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Did SNL Rip Off Improv Everywhere?
By
Jacob Dobkin
Published May 16, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jacob Dobkin
Published May 16, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
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Here's an interesting case for you comedy sleuths: this past weekend SNL ran a short sketch entitled "Peyote", in which Andy Samberg is talked down from a ledge by Will Forte. The joke is that Samberg is on peyote, and he's not actually standing on a ledge-- he's standing on the sidewalk. Compare that skit to ImprovEverywhere's Suicide Jumper sketch, where a police officer tries to talk a man down from a three-foot ledge. The similarities between the pieces are striking-- but are they conclusive? Three possibilities occur to us:
1. The SNL writers did see the sketch and intentionally riffed on it.
2. They pulled a Kaavya Viswanathan and "accidentally internalized" something they saw on the web.
3. They came up with the same idea independently.
Which one was it? [Via OfficePirates, and tipsters on Gothamist Contribute.]
Tagged
andy samberg
comedy
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Gothamist Contribute
Kaavya Viswanathan
police
snl
suicide
video
will forte
Jacob Dobkin
Jake Dobkin co-founded Gothamist with Jen Chung. In 2019, Jake released Ask a Native New Yorker, a book based on his Gothamist advice column.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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