Speculation is mounting that The Chaser's controversial skit mocking dying kids was ripped off from another Australian sketch comedy show.
The Mansion, which airs on the Comedy Channel, ran a skit about the fictitious Reasonable Request Foundation last year.
Watch the skit here
The idea was remarkably similar to The Chaser's Make a Realistic Wish Foundation, prompting claims last night's "offensive" skit was pinched.
Media blog Mumbrella said comedian Dan Ilic was first to point out the close similarities between the two skits.
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The comparisons have come after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd blasted the comedy team for the skit aired last night.
Mr Rudd said that while he is happy to be fair game for parody, the stunt was "way beyond the pale".
"These guys, collectively, should get up and hang their heads in shame," Mr Rudd said this afternoon.
The ABC was forced to censor the controversial episode following public outrage over the The Chaser's War On Everything segment.
The public broadcaster was in crisis talks this morning after being flooded with complaints over the offending sketch.
"The ABC and The Chaser did not intend to hurt those who have been affected by the terminal illness of a child," ABC TV boss Kim Dalton and the show's executive producer Julian Morrow said in a statement released today.
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"We acknowledge the distress this segment has caused and we apologise to anyone we have upset.
"As a result, ABC TV will edit the segment out of tonight's repeat screening on ABC2 and on-line."
In the sketch, Chaser members Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor ask actors playing terminally ill children to make a wish.
One girl tells Hansen she wants to meet Hollywood teen heartthrob Zac Efron, but instead she is handed a stick.
Taylor at one point says the fictional foundation's aim is to help "thousands of kids to lower their extravagance and selfishness in the face of death". (Watch more: Chaser back at it today)
A spokeswoman for Make-A-Wish said Taylor had called Ms Brattstrom to apologise for the sketch.
"I have had a call from The Chaser this morning explaining to me that they weren't specifically poking fun at us," the foundation's communications manager Janita Friend told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
According to ratings company OzTam, The Chaser averaged about 1.2 million viewers last night more than 300,000 less than last week’s series debut.
The Chaser has been pushing the boundaries of good taste since its debut in early 2006, including the infamous 2007 APEC Osama bin Laden prank and the tasteless "Eulogy Song", which poked fun at deceased celebrities such as Peter Brock, Princess Diana and Steve Irwin.