Danny Dyer opened SNL UK by joking about his reputation on live television, recalling the time he called former prime minister David Cameron a “t***” during a televised Brexit debate.
The 49-year-old actor told viewers that “people don’t usually trust me on live TV”, before attributing it partly to “classism” and partly to his 2018 appearance on Good Evening Britain.
“But me and the producers, we’ve had a chat and they’ve made the rules for tonight very, very clear,” Dyer said. “I can do what I like, but there’s a certain word I’m not allowed to say. It’s a certain swear word.”
He then joked that he could manage 75 minutes without using it, prompting his Rivals co-star Lisa McGrillis to challenge him from the audience.
McGrillis said she believed in him but doubted he would get through the programme without saying the word, recalling that Dyer had used it “about 30 times before you had your breakfast” while they were working on Rivals.
Dyer insisted he could cope without swearing and attempted accents from different parts of the UK, stopping when he reached Wales and saying: “No, I can’t do Welsh, actually, and I won’t do it.”
He also referred to his family history, saying he had discovered on Who Do You Think You Are? that he was related to royalty. He added that his grandfather was Thomas Cromwell, “the geezer off of Wolf Hall”.
Later in the opening, Dyer urged viewers not to let their algorithms “get the better of you”, saying: “We can’t control what other people think of us. All we can do is try and be the kindest, best versions of ourselves every single day.”
He then began to say “don’t be a c…” before falling silent without completing the word.
The appearance revived memories of Dyer’s foul-mouthed attack on Cameron during Good Evening Britain in 2018. Discussing Brexit, he questioned why Cameron had not been held accountable for calling the referendum.
“So what’s happened to that t*** David Cameron who brought it on?” Dyer said at the time. “How comes he can scuttle off. He called all this on.”
When presenter Piers Morgan turned to Jeremy Corbyn for a response, Dyer interrupted by repeating the insult. Corbyn later said the biggest problem was that the Government was “meant to be negotiating” but was instead “negotiating with itself”.
Following Dyer’s SNL UK appearance, viewers called for him to join the programme’s main cast. One described him as “easily the best host #SNLUK has had so far”, while another said he had “fit in seamlessly with the cast”.
