Hatfight: Did SNL Steal a Sketch From Tim and Eric?

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim couldn’t help but feel a bit of déjà vu after seeing the “Ladies Who Lunch� sketch from this weekend’s Saturday Night Live premiere. The absurdist bit about two socialites who one-up each other with “tiny hats� seemed kinda similar to something from their Adult Swim series Tim and Eric Awesome Show: Great Job! called … “Tiny Hats.�

The Internet noticed, too. By Sunday morning, #tinyhatswar was trending on Twitter, with the consensus being that Tim and Eric had indeed been ripped off. The comedians didn’t disagree — Wareheim tweeted a link to their skit with the line “just randomly wanna show y’all this vid we made ages ago,� while Heidecker joked, “will there be a ‘betty white’ sized online movement demanding public apology?�

Heidecker tells Vulture that while he and Wareheim aren’t particularly upset about the sketch in question, “the whole thing is very interesting.�

“I woke up this morning to a bunch of tweets mentioning me and saying ‘can you believe this skit,’� he says. “I didn’t see it last night, but I watched it this morning, and found it to be very similar to our sketch, surprisingly similar, and I think our official position on it is that [recurring fake Tim and Eric corporation] Cinco takes tiny hats very seriously and I don’t think that they’d have a sense of humor about making fun of those hats.�

He also doesn’t rule out the fact that both shows doing a skit about miniature caps may have just been a coincidence, and accepts that comedians are regularly inspired by their peers (a number of SNL cast members have appeared on Tim and Eric, including Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Andy Samberg).

“We understand that we’ve created something that a lot of people in comedy watch and like, and influences are totally fine,� he says. “We draw influences from people all the time.�

Heidecker also stresses that he and Wareheim feel no animosity over the tiny hats: “I don’t want to start a big thing here,� he says. “But it’ll be interesting to see what the web does with this.�

For your comparison, here’s Tim and Eric’s “Tiny Hats�:

… and here’s SNL’s “Ladies Who Lunch�: