by Luis Prada

Original ideas have a weird tendency to pop-up in the minds of a bunch of people seemingly at once. You can have a wholly original idea today, and see someone you’ve never met post it on the internet tomorrow, or lock down the patent before you can even sketch the blueprint on a napkin.

But when similar ideas are released 22 years apart, it gets harder to claim the two parties had the idea at the same time and had no clue someone else was going to release something similar. Such is the case with Verizon’s newest commercial advertising its 4G LTE service, which is eerily similar to a Saturday Night Live sketch from 1990.

Here is the SNL sketch and here is the Verizon commercial.

The Premise

SNL’s “Bad Idea Jeans” – In 1990, in the first episode of their 16th season, SNL aired a commercial parody for a pair of jeans called “Bad Idea Jeans.” The sketch was about a group of idiotic bros hanging out, getting ready for a game of pick-up basketball while exchanging various bits of awful advice and generally bad ideas.

NBC

Verizon’s 4G LTE “Bad Idea” Commercial – In 2012, Verizon airs a commercial about a group of idiotic bros hanging out, getting ready for a game of pick-up basketball while exchanging various bits of awful advice and generally bad ideas.

Verizon

The Jokes

SNL’s “Bad Idea Jeans” – The dumb friends take turns boasting about the various dumb, in-no-way common sense things they’ve done.

NBC

NBC

Verizon’s 4G LTE “Bad Idea” Commercial – The dumb friends take turns boasting about the various dumb, in-no-way common sense things they’ve done.

Verizon

Verizon

The Editing

SNL’s “Bad Idea Jeans” – The bad ideas are dished out in small, quick bursts, which are punctuated with a smash cut to a title card that says “Bad Idea” in white lettering on a black background.

NBC

Verizon’s 4G LTE “Bad Idea” Commercial – The bad ideas are dished out in small, quick bursts, which are punctuated with a smash cut to a title card that says “Bad Idea” in black lettering on a white background.

Verizon

The Only Significant Difference – The Punchline

SNL’s “Bad Idea Jeans” – The sketch ends with the friends, all psyched up and ready to play, placing a series of escalating bets with the team they’re going to play…

NBC

…which happen to be a group of tall, athletic black guys.

NBC

Verizon’s 4G LTE “Bad Idea” Commercial – The guy who used to host The Chris Wylde Show Starring Chris Wylde on Comedy Central, but is now known for having a pedophile’s mustache, claims…

Verizon

His friends look at him like he’s an idiot.

Verizon

Conclusion: Seriously, Verizon?! I mean…REALLY?

We’re not saying it was intentional, but it’d be a weird coincidence if it were: two groups of guys playing the same activity, having the same bad ideas about child safety and risky surgery. But say it was intentional in the kindest manner possible; way to pick an obscure sketch to pay homage to, Verizon.

Or…

Is Verizon’s ad, posted to YouTube in March, the telecom giant’s way of paying SNL back for this skit in February that mocked the wireless carrier? The plot thickens…

We’re still pretty good at bikinis and guns, though

Luis Prada’s work can be found on Cracked, FunnyCrave, The Smoking Jacket, and GuySpeed. If you visit his Tumblr page, The Devil Wears Me, he will give you a non-refundable virtual hug.