A skit of Irish actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson on NBC's Saturday Night Live has come in for criticism ahead of tonight’s Oscars in Los Angeles.

The hosts of the popular entertainment programme introduced actors posing as stars of The Banshees of Inisherin, and began to conduct an interview as the crowd applauded.

However, neither could be understood after being asked about how they felt about their chances of winning an award at the 95th Academy Awards.

Mikey Day and Molly Kearney as Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (credit: Saturday Night Live)

The clip was posted online by Saturday Night Live, which showed the pair speaking over each other until they walked away, while one of the hosts commented: "Wow! They haven’t even started drinking yet."

Mr Farrell has openly spoken about living a life of sobriety.

Responding on social media, Twitter users commented that the clip was tone deaf, ignorant and "deeply offensive" as it focused on Irish stereotypes that were "not funny".

Read more on The 95th Academy Awards

Those who gave their opinion on the sketch included Derry Girls and London Irish writer Lisa McGee, and drag star and former RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars contestant Rory O'Neill (Panti Bliss).

It comes after Mr Gleeson hosted the same programme late last year, during which Mr Farrell appeared as a guest.

Mr Farrell and Mr Gleeson during last year's show