NBC’s ‘SNL’ gag draws comparisons to CBC-TV’s ’22 Minutes’ sketch

TORONTO – A recent sketch on "Saturday Night Live" is drawing comparisons to an eerily similar bit from "This Hour Has 22 Minutes."

Parallels between the two gags are so pronounced that it prompted "22 Minutes" star Shaun Majumder to tweet: "Wow if only we could steal some of their budget."

In last Saturday's "SNL" sketch on NBC and Global, Bobby Moynihan plays a game show contestant who is asked to draw the Prophet Muhammad to win a grand prize of $1 million.

His teammates, played by Kenan Thompson and guest host Reese Witherspoon, urge him on but he refuses.

The gag is similar to a sketch on CBC-TV's "22 Minutes" back in January, when Majumder portrayed the game show host and Mark Critch played the reluctant contestant.

CBC said Monday that no one was available to comment on the similarities, but Majumder took to Twitter to point them out, using the hashtag "#GreatMindsThinkAlike."

Critch, meanwhile, suggested this is not the first time jokes have straddled the border, tweeting: "This has happened a few times both ways but this is the (closest) I've ever seen."