Dear SNL: You Ripped Off My Hackathon Project.
Hey, everyone. I know you guys must be super busy writing another episode of “Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet,” so I really appreciate you taking the time to hear me out
Around four months ago, I participated in Cultivated Wit’s Comedy Hack Day, a 24 hour marathon of humor, programming, and beer. Teams rapidly take a facetious project from concept to completion, ideally ending up with a final product that actually “works.” After discussing a few possibilities, my friend Matt and I settled on Settl: a Tinder clone with a twist, a dating solution for real millennials (read: “sad people”). I’d design and write a narrative, and Matt would deftly code it into being. I opened Pages, he opened Xcode, and we got to work.
One hectic day later, we were lucky enough to have our project selected as a finalist. Settl would be presented onstage the following evening, meaning bugs had to be ironed out and jokes needed fine-tuning. I didn’t get much sleep, but in some ways I think that made our delivery better. You can watch the finalist presentation below:
I thought it went pretty okay, and having left the stage, I put this story of sad millennial garbage apps behind me.
Now, almost four months later, a friend messaged me asking if I’d been involved in the making of a recent SNL sketch. I thought he was kidding at first, but damn. You hadn’t even changed the name. Here’s the bit from your most recent show:
My first reaction was to be flattered: my dumb joke app, related or not, had made it through your writers’ room. However, I at last found it within me to be at least a little bit outraged. What the shit, SNL?
It’s the same goddamn app. It’s named the same goddamn thing.
And you can’t swipe left!
Is it possible that your writers happened to come up with the same concept, and the same name? Totally, but given the well-connectedness of our esteemed Comedy Illuminati judges (an ex-Onion editor, an un-aired NBC pilot co-star, the host of BuzzFeed’s “Ask a Lesbian”), I find a total lack of relation unlikely.
But let’s assume the best and say that your writers thought this up completely independently. Even then, a simple Google search would’ve informed you it had been done. Hell, one Reddit user who was searching for your very recent SNL sketch inadvertently found our months-old project instead, and thought them similar enough to post about it. If that ain’t damning, I don’t know what is. What happened is either a degree of comedic plagiarism, or an impressive lack of basic, easily-done research. In 2015, I’m not sure which one is worse.
Given what’s transpired, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask that you, the good people of Saturday Night Live, make things right. I have a list of non-negotiable requests that, given the status and resources of your cast and crew, should be entirely possible to fulfill. It follows thusly:
- I want a handwritten apology on a napkin that Ryan Gosling has breathed on. This should make amends for his involvement in the offending episode.
- I want Alec Baldwin to play a full game of Words With Friends with me, and he has to lose on purpose.
- I want a back rub from Lorne Michaels and one of those new iPads with the pen to be given to me, both at the same time.
- I’d like an opening sketch that begins with “Live from New York, it’s Benjamin Zweig’s jokes!”
- You have to promise not to do it again, okay?
Also, Matt would like Tina Fey to leave him a voicemail assuring him he’s a fundamentally good person.
Or at the very least, if none of that works out, I’d consider a paid internship.
XOXO,
–Benjamin
