Joke thievery

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Joke thievery is the act of performing and taking credit for comic material written by another person without their consent. This plagiarism is technically a form of copyright infringement.

A common term for joke thievery is "hacking", which is derived from the British term, "Hack-neyed" (Meaning, "over used and thus cheapened, or trite").^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Joke theft in other media 3 Recourse and consequences 4 References

[edit] History

From the Catskill and Vaudeville beginnings of stand-up comedy, joke thievery was common^[2] as there were few chances that a performer from one area would meet one from another and a single twenty-minute set could sustain a comic for a decade. Most jokes at the time were one-liners and there was little in the way of proof of a joke's origin, but the value of each joke was immeasurable to a comedian.^[2]

Milton Berle and Bob Hope had a long-standing feud due to Hope's accusation that Milton Berle had stolen some of his jokes.^[2] Berle never refuted the claim, but instead embraced the title "The Thief of Bad Gag".

In the late fifties and early sixties Will Jordan perfected a caricature performance of Ed Sullivan (Incorporating mispronouncing the word "show" as "shoe") that became the basis for all other impersonators that followed^[2] (much like Dana Carvey's version of George H. W. Bush, became the standard for others. Carveys impersonation was based on his observation that Bush sounded like an amalgam of John Wayne and Mr. Rogers). Soon after, Jackie Mason, Rich Little and others began adapting Jordan's caricature to their own acts. This resulted in many of Jordan's shows being canceled due to other performers doing his bit two weeks previous to his shows at the same venue.^[2] John Byner, in turn, developed his own, oft-imitated, version of Jordan's caricature that George Carlin cited as being set up with the words, "Now you know!"

In the sixties, comedy took a turn for the more personal. Comics like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin were no longer regurgitating joke after joke, but instead were offering insight to their own lives from a comedic point of view. As a result, the jokes were largely unique to the performer. Theft proved more difficult, but also more offensive to the writer.^[2]

Even the most respected comics have found themselves, knowingly, or unknowingly, stealing material. Bill Cosby admitted to stealing a joke by George Carlin involving an uneducated football player doing a television commercial. Cosby said that what makes the routine his own is the surreal phrase “little tiny hairs.”^[3]. In turn Carlos Mencia, many years later performed a bit about athletes and their parents that hearkened back to a Cosby bit from his album, "Bill Cosby: Himself.^[3]

In the seventies Joke theft became more prominent again with the boom in popularity of comedy. Robin Williams was frequently accused of joke theft.^[4] Even today, many comics walk offstage if they see Williams in the audience.^[5]

The eighties and nineties saw the popularity of stand-up comedy increase. With the advent of pay-cable networks, comics were afforded the opportunity to perform their routines unfettered. With this came a new type of joke theft wherein the first comic to tell a stolen joke on some sort of media became the one associated with the joke. For many years, Denis Leary had been friends with fellow comedian Bill Hicks. However, when Hicks heard Leary's 1992 album No Cure For Cancer, he felt Leary had stolen his act and material. The friendship ended abruptly as a result.^[6] At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole not just some of Hicks' material but his persona and attitude.^[7][8][9][6] As a result of this, it is claimed that after Bill Hicks' death from pancreatic cancer, an industry joke began to circulate about Leary's transformation and subsequent success (roughly; "Question: Why is Denis Leary a star while Bill Hicks is unknown? Answer: Because there's no cure for cancer").^[9] In turn, Hicks was accused of joke theft by Sam Kinison.^[10] Also in the nineties, began a nearly universal theft of an impression of Bill Cosby, the style of which was first unveiled by Eddie Murphy in his concert Raw^[11]

More recent times have seen public rivalries between comics over the subject of joke theft. Louis CK has maintained a relatively quiet rivalry with Dane Cook over three bits on Cooks album, "Retaliation" that bear some resemblance to three bits on CKs album "Live in Houston". This claim is further complicated by both artists having performed bits on naming kids that strongly resemble "My Real Name", a bit from Steve Martins album, "A Wild and Crazy Guy".^[12]

Joe Rogan, by contrast has been very open in accusing Carlos Mencia of Joke theft.^[13]

To a lesser extent, George Lopez has also accused Mencia of plagiarizing his material. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged plagiarism.^[14] Comedian Ted Sarnowski countered this claim, however, stating that he, himself, had actually written the joke and given Mencia permission to use it after Lopez had stolen it from him.^[15]

[edit] Joke theft in other media

Joke theft is not limited to stand-up comedy. Often jokes in film and television shows are taken from comics or even other media.

Dick Cavett wrote about joke theft in his autobiography. He relayed a story about writing a bit about eating Chinese-German food and, an hour later, being hungry for power. After a few days of performing the bit, he discovered a review of Rip Taylor's show, where the joke was quoted verbatim. However, after calling Taylor to ask him to stop using the bit, he discovered that, not only had Taylor never performed the bit, he had never even heard it and laughed hysterically at the joke's humor. It was then that he discovered that some journalists often falsely attribute jokes to the wrong comics.^[4]

Cavett and Woody Allen often cited to each other the many instances of their jokes appearing in television shows without their permission, sometimes even falsely attributed to each other.

Allens' jokes were regularly stolen by the highly successful television show, "Laugh In".^[4] This proved extremely painful to Allen.

The experimental Pet Shop Boys film, "It Couldn't Happen Here" and its' promotional music video for their remake of the Elvis Presley song, "Always on My Mind" both featured a homicidal priest played by Joss Ackland who performed several bits from Steven Wright's first comedy album, "I Have a Pony".^[16]

The film Fast Food Nation used the advertising slogan, "Do you want lies with that?" which originally appeared in The Simpsons season 14, episode 16, 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky.^[17]

In more recent times a bit performed by Sam Kinison regarding Jesus' domestic issues after the resurrection later appeared in sketch form on the Comedy Central show, "Mind of Mencia" starring Carlos Mencia^[18]

The show Family Guy is criticized for using story premises and humor similar to those used in episodes of The Simpsons, which is also broadcast on the Fox network^[19], however, as was pointed out in an episode of South Park, there are few subjects and/or premises not already explored by The Simpsons due to its longevity. ^[20]

[edit] Recourse and consequences

There is, historically, very little legal recourse taken in cases of joke theft. Some comics, however, have chosen to exact their own justice. W. C. Fields reportedly paid fifty dollars to have a thieving comic's legs broken.^[2] Boston stand-ups Kevin Knox and PJ Thibodeau interrogated Dan Kinno in the green room of a comedy club.^[2]

It is possible that some instances of supposed joke thievery have more benign explanations. On a live radio broadcast, Carlos Mencia explained to the listening audience that it is impossible to determine the true originator of any piece of comic material because some issues are universally pondered.

Typically, the repercussions of joke theft are limited to personal animosity. On this issue, it appears that the offended comics are alone in their concern. It also appears that outing a "hack" comic does more damage to a comic's career than the act of hacking, itself. For example, On February 10, 2007 at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, Joe Rogan argued on-stage with Carlos Mencia, accusing him of plagiarizing other comedians' work. According to Rogan's account, he had just finished his act and introduced the next performer, Ari Shaffir, as a comedian who opens for "Carlos Men-steal-ia".^[21] Mencia took offense and walked on the stage. The Comedy Store later cancelled Rogan's shows and suggested he "take a break" from the Comedy Store, which was then followed by Rogans manager (who also manages Mencia) dropping Rogan^[22]. The entire incident was filmed as part of filming for Rogan's internet reality show, JoeShow. It was then made available to watch or download at numerous websites, including Rogan's.^[21]

Joe Rogan said, "People take plagiarism so seriously in all other forms of media, whether it's music, newspapers, books, but with comedy, it's like, 'You're on your own, fucker.'"^[2]

"You have a better chance of stopping a serial killer than a serial thief in comedy," said comedian David Brenner. "If we could protect our jokes, I'd be a retired billionaire in Europe somewhere — and what I just said is original."^[23]

The internet, however, has opened up a new medium for "outing" a joke thief. Websites like YouTube allow users to upload videos and share them with others. This has made it much easier to show evidence of joke thievery in a public forum.

Steven Rosenthal and Steve Silberberg have published a "Guide to Hack" to help new comics avoid Joke theft ^[24], which references (and gives credit to) an earlier work on the same subject by Andy Kindler called, "the Hacks Handbook"^[25]

[edit] References