One of this weekend’s funniest, most controversial SNL sketches was a spoof on game show Win, Lose or Draw that found a contestant (Bobby Moynihan) utterly flummoxed when he was tasked with drawing a picture of the Prophet Muhammad, his shock and refusal to draw the picture leading to hilarity.
“C’mon honey,”; begs the man’s wife (played by host Reese Witherspoon). “You can draw it!”;
“I don’t think I can,”; Moynihan responds. “Maybe… pass?”; he asks before handing the marker to celebrity teammate Reginald VelJohnson of Family Matters fame (Kenan Thompson), who also refuses to draw the religious figure and thus commit blasphemy according to Islamic law.
Regular viewers of long-running CBC sketch comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes may have experienced a sense of déjà vu, however, since 22 Minutes aired a nearly identical sketch back in January.
Seen side by side, the two sketches are uncannily similar. Here’s SNL“s sketch:
Now compare and contrast with the earlier 22 Minutes version:
Reps for Saturday Night Live have yet to comment, but 22 Minutes star Shaun Majumder is taking the similarities in stride, tweeting: “Wow if only we could steal some of their budget #GreatMindsThinkAlike.”;
@TheOnlyFeed @UPROXX Wow if only we could steal some of their budget. #GreatMindsThinkAlike @22_Minutes @markcritch http://t.co/euTxKyevUY
— Shaun Majumder (@shaunmajumder) May 11, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsMajumder clearly isn’t pointing any fingers; he also tweeted: “I think both pieces are important satirical comedy with two different audiences.”;
@TheOnlyFeed @SoundsLikeJoel @UPROXX I think both pieces are important satirical comedy with two different audiences.
— Shaun Majumder (@shaunmajumder) May 11, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js