Trump's 'Pardon Me' Joke From Last Night Sure Resembles A '30 Rock' Bit

One day after speaking of one another with palpable derision during the third presidential debate, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were exchanging light-hearted barbs at a white-tie charity event on Thursday night in New York.

At one point, the Republican presidential nominee made a joke about the two bumping into each other, after which Clinton said, “Pardon me.” He then stopped and let people gather the double meaning.

He then added, “I very politely replied: Let me talk to you about that after I get into office.”

The joke, a clear reference to Trump’s repeated assertions that Clinton belongs in jail, led to raucous laughter. Even Clinton herself laughed. But the New York Times’ Alex Burns noted over Twitter that the joke also felt very familiar.

The “30 Rock” bit Burns referenced comes about two minutes into the fourth episode of Season 2, titled “Rosemary’s Baby,” when Liz Lemon has a flashback to watching one of her favorite childhood shows, “Laugh-In.”

An actor playing Richard Nixon struggles to walk along the stage as people walk in the other direction. Repeatedly, he says, “Pardon me.” An actor then stops, turns to the camera and says, “Pardon you? You were already pardoned!”

There is some clear variance between the two jokes, but the resemblances are also notable, especially considering Trump made another joke on Thursday about accusations that his wife Melania’s Republican National Convention speech in July was plagiarized from Michelle Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech in 2008.

“Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it. They think she’s absolutely great. My wife, Melania, gives the exact same speech and people get on her case!” Trump joked on Thursday.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated that the event was black-tie.