We’ve been talking a lot about how social mores can often deal with “copying” situations better than any legal claim could, and in particular have talked about it in the context of comedians, where jokes are not considered copyrightable. However, copying does have costs, especially when people call you out. Witness the “dispute” over whether or not Saturday Night Live “copied” a sketch from Adult Swim, both of which are called “Tiny Hats.”

Honestly, the claims of copying seem a bit overblown. While both are called “Tiny Hats” and both do involve characters wearing a tiny hat, that’s about as far as the similarities go. The overall concepts beyond that are pretty different. However, apparently, it’s created a big stink online, with the comedians behind the Adult Swim version “calling out” SNL. However, they don’t seem to have any interest in going legal (not that they could) and later admitted that inspiration comes from all over:

He says he’s not particularly angry, and thinks it could have just been coincidence, as Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Andy Samberg, among other “SNL” cast members, have appeared on “Adult Swim.”

“We understand that we’ve created something that a lot of people in comedy watch and like, and influences are totally fine,” he says. “We draw influences from people all the time.”

He goes on, “I don’t want to start a big thing here. But it’ll be interesting to see what the web does with this.”

And, indeed, that last line is the key: there are social costs if what you’re doing is seen as being too close. However, I’ll let you be the judge of whether or not these skits are too close (and, um, whether or not either one is actually funny):

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