Take My Material, Please
Milton Berle, you know, was nicknamed “The Thief of Bad Gags” due to his predeliction for stealing other peoples jokes. It’s not a new phenomenon. And yet today’s LA Times goes all in-depth on the newest wrinkles in stand-up joke stealing, such as the recent onstage shouting match between Carlos Mencia and Joe Rogan which was caught (as are all stand-up train wrecks nowadays) on celphonecam.
Mencia let it be known he was upset that Rogan had been mercilessly bashing him as a “joke thief” and derisively referring to him as Carlos “Menstealia”… As the crowd whooped and hollered, Mencia fired back at Rogan: “Here’s what I think. I think that every time you open your mouth and talk about me, I think you’re secretly in love with me….”
This is how you can tell comedians are serious - they don’t use the a-list material.
Bobby Kelton, who’s been working since the late seventies, weighs in about the good old days:
“No one dared use another’s material,” Kelton said. “If they did, the word would get out and you’d be ostracized…. Then, as the comedy boom hit and tens of thousands of people got into comedy, that all kind of went out the window.”
Though the article points out that more likely they were getting away with it more before the age of the internet. I think comedians are too sensitive - it’s not the jokes that make you, it’s the way that you tell them. And there are only so many ways to get a joke out of a situation - just because two people did the same gag, doesn’t mean one stole it from the other. I like this approach:
Radar magazine, in a recent article about joke thievery among comics, called Robin Williams a “notorious joke rustler” who is known to cut checks to comedians after stealing their material.
Jamie Masada, who runs the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, likened Williams’ act to a jazz player. “He goes with whatever comes in his mind. That is what he is. He doesn’t go sit down and write what he is going to say on the stage.” If he learns later that he has used someone else’s material, Masada added, “he goes back afterward and says, ‘Here is the check.’ “
Steal my gag if you must, but throw me a little scratch afterwards! That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
BTW, the recent Andy Dick/John Lovitz altercation wasn’t over joke stealing. I have a friend who writes for the Enquirer, and he insists it’s personal. I’d tell you more, but I feel sleazy enough admitting that I have a friend who writes for the Enquirer.
-daniel c.k.
July 25th, 2007 at 3:39 am
Which explains why one stand-up sounds pretty much like every other one these days. Maybe we’re heading to a new Vaudeville period, putting us back to the days when comedians were considered bottom-rung hacks and were used to fill time between dog acts. No, too much money to be made for that.
For some reason, Carlos Mencia doesn’t get a lot of respect, period. The common perception is he isn’t as “Latino” as George Lopez and sort of swiped his shtick for his Comedy Central show.
Love the bit about feuding on the LA Times. That Jon Lovitz knows how to take care of business.