I don't respect anyone who's willing to take credit for someone else's work. It's not like the music field where there are singer/songwriters and just plain singers and just plain songwriters (have I typed that already today? I think it's time for me to get some air--the headache's easing up). Standups are assumed to have written their own stuff.

Performing is an art. I knew a standup named Bobby Hsu who was an acerbically hysterical writer. Couldn't deliver for shit. The comedians lined up at the back of the room would be howling with laughter, as would his friends, but the general audience couldn't give a damn. I wonder what he's doing now. I hope he's writing somewhere, and someone with a performance gift is displaying it. With appropriate credit.

But you'd care if somebody started passing Joe's columns off as their own words, right? Because you'd know how hard Joe worked on them, and that's his voice?

Totally. But I see it as spoken word vs written word.

To my knowledge, Leary, Mencia, etc have never started their shows with, "I wrote this shit. This all mine." It's an assumption on the audience's part that it is the comic's original material.

I don't know if it happens to anyone else, but I get really paranoid about plagiarism in my own work.

It's weird because a lot of the time, when I'm working on edits, I have no memory of how I came up with something, and worry, "is this something I heard somewhere, before?"

It's a different thing than ripping someone off with intent, but it's a genuine squick.

It's an assumption on the audience's part that it is the comic's original material.

Hicks never wrote for Leary. I think it's a fair assumption that what someone is performing is something they have a right to perform, although I'm abusing the term "right." But you see what I mean. Why should Leary use the material and never give credit? Why does Mencia lie about using other people's material?

It's not just the audience that makes that assumption. The industry makes it too.

Yeah, I suppose that's true...I had assumed that that was a comedian burn. I suppose I might have to rethink my opinion of Leary and his stuff. But it's not quite like having "Thriller" ruined by thinking of Jacko and his Jesus juice.

I think I'd have to see some side-by-side transcripts of Leary v. Hicks. I can see how they would have similar *subjects*, and similar takes on those subjects, but...

...if Leary did plagiarize Hicks I will wax sore wroth because Leary has always cracked my shit up and I thought he was brilliant.

Did Leary write for Hicks? Huh. Didn't know that.

But you see what I mean.

Yeah, I do.

Why should Leary use the material and never give credit? Why does Mencia lie about using other people's material?

They shouldn't.

Let me retcon a bit: I don't like that they allegedly used material from other sources, but it doesn't make me enjoy them any less.

Why am I so tired? Why does my brain like to shut down when I still have an hour of work to go?

Anyway, I read this headline: NASA Replaces Charged Astronaut for Next Shuttle Mission

And I read "charged" as "charred" and immediately thought about about the astronauts in the Columbia and Apollo 1 disasters....

Chris Rock has a team of writers. It makes me respect him a little bit less than Dave Chappelle, but it's not like he's making it harder for other comedians to earn a living. I would say Leary made it harder for Hicks to be big.

Also, I don't really have a moral stand on whether you get your material written by someone else, it's just such a part of standup that it's disappointing if you don't write your own.

I think I'd have to see some side-by-side transcripts of Leary v. Hicks.

Well, I did cite the Jim Fix joke up thread, which was apparently a straight-up theft. I think there's some disgruntlement in the comedy community because Leary stole much of the "look and feel" of Hicks act. But that's far more nebulous. That's just in the slippery realm of absorbing your influences. Every creator goes through something like that (with rare exceptions), but that's different than outright plagiarism. If the Beatles cover Buddy Holly or Little Richard then everybody knows that (a) the Beatles didn't write that song and (b) the original songwriter still gets royalties.

It takes a lot of work to craft an act or a joke. The timing and phrasing are crucial. Any half decent comedian could do an old Cosby album on stage and kill, because the jokes are so well designed.

So, yeah. I'd like to see more side-by-side comparisons.