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An unknown YouTube person with only one video has put together this comparison of a 2007 episode of The Sarah Silverman Program called “Face Wars,” and a 2008 episode of 30 Rock called “Believe In The Stars,” alleging that 30 Rock‘s episode was a ripoff. The similarities are pretty unambiguous:
Now, these are two of the best comedies on TV, and allegations of joke-theft are serious, so this is probably a coincidence/crazy mix-up and not the start of a sitcom-world feud. (And it’s not like either show invented “trading places”.) But that said, if I were a writer for The Sarah Silverman Program and I turned on my TV to watch 30 Rock on November 6, 2008, I would probably have been like “Duuuuuuuuuuuuude.”
Maybe some good will come of this and Comedy Central will re-up The Sarah Silverman Program for another season, since it’s only the funniest prime time show they have now.
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no, 30 rock did not steal from the sarah silverman show. this is a non-issue. no more comments ever please.
WTF?! The Sarah Silverman Program was canceled?!
What’s similar? Other then the Black-like-me concept? I hate you so much Lindsay.
Eh. Lots of shows do the “walk a mile in my shoes” thing. Remember that “It’s Always Sunny” episode where Charlie and Dee swap for a day? Granted, no one’s in blackface, but still, meh.
I don’t know about this. If a basic sitcom premise could be considered intellectual property, then whoever wrote the first character-stuck-in-an-elevator episode or the first character-delivers-a-baby episode would be SO litigation-rich right now.
Yeah, I watched a lot of TV in the ’70s.
What about character-delivers-a-baby-while-stuck-in-an-elevator episodes? Those are the best.
Remember when Liz Lemon had TAN HANDS?
Also, Ice Cube’s daring reality show featuring make up and race-swapping, Black.White., aired on March 8, 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black._White.“
So they’re both criminals.
Let’s not forget the Eddie Murphy SNL sketch White Like Me.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/10356/saturday-night-live-white-like-me
That joke is not that original and the Sarah Silverman Program is not funny.
See also: White Chicks
“See also: White Chicks” I think that’s the first time anyone has ever constructively used the word “see” and the movie “White Chicks” within the same sentence.
he forgot the rest of the sentence: “…at your peril.”
The only side I’ve taken here is to say that if I were a writer for TSSP and I saw that 30 Rock, I would say the word “Dude.” As far as I know, the saying of the word “dude” is not a legal matter, or fighting words, or any accusation of any kind. It’s pretty clear that I don’t think 30 Rock stole anything, if you actually read past the headline.
I love it when people accuse other people of stealing totally unoriginal ideas. If this is the best thing anyone can peg 30 Rock for in the “trope comedy that is vaguely similar to other trope comedy” category then I’d say they deserve to continue winning awards and shit.
Lindsay, I can’t believe you’re accusing Tina Fey of stealing from Sarah Silverman!!! (PS, I never read past headlines.)
30 Rock did a much better job of the matter, as Jenna’s black-all-over was better than Sarah’s black-only-explicitly-on-the-face.
All of the funny from that part of the 30 Rock episode came from Tracy’s attempt at playing a white woman: he looked like a transsexual zombie. Did the Sarah Silverman episode have a transsexual zombie? I didn’t think so.
If the rigorous intellectual debate “who’s got it worse, white women or black men?” originated with Sarah Silverman, then Barack and Hillary have some splaining to do.
your hipster douche bag following is so blinded by the fact that sarah silverman program is overblown and just terrible. She has never really been all that funny, and it is just shock comedy that tries to deliver in that I can care less sense that makes people pushing 30 and 40 think they can still be cool.
Well, The Sarah Silverman Program didn’t incorporate a monster claw. 30 Rock wins.
30 Rock also “stole” the joke from The Office where Michael asks if there’s a less offensive term he can use to describe Oscar than Mexican. It was just a couple weeks ago on one of the episodes with Selma Hayek.
30 Rock is the most overrated show on TV right now.
Fuck anyone who says anything negative about TSSP or 30 Rock. THIS IS A FIGHT ARGUMENT
Also, as I remember, Tracy had mutant crab claws with his white woman transformation. So… what I’m saying is that it was funny.
i think this joke originated in eddie murphy, circa 1983.
I agree they both did something kind of unoriginal. But more importantly did anyone catch alice?
well 30 rock is funny
and sarah silverman is awful
that’s why i chose to give 30 rock the award
and poop on sarah silverman
I’ll agree with the general consensus that this is a base idea, and no one’s at fault for “joke theft.” But, seriously, I think the Sarah Silverman Program is massively underrated.
UM really? let’s see – both have the “trading places” challenge, after make-up scenes, and then the confrontation between the two made up characters. this all seems pretty stereotypical to me, right down to the sarah silverman show not being funny
30 Rock steals from everything: Seinfeld, The Office, The Simpsons, etc. It doesn’t bother me too much because the joke-theft is infrequent and is outweighed by much funnier, original material.
WAIT
guys stop
has anyone else realized that a psychic predicted a tina fey/sarah silverman feud this year? fan the flames, please.
anyone heard of black like me? or maybe the tv show 30 days? i mean, making a joke about one race having it harder than another isn’t exactly new material. every joke has a basis in some cold hard fact that’s not funny at all and that’s what humor is. to think that this one instance of that is theft is ridiculous. there’s nothing new under that sun folks, live with it and stop pointing to direct relations before you realize that on some level almost everything is related to everything else in this small world we live in.
wow, it’s not only true for the associate press but also for stereogum readers. STOP BLOWING 30 Rock…it’s a great show, I love it…but TSSP is just as good if not better because it’s so farcical and random. and unrelated, but 30 Rock needs to chill out with the special guest of the week craze and why don’t we ever see any of the writers anymore?