Did Comedy Central rip off this sketch?

Remarkable similarities...

America's Comedy Central has been accused of ripping of a sketch that originally aired on New Zealand TV.

The US broadcaster posted a sketch on its YouTube channel this week about the fictional board game, The Glass Ceiling.

It shows three young girls struggling to get ahead in the Game Of Life-style challenge as they kept being sent backwards when they draw cards such as: 'Your Ivy League education hasn't gone unnoticed, it makes your boss feel emasculated.'

But the sketch bears a remarkable similarity to one which aired on TV3's Funny Girls series in October.

In Career Girl the youngsters race against time in the workplace before their body clocks go off. And their cards contain such setbacks as: 'I just won a journalism prize, but my husband is intimidated by my success.'

Both clips end with boys playing a much easier game, Priviledge and Career Boy respectively, where they they succeed with no effort.

The US version was written by Brandy Finmark, who provided the voiceover, and Jessica Blackwell. Ironically, the New Zealand one was written by a man, Eli Matthewson.

Blackwell tweeted a message to Matthewson after the similarities came to light, claiming she'd written the sketch more than a year ago. 'Never saw your video but I like it,'she tweeted. 'My partner and I wrote our sketch for a packet over a year ago. Message me if you'd like!'

Meanwhile Matthewson said only that it was 'so crazy' that the US sketch 'reminds me of' the one he worked on.

Others have been less circumspect. Rose Matafeo, who starred in Funny Girls, called it 'so messed up'; New Zealand TV host Matt Gibb accused Comedy Central of 'completely ripping off' the original, while Scottish comic Janey Godley called it 'fucking shocking'.

Comedy Central has a huge online presence, with almost 5million subscribers to its YouTube channel – meaning its version has already been seen by more than 63,000 people online, dwarfing the 3,000 who viewed the original on the Funny Girls channel.

Comedy Central have not yet responded to a request for comment.

Here is the Funny Girls version: