Club comic Yannis Pappas said he finds it “hard to believe” that Marcello Hernandez was not aware his sketch personality on “Saturday Night Live” closely resembled a character Pappas has done for years.
The skit last weekend prompted allegations in the comedy scene that “Saturday Night Live” ripped off Pappas’ material, Page Six reported Wednesday.
“I have been doing stand-up comedy for two decades now, so I am not an up-and-coming comedian,” Pappas told Page Six. “I am surprised nobody in the writer’s room spoke up about this. I find it hard to believe Marcello wasn’t aware of me and the character.”
The popular NBC late-night comedy show’s skit featured regulars Hernandez, Ego Nwodim, musical guest Olivia Rodrigo and guest host Adam Driver repeating “Dassit.” The plagiarism accusations flew in comments below the clip posted by “SNL” on X, formerly Twitter.
Pappas has a character called Maurica who for years has been saying, “Das It!” The comic even sells merchandise with the catchphrase.
On X Wednesday, Pappas appeared to wisecrack about the alleged joke theft.
“As a kid, I always dreamed about being on SNL,” he tweeted. “Feels great to fulfil another childhood dream.”
However, Pappas added, “I ain’t mad.”
A source “close to the show” told the gossip column that the skit setup was “independently created” by Hernandez, who heard the phrase often in his household growing up.
HuffPost did not immediately hear back in requests for comment from “Saturday Night Live” and Pappas.
A previous accusation of plagiarism against “SNL” emerged last year when the show produced a parody sketch of the Charmin bears from the toilet paper commercials. Months earlier, a YouTube personality had made a similar video.
In a 2004 book, former “SNL” player Jay Mohr admitted lifting an Irish bartender character from another comic.