What began as a few grumbles and murmurings has now grown into a full-fledged mockery, as the writers behind the Canadian sketch show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, are taking Saturday Night Live to task for stealing the idea behind the “Pitch Perfect” sketch they ran this weekend.
If you haven’t seen it yet, 22 Minutes ran a sketch back in January involving a game of Win Lose or Draw in which a contestant would win $1 million if he could get his teammate to guess that he was drawing Muhammad. The contestant, of course, balked at drawing Muhammad out of fear for his own safety. His teammate nevertheless guessed based on the fact that the contestant refused to make the drawing.
The SNL sketch, meanwhile, changed the game from Win Lose or Draw to the more generic Pitch Perfect, but it otherwise nailed the exact same idea, right down to the teammate guessing the answer without an actual drawing. The only real difference was that SNL‘s sketch was three minutes longer.
Neither Lorne Michaels nor anyone from the SNL has weighed in on the plagiarism charge, but writers of the Canadian sketch show haven’t been shy about it. On Sunday, 22 Minutes writer Bobby Kerr called out SNL.
Really liked the @NBCSNL Muhammed sketch when @jwPencilAndPad wrote the exact same one for @22_Minutes. https://t.co/eoLILk2gIT
— Bobby Kerr (@MrBobKerr) May 10, 2015
He also added:
Sorry, but the Win, Lose or Draw sketch on 22 WAS original and brilliant. It wasn’t original when SNL did it.
— Bobby Kerr (@MrBobKerr) May 12, 2015
Another writer, Mark Critch, suggested that SNL may have done this sort of thing in the past, but that this was the most egregious example:
This has happened a few times both ways but this is the closet I’ve ever seen https://t.co/x3MswM7OMQ
— Mark Critch (@markcritch) May 10, 2015
The same writer retweeted this from another Canadian comedian:
I wonder if the SNL writer that watched 22 Minutes thought “how do they not have anyone playing Harper?” Cause that’s what I always think.
— Pat Thornton (@patthornton) May 12, 2015
The official Facebook page for This Hour Has 22 Minutes is now both calling out SNL and making fun of the show.
Still no response from SNL, nor do I believe they ever responded to accusations that they stole a Groundlings sketch. Don’t expect any of the cast to be called on it, either, being that most of their interviews are largely done with friendly former cast members Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
via National Post
