Was this Mohammed joke stolen?

Saturday Night Live in new plagiarism row

Legendary American sketch show Saturday Night Live has been accused of plagiarising a joke about depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

This weekend, the long-running NBC show aired a scene in which contestants on a Pictionary-like TV quiz are asked to draw the Prophet.

But the skit, in the wake of the recent attack at a Mohammad cartoon competition in Texas, contains many similarities to one that appeared on Canadian series This Hour Has 22 Minutes in January.

Mark Critch and Shaun Majumder, who appeared in the CBC satire have both tweeted about the resemblance, with Majumer saying: 'You've got to admit it's s little too close for comfort.'

Critch suggested it might have been coincidence, tweeting: 'This has happened a few times both ways,' but he added: 'This is the closet I've ever seen.'

Bobby Kerr, a writer on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, was more direct saying: 'Really liked the @NBCSNL Muhammed sketch when @jwPencilAndPad [Jeremy Woodcock] wrote the exact same one for @22_minutes.

And later he added: 'Sorry, but the Win, Lose or Draw sketch on 22 WAS original and brilliant. It wasn't original when SNL did it.'

However, neither might be as original as they think, as a posting on Sickipedia – a depository of jokes that are often already second-hand – from back in 2010 read: 'Nothing causes more tension than playing Pictionary with Muslim friends and finding out you have to draw Mohammed.'

Thisis not the first time SNL has been accused of stealing a sketch. In October, members of The Groundlings sketch group said a joke involving the Tina Turner hit Proud Mary was too close to one of their own. At the time a show insider said it was 'parallel thinking'. (Story)

Here's the Canadian version of the Mohammed sketch: