination for best newcomer in the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and the SNL UK producers evidently saw something they needed to add to their existing roster.
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they → earn → roster
Meredith recalls: “The last Friday of Edinburgh, two more shows to go, I was just having a drink when my agent gets a call.
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agent → recall → call
He comes over and says they want you to join the cast and ideally start on Tuesday.
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you → come → Tuesday
“It really was out of the blue and a very bizarre, overwhelming feeling of being chosen.
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And so four days later he was starting work on the new job, being welcomed by a number of familiar faces - “apart from maybe George [Fouracres] and Larry [Dean], I think I've gigged with all of them” - and being thrown straight into the action.
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Freddie Meredith on SNL UK’s celebrity guests
Jamie Demetriou
“He’s a hero of mine.
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Getting to do a couple of sketches that I'd written as well on that specific show felt really special to me because he's someone that I've always looked up to.
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“He just makes everything so funny.
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The read through for that week was incredible because he just can just make anything work.”
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anything → make → week
Amelia Dimoldenberg
“Self-professed, she was like, ‘I'm not really an actor’ on day one, so you have a different approach to all the sketches.
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you → profess → sketches
“The one where I was doing the worm and she's coming on with massive feet - it’s insane sort of stuff.”
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it → do → stuff
That one had a fun, iconic feeling to it.
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one → have → it
He just makes anything iconic.”
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anything → make → ?
Rada-trained Meredith entered the world of performance through acting before taking to comedy.
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Meredith → train → comedy
Those who have seen him live, such as at his semi-regular Groom of the Stool nights at MOTH Club in Hackney, will know he’s playing a character (more so than all comics are, to differing extents); he is charming, and indeed, endlessly charmed by, the audience who are playing it cooler than the almost manically try-hard geek staring back from the stage.
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who → see → stage
“We were laughing at it, saying ‘Why is it so funny?
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It's not meant to be funny!’”
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While he professes to have never done sketch comedy before, he brings to the live arena more of an act-out of different routines than stand-up gag telling.
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Now on SNL he’s played everything from Volodymyr Zelensky to Olly Murs to an aroused mosquito.
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I usually play the nervous, lower status, shy, unsure characters.
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That's the go-to thing.
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“As an actor, first and foremost, it’s a dream.
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I've probably already played about 50 parts.”
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As well as taking on whichever roles the script demands, he’s been able to bring his own pitches to the writing room and seen a number of those made it to the live shows.
“I came in with one idea which turned into the X Factor sketch.
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which → take → sketch
I just showed [fellow cast member] Jack Shep the 2011 X Factor opening of Telephone where it cuts to each one singing.
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one → show → Telephone
We were laughing at it, saying ‘Why is it so funny?
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it → laugh → it
It's not meant to be funny!’
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It → mean → ?
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
