From the great Tom Lehrer… I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics Plagiarize Plagiarize Let no one else’s work evade your eyes Remember why the good Lord made your eyes So don’t shade your eyes But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize Only be sure always to call it please “Research”
Milton Berle was notorious for joke-stealing, and more-or-less admitted it. In one comedy routine, as I recall, Henny Youngman told a joke, and Berle replied, “I wish I’d said that!” Youngman’s response: “Don’t worry, you will!”
On an old “What’s My Line,” Red Skelton was the Mystery Guest, and Fred Allen was on the panel. Fred said, “I feel like I should know you are. Do you do your own writing?” Red said, “Yes. Actually I’ve stolen a good deal of your material.” Fred said, “Is your first name a color, by any chance?”
There use to be a guy in Chicago who tracked jokes going back to the earliest vaudeville acts. People could contact him with a joke and he could tell them who used it first.
Mr. Pastis is enacting an homage [stealing] from THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, which begins with her discovering that her husband is stealing, badly, from Bob Newhart—an unbelievable situation, considering that Newhart’s album was extremely popular, and someone in the audience would’ve shouted the husband down within seconds.
Jokes are meant to be shared. Every joke I know has been passed around and around and around. If I hear a joke and decide I want to use it for myself I will make a few alterations so it fits my style better. But I neither claim to have invented the joke myself, nor feel any obligation to credit whoever told it to me. Not least of all because I’m quite certain that whoever told it to me did not invent it from whole cloth either.
BasilBruce 1 day ago
You can’t make an homage without breaking some eggs.
Bilan 1 day ago
It’s a good thing we don’t need to cite every comic that originally told the joke.
Johnny Q Premium Member about 24 hours ago
“Good writers borrow. Great writers steal”—Mark Twain
syzygy47 about 23 hours ago
When i use the ideas of others, whenever possible I include attribution. It’s just as important to acknowledge you were paying attention
blunebottle about 23 hours ago
He learned from the current Pres & VP.
iggyman about 22 hours ago
I believe it’s called plagiarism in writing, but in jokes as well?
iggyman about 22 hours ago
You might be learning the wrong things, Pig!
Zykoic about 22 hours ago
So those book excerpts and familiar speeches I hear are homages?
minty_Joe about 21 hours ago
Okay, Rat. Let’s not turn this into another Carlos Mencia (aka Ned Holness) situation. We all know what happened there.
Sephten about 21 hours ago
Steal from one, it’s plagiarism; steal from many, it’s research.
Steve_The_Beard about 20 hours ago
From the great Tom Lehrer… I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics Plagiarize Plagiarize Let no one else’s work evade your eyes Remember why the good Lord made your eyes So don’t shade your eyes But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize Only be sure always to call it please “Research”
win.45mag about 20 hours ago
And yet, all I hear is crickets. Not a very good stand up guy. They didn’t even smile.
steveh64 about 19 hours ago
Milton Berle was notorious for joke-stealing, and more-or-less admitted it. In one comedy routine, as I recall, Henny Youngman told a joke, and Berle replied, “I wish I’d said that!” Youngman’s response: “Don’t worry, you will!”
Gent about 19 hours ago
Me always pay homage to great Yogi.
Huckleberry Hiroshima about 19 hours ago
Good old homage plagarizing. I wonder how you spell plagarizing. No coffee yet so not looking it up. lol, etc…….
Croc Holliday about 18 hours ago
Foxtrot did a nice riff on this when they borrowed from C&H’s snowmen.
Count Olaf Premium Member about 18 hours ago
Rat is a Tribute Comic doing covers. “A piece of string walks into a bar…”
Goat from PBS about 18 hours ago
Makes me wonder how many “homages” Stephan has put in his strip.
Ignatz Premium Member about 18 hours ago
On an old “What’s My Line,” Red Skelton was the Mystery Guest, and Fred Allen was on the panel. Fred said, “I feel like I should know you are. Do you do your own writing?” Red said, “Yes. Actually I’ve stolen a good deal of your material.” Fred said, “Is your first name a color, by any chance?”
david_42 about 17 hours ago
There use to be a guy in Chicago who tracked jokes going back to the earliest vaudeville acts. People could contact him with a joke and he could tell them who used it first.
mindjob about 16 hours ago
Now he’s going to put them in a book and say he wrote them himself
Ellis97 about 16 hours ago
I wonder what stand up comedian they are honoring.
ladykat about 16 hours ago
Plagiarism.
Snoopy Copter about 16 hours ago
Is it pronounced O-mage or HO-mage?
MatthewJB about 16 hours ago
Mr. Pastis is enacting an homage [stealing] from THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, which begins with her discovering that her husband is stealing, badly, from Bob Newhart—an unbelievable situation, considering that Newhart’s album was extremely popular, and someone in the audience would’ve shouted the husband down within seconds.
ChessPirate about 15 hours ago
Rat is “The Thief of Bad Gags”… (a nickname originally aimed at Milton Berle)
I have noticed a good many of The Three Stooges routine plots were done earlier by Laurel and Hardy, reworked to play to the Stooges’ type of comedy…
krisjackson01 about 14 hours ago
“I only steal from the best.” —Pablo Picasso
tuliplover about 14 hours ago
In music, it’s called “Sampling”. In my world, it’s called “Stealing”.
DaBump Premium Member about 14 hours ago
Hey, some of the favorite jokes of some of the greatest comedians were about how much of their material was stolen!
zeexenon about 14 hours ago
Soon, all Americans must realize our long slow but sure trend and give formal acknowledgment by a vassal of allegiance to his lord under feudal law.
[Unnamed Reader - 14b4ce] about 14 hours ago
Milton Berle still has disciples
smartty cat about 13 hours ago
Rat-fink that he is.
John Jorgensen about 13 hours ago
Jokes are meant to be shared. Every joke I know has been passed around and around and around. If I hear a joke and decide I want to use it for myself I will make a few alterations so it fits my style better. But I neither claim to have invented the joke myself, nor feel any obligation to credit whoever told it to me. Not least of all because I’m quite certain that whoever told it to me did not invent it from whole cloth either.
Bilan about 12 hours ago
And in science, it’s called standing on the shoulder of giants.
christelisbetty about 11 hours ago
Who wrote the first “knock knock joke” ?
Cerabooge about 11 hours ago
Who’d you steal this idea from?
krisjackson01 about 9 hours ago
And then there’s allusion. I titled a chapter “On the Beach” as an allusion to Nevil Shute’s great novel, its title itself an allusion to TS Elliot.
wildlandwaters about 7 hours ago
Rat’s a stable genius!
eddi-TBH about 7 hours ago
Comics swap jokes like trading cards. But the original writers in the back room rarely get credit.