Another day, another accusation of plagiarism. At least I think that Jerry Seinfeld is accusing The LEGO Movie of stealing one of his jokes from years ago, because it’s always hard to tell when a comedian is being serious or not. But seeing as he fired off three Tweets about it yesterday and offered very little in the realm of “But seriously, folks…” it seems that Seinfeld really does think that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller dipped into his well of superhero bits to beef up the hilariousness of the relationship between the LEGO versions of Superman and the Green Lantern.
Not really the most damning accusation of theft, but it’s certainly on the table now. But if that’s a joke, the next Tweet was a little more of a critical nut punch.
And just when you think the Sein is coming in with the “But seriously…” BOOM! It’s another nut shot.
So what joke is Seinfeld talking about anyway? Let’s use our own eyeballs and ear holes to figure out if he should be legitimately upset over some joke thievery here. In order to have lifted the bit in question, Lord and Miller would have had to travel back to 2004, as Splitsider pointed out, for this webisode that Seinfeld did for American Express. In it, an old woman gushes to Seinfeld and Superman about how Green Lantern saved her uncle from certain doom, and the Man of Steel doesn’t seem too pleased.
(About the 1:01 mark to save you some time.)
The whole joke lasts about :20 before they realized their keys are locked in the car. Now, I assume that Seinfeld is referring to the awkward relationship between Channing Tatum’s Superman and Jonah Hill’s Green Lantern, as shown in the gum part at the end of this trailer.
(Sorry that I couldn’t post a full scene, but studios and lawyers seem to frown upon that.)
The LEGO Movie‘s relationship between C-Tates and Hill seems to be more of a play on their relationship from 21 Jump Street, which Lord and Miller also directed, than anything else, but I guess Seinfeld has a point that the jokes are similar. But outright theft? I really hope he’s kidding, because otherwise it’s just kind of petty.
I would also like to award bonus points to these two responses to Seinfeld complaining about theft:
Yep. That’s a burn.
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