Glinda wants a Birkin bag. Elphaba wants a BBL that defies gravity. And the Wizard of Oz? His Rolex is fake.
In Nigerian Wicked, even the journey to the Emerald City comes with a Nigerian twist. The fictional destination is LagOz, the city is green, white and green, and the witches’ magical ambitions quickly turn into a comedy of money, beauty and dramatic confrontations.
The sketch aired on October 24, 2026, during Saturday Night Live UK, where Cynthia Erivo played Glinda opposite comedian Ayoade Bamgboye as Elphaba. Hammed Animashaun voiced the Wizard in a parody inspired by the style of Nigerian films from the 1990s and early 2000s.
At one point, Glinda slaps Elphaba for being “very classless.” When the witches finally reach the Wizard, Glinda asks for a Birkin bag, while Elphaba requests a “skinny BBL.” The Wizard announces that she wants a BBL “that defies gravity,” only for the pair to discover that their supposedly powerful benefactor is broke.
The jokes are deliberately outrageous, but the casting and creative concept make the sketch particularly interesting for African entertainment.
Erivo was born in London to Nigerian parents, while Bamgboye, who wrote the sketch, is a Nigerian-born British comedian. Their involvement places Nigerian heritage and a Nigerian cinematic tradition at the centre of a production made for a British comedy show. That connection is worth noting, although neither performer’s personal motivation should be assumed from their background alone.
The parody takes familiar elements of Wicked and retells them through the melodrama, exaggerated performances and conspicuously low-budget effects associated with a particular era of Nollywood. It even borrows the colors of Nigeria’s flag for its version of the Emerald City.
That choice raises an interesting question: how did a filmmaking style associated with Nigerian popular cinema become recognizable enough to serve as the central joke in a British television production?
Nollywood is not one uniform style of filmmaking. Nigerian cinema has changed considerably across generations, budgets and genres. The sketch deliberately draws on a particular set of conventions, turning them into comedy for an audience familiar with Wicked.
The response has been substantial. By October 26, the sketch had attracted more than 4.5 million views across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, according to UK comedy publication Chortle.
The numbers do not, by themselves, establish how audiences understand Nollywood or measure the industry’s global influence. But the sketch has created an opportunity for Nigerian cinematic references to circulate through an internationally recognised musical and a British television platform.
For African entertainment, the story is not simply that Cynthia Erivo has made people laugh. It is that a Nigerian-inspired cinematic style has become the foundation of a widely shared parody, with a Nigerian-born comedian shaping the idea and a British-Nigerian star helping bring it to life.
In LagOz, the Wizard cannot even deliver a real Rolex. The joke, however, has travelled millions of screens around the world.
