Samberg Sandbags SNL’s Suicide Sketch

Miscellaneous TV

By madeyoulaugh | Wednesday, May 17, 2006 | 2:19 pm | 22 Comments

AndyS.jpgThis season, Saturday Night Live has become relevant again, thanks in no small part to their “Digital Shorts” feature lead by freshman player Andy Samberg. His Lazy Sunday video was the most downloaded thing to ever hit the World Wide Web since Al Gore invented it in the late ’80s, just barely beating out porn by 17 downloads (despite my considerable contributions). Samberg’s digital shorts were bona fide hits, each one kicking equal or greater amount of ass than its predecessor.

Sadly, Samberg’s creativity is now being called into question as this past week’s Peyote short shared more than just a few similarities with an Improv Everywhere performance from earlier this year. Imrov Everywhere is, for lack of a better word, a New York based performance art group that creates hysterical spectacles throughout the city — in effect “punking” everyone in its vicinity.

Rather than indicting Samberg and SNL for plagiarism, I will let each piece speak for itself and leave it up to you guys to decide… Blatant rip off? Or just a coincidence… a reaaaallly reaaaaaally plagiarized coincidence. The SNL clip, “Peyote,” can be seen on NBC’s video site while the Improv Everywhere clip, which some are referring to as “the original,” can be seen after the jump.

What do you think? Coincidence, or theft?

22 Comments

  1. 1
    Tati
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 2:29 pm

    yea, i could see what u mean, looks like a dumb rip-off to me—dumb b/c neither piece is all that funny! Improv’s is way 2 long & SNL’s is blessedly shorter but just OK.

  2. 2
    derder
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 2:31 pm

    I Don’t know about any rip-offs, but those suda-care shower soothers look awesome!!

  3. 3
    Mark
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 2:37 pm

    …

    I KNEW I saw that idea before.

    By the way, the SNL one isn’t even funny to me.

  4. 4
    james_woods_rules
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 2:51 pm

    Maybe Andy Samberg was making fun of that stupid ass Improv Everywhere skit. Neither one is very funny, but I can totally see Andy Samberg making fun of the one Improv did. I mean it’s kind of obvious with the whole Peyote, the more you know kind of thing going on.

  5. 5
    Madeyoulaugh
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 3:00 pm

    before there is a slew of anti I.E. comments. take a look at their site, they do some pretty funny things…though some do blow.

    Keep in mind its all for the benefit of those not in on the gig.

    MYL

  6. 6
    Redhead
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 3:09 pm

    Where did you get that picture of Samberg? It looks like it could be his passport photo.

    Somehow, I do find him oddly hot. He has quite the suckable nose.

  7. 7
    tbriant
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 3:56 pm

    I think it might be that he is making fun of that dumb Improv sketch. If worst comes to worst, he could say it’s an homage and call it a day!

  8. 8
    goodjobben
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 4:44 pm

    is that guy walking by in the end of the snl clip b.j. novak?

    derder, the suda-care things looked promising but were kind of disappointing.

  9. 9
    whoislain
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 5:20 pm

    The guy walking by at the end is Jorma Taccone. Jorma, Andy, and another guy, Akiva Schaffer are a comedy team called the Lonely Island. They got known for posting funny videos online and they all got hired for SNL (Jorma and Akiva are writers). I think all three of them write those digital shorts.

  10. 10
    joshman5k
    Posted May 17, 2006 at 10:03 pm

    wow, who cares? They both totally suck monkey balls. This is def. NOT TvGasm worthy. boo on this post!

  11. 11
    aidde
    Posted May 18, 2006 at 1:10 am

    in that picture, he kind of looks like that richard guy from the first season of beauty and the geek. no?

  12. 12
    EdHill
    Posted May 18, 2006 at 7:19 am

    Actually when I saw it I jsut kept thinking the whole thing was just a variation on an older SNL digital short he did a few months earlier with Steve Martin.

  13. 13
    GatahBaby
    Posted May 18, 2006 at 8:53 am

    That Improve everywhere is kinda funny! I like the Peter Gabriel in the background. I think as a piece of street theatre is pretty great. The way they brought in the crowd and the accent on the cop was perfect. The plastic fire helmet was pretty funny too, except that actor playing the fireman was playing it way too concerned. NYFD are way laid back and kinda non-emotional. But that kind of absurdity is great to see on the streets. We see it every day anyway, its fun to step back and just laugh at it. Like when Bush justified his ‘UGE tax cuts for the rich saying, “The goverment will continue to be responsible with your money”. HA! Its like Theatre of the ABSURD!

    The SNL short was just the punchline, btw…The other skit wasn’t too long, it was just more about the process and how deeply commited the actors were, and how commited they could get the crown into it.

    Love it! Sorry. I am a theater teacher. I might use this post in class to describe the differences in the skits. I totally should be teaching college and not 5th graders :(

  14. 14
    plexitoes
    Posted May 18, 2006 at 8:56 am

    Don’t watch SNL, really have no idea what this post is about.

    However…

    This Samberg guy looks like Madeyoulaugh- a poor man’s, less hot, I fought-the-flowbee-and-the-flowbee-won version- but still bears quite a resemblance, no?

  15. 15
    QCB
    Posted May 18, 2006 at 1:39 pm

    I agree that both of these are pretty lame, but for anyone who has yet to see Lazy Sunday or Natalie Raps should definatly go watch both. Cracks me up everytime!

  16. 16
    Lisa
    Posted May 18, 2006 at 2:22 pm

    I think they’re different simply because the SNL one has the peyote punchline.

    I’m not a huge fan of Andy Samberg (I’m a believer in featured players on SNL lying low for a couple seasons and not dominating things like he is), but if you go to the Lonely Island website and check out their song “Just 2 Guyz”… it’s just hilarious. I was crying.

  17. 17
    Mack
    Posted May 18, 2006 at 6:06 pm

    I first heard about Improve Everywhere on NPR, of all places. The videos are not that funny, but the skits that they come up with are very original and funny. I encourage you, if you’re curious about IE, to go to the website and read about the skits they perform. Then watch the video, and it becomes funnier. Some of the better ones that I know of are where they gathered 30-45 people to go crazy at a concert of a no-name band (this was also somewhat controversial as the story was outlined in Rolling Stone Magazine and the band felt like they had been ridiculed); throwing a birthday party for a random person at a bar; and dance in the windows of a department store.

    If I were IE, I would be very happy that SNL is copying from me. It’s a sign of pride. Plus, sites like TVgasm then give me more exposure.

  18. 18
    Ubiquitous
    Posted May 19, 2006 at 4:49 am

    How long has Improve Everywhere been around? They look like a rip-off of a similar Comedy Central show whose name escapes me at the moment. Andy’s a man, right? He looks like a girl from the 1980′s in that photo.

  19. 19
    Kathryn
    Posted May 20, 2006 at 11:23 pm

    I don’t think it was a rip-off at all. The SNL one’s joke was that they were high. The Improv Everywhere’s joke was… uh, that they were acting like it was serious and it wasn’t? The Improv Everywhere skit was stupid and boring, first all. And second of all, the joke of being on the ground but acting like you’re high up isn’t new. I can’t remember the name of the movie, but years ago some guy jumped over a little wall that was about a foot high, but before he landed, the camera angle made it look like it was like 15 feet up. It’s not plagarism. Whoever is accusing him of plagarism needs to loosen up, fo’ realz.

  20. 20
    Greg
    Posted May 22, 2006 at 9:14 am

    when was the improv’s shot though? because Andy’s was shot on 12/03/05, but wasn’t aired till a later date

  21. 21
    Greg
    Posted May 22, 2006 at 9:20 am

    PS. IT’s IMPROV people not IMPROVE, two totally different things, imrpove everywhere sounds like some christian help organisation

  22. 22
    Elon
    Posted May 24, 2006 at 10:54 pm

    I don’t think there is any plagiarism happening here. The “it looks like I’m high up on a ledge but I’m actually only a few feet from the ground” bit is as old as TV itself. I’m pretty sure that same gag is in Monty Python and one of the Naked Gun movies.

    Anyway, the skits are, essentially, different.

    Also, just to point out, I heard that the SNL one was actually shot back in December – so I don’t know who really did it first anyway.

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