Comedy vet Ian Gary said Saturday Night Live ripped off sketch

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but one comedy vet isn’t amused.

Ian Gary, a teacher at The Groundlings, said Saturday Night Live stole a sketch performed by the comedy troupe’s Vanessa Bruiser Ragland and Kimberly Condict.

Gary took to Facebook to complain that SNL’s Tina Turner skit that aired Saturday was really a straight-up rip-off. The sketch showed three disgruntled impersonators – seemingly trapped on a riverboat – and included guest host Sarah Silverman.

Ian Gary, a Groundlings teacher, took to Facebook to lambaste the SNL for ripping off a sketch he did with friends. The SNL maintains they had no prior knowledge of Gary's sketch and that the similarities were due to Tina Fey's fame. Vid link: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/groundlings-teacher-accuses-snl-stealing-738393

Hollywood Reporter

“Over the years I have seen MANY, MANY sketches flat out stolen from my friends by Saturday Night Live,” Gary wrote on Facebook. “Nearly verbatim. Word for word… And everyone in our community goes ‘Oh man. That sucks.’ and unknown says anything because I guess SNL is still some marvel for some people or they don’t want to get caught up, or a million other reasonable things that stop people from standing up for each other when things are blatantly incorrect.”

A source accurate to the SNL cast said the writers had no information of the Groundlings sketch, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The "Rollin' Sketch" is the alleged source of one of SNL's more recent sketches. Ian Gary, one of the comedic talents on the YouTube video, took to Facebook to lambaste the SNL. Vid Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kITXNxLSAOg

Kimberly Condict via YouTube

The Groundlings, a venerable Los Angeles improv theatre and school celebrating its 40th anniversary, counts several SNL stars, from Will Farrell to Phil Hartman, as alumni.

The finger-pointing started with writer and director John Irwin, who Ian Gary via Facebook

“Ah! No way!” Irwin wrote. “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 composition pauses about the establishment’s food, the terrible hands life dealt them, and a past gig on a Nebraska river boat — the sketch ends with the MC piping in.”