The screaming Irish bartender
Jay Mohr , compared with Rick Shapiro
A volatile, yelling Irish bartender character performed as a manic rant.
Mohr pitched the routine as his own in an SNL writers' meeting, and it aired as a sketch with him performing it. (paraphrase)
Saturday Night Live sketch, 1995find on YouTube ↗
Shapiro's club routine as a screaming Irish bartender, which his lawyer showed Lorne Michaels on videotape. (paraphrase)
Club stand-up act▶ watch ↗
The same screaming Irish bartender routine, moved from Shapiro's club act to an SNL sketch; Mohr later admitted it in his memoir.
- Premise 38/40
- Structure 26/30
- Punchline 25/30
- Premise38/40Same character, a volatile screaming Irish bartender, which Mohr admitted taking.
- Structure26/30Both are the same manic rant; the transfer from club routine to SNL sketch adds a format change.
- Punchline25/30Mohr confessed to the theft, though neither script's lines are on record.
Setup
A volatile Irish bartender character, pitched as his own at SNL.
Setup
His club character, a volatile screaming Irish bartender.
Turn
The bartender erupts into a manic, yelling rant.
Turn
The bartender erupts into a manic, yelling rant.
Punchline
Specific lines not on record; aired as an SNL sketch.
Punchline
Specific lines not on record; New York comics knew it by heart.
Scores and beats are our editorial reading of the public record, not a ruling.
Context
When and where
Shapiro performed a screaming Irish bartender routine in New York clubs, 'a bit that all Big Apple comedians apparently knew by heart'. Mohr pitched it as his own at SNL during the 1994–95 season and it aired. He confessed in his 2004 memoir Gasping for Airtime.
What followed
Mohr first denied it to Lorne Michaels, then admitted the theft in his 2004 memoir Gasping for Airtime. SNL paid Shapiro (he disputes being compensated) and cut the sketch from reruns.
Receipts
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Jay Mohr by Morten Skovgaard, CC BY 2.0; Rick Shapiro by Alexander Tuschinski, CC BY-SA 4.0