Groundlings Member Wants SNL Writers Fired
CORRECTION: Ian Gary is not a member or founder of the Groundlings. He is a teacher with the group.
Ian Gary who is a part of The Groundlings sketch comedy troupe in L.A. is not only accusing Saturday Night Live writers of stealing material, but he wants them fired for it as well.
Gary claims that a sketch featuring Tina Turner look-a-likes performing “Proud Mary” from this past week’s SNL with host Sarah Silverman was too similar to one the Groundlings have been performing for weeks and that it was lifted.
He told the New York Daily News – “I think at the top, when this stuff comes out and people say, ‘Hey, this sketch got stolen from me,’ there needs to be serious repercussions when a writer is caught. It shouldn’t be swept under the rug and acting like nobody cares.” Gary feels that SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels needs to be the one to set an example and fire the writers responsible for it.
Ian Gary also said that writers who don’t speak up when their material is stolen are also a part of the problem because they’re afraid of Saturday Night Live. “This (kind of theft) is something that I’ve seen happen multiple times over the years and everybody’s kind of afraid to say something because they don’t want to lose work from it; they don’t want to make enemies. With ‘SNL’ and across the board it’s kind of like, ‘Yeah, you can take stuff and who’s going to do anything about it?’”
Lorne Michaels hasn’t commented on the allegation and neither has Tina Turner.
