The Groundlings Allege 'SNL' Stole Their Tina Turner Sketch - Here's The Proof
In this weekend's SNL episode, host Sarah Silverman, along with cast members Cecily Strong and Sasheer Zamata, perform "Proud Mary" on a riverboat casino while telling the audience about their life up until this point.
The sketch has been removed from NBC and Hulu's websites, but you can watch it here. Here's a GIF to give you an idea:
After the sketch aired, people started to notice the similarities. Kimberly Condict, who originated the role in the Groundlings sketch, tweeted:
Her friends and fans were quick to back her up:
Ian Gary, a teacher at the Groundlings in Los Angeles, posted to his Facebook page:facebook.com/JohnIrwin
...over the years I have seen MANY, MANY sketches flat out stolen from my friends by Saturday Night Live. Nearly verbatim. Word for word… And everyone in our community goes "Oh man. That sucks." and nobody says anything because I guess SNL is still some dream for some people or they don't want to get involved, or a million other reasonable things that stop people from standing up for each other when things are blatantly wrong.
Well, enough of that. This is f----- up.
L.A.-based writer and director John Irwin posted to his Facebook page:
Ah! No way! For several weeks at the Groundlings, Vanessa Bruiser Ragland and Kimberly Condict performed the heck out of their brilliant and hillarious sketch featuring a Tina Turner tribute band singing "Rollin'" at a casino with their musings during the music pauses about the establishment's food, the bad hands life dealt them, and a past gig on a Nebraska river boat-- the sketch ends with the MC piping in.
Last night on SNL, a Tina Turner tribute band sang "Rollin'" with their musings in the music pauses about the establishment's food, the Nebraska river boat they're currently on and the bad hands life dealt them -- the sketch ends with the MC piping in.
I'd say imitation is the best form of flattery but I mean, come on! If you're going to rip something off, at least do it right! The SNL version was WAYYYY less funny and the writing and performances were poor at best. Just sayin… nobody does it like my girl and kimbo. They killed it.
Watch the Groundlings version of the original sketch below:
"Saturday Night Live" has not officially responded to the controversy, but "an individual close to the show" told The Wrap any similarities were "mere coincidence" and claim SNL writers were unfamiliar with The Groundlings sketch in question.
"It's a common idea since Tina Turner is such an iconic figure," the source said. "The similarities represent parallel thinking in the comedy world."
But the Tina Turner sketch wasn't the only one in question on the most recent SNL episode.
As A.V. Club noticed: "The idea of Secret Service head Julia Pierson testifying while President Obama is being chased in the background would be a funnier 'Weekend Update' joke… if sister publication The Onion hadn't made it on Wednesday!"
The joke below:
The Onion's previous article:
