Comedian Tig Notaro comments on plagiarism accusations against SNL for Louis CK clown skit

Comedian Tig Notaro has responded to plagiarism claims made against Louis CK about a skit he made for last week's episode of Saturday Night Live.

Many have commented that Louis CK's skit, "Birthday Clown" bears too strong a resemblance to Notaro's short film, "Clown Service".

Watching #SNL like...this clown sketch, it's almost like I've seen it before. Oh wait I have when Tig Notaro made a short "Clown Service"

— Alexandra Gallant (@Gallantdesigner) April 9, 2017

If Tig Notaro didn't sign off on this Louie CK and SNL have a LOT of explaining to do. https://t.co/kP92yMqgKV

— Joe Rhodes (@earlkabong) April 9, 2017

In a statement released to Entertainment Weekly, Notaro said that she finds the situation “extremely disappointing.” She says that she had no contact with Louis CK for up to eighteen months prior to the release of the SNL skit and that nobody got in touch with her to ask for permission to use any material from her film.

She also claims that there was a writer/director that worked on CK's skit that was fully aware of her short film when she was making it.

The similarity between the two videos is primarily based on the premise. Both are about depressed adults who invite clowns into their living rooms to perform for them. Notaro's version has an upbeat ending while CK's version ends with a very dark joke.

Here's Notaro's statement in full.

“It has been impossible for me to ignore the cacophony of voices reaching out personally and publicly about the potential plagiarizing of my film Clown Service (a film that I screened at Largo in Los Angeles for over a year and it premiered at Vulture’s Comedy Festival in NYC as well as numerous film festivals around the country and I am currently screening on my national tour).

While I don’t know how all this actually happened, I did find it extremely disappointing.

Here is what I can tell you:

First off, I have recently learned that a writer/director who was fully aware of Clown Service when I was making it, actually worked on Louis C.K.’s clown sketch that is in question.

Secondly, Louis C.K. and I have not communicated in any way for nearly a year and a half.

And finally, I never gave anyone permission to use anything from my film.

I hesitated to even address any of this, but I think it is only right to defend my work and ideas and moving forward, I plan to continue screening Clown Service with the joy and pride I always have.“