Apr 9th, 2007, 06:27 PM
Okay, okay.
Paralell generation and joke stealing both exist. You can't always tell the difference but mostly you can. Accusations of joke stealing come from people showing up at an open mike or showcase night and later telling a version of a joke they have never told before that was very similar to a joke another comic told that night and has been telling.
In the comic community 'joke stealing' is frowned upon. Nothing is more frowned upon than established comedians who go slumming at local clubs and later do jokes in a professional setting that they have never done before that are very similar to jokes done by comics at those clubs on the night the established comedian was there.
As for what comedians are like, in my experience, a higher percentage of them are fucked up jerks than you'd find in say, a group of accountants, or lawn care professionals. Comedy isn't something you go into professionally because your well adjusted and happy. On the other hand, they can be, you know, funny. It doesn't get your taxes done or cut your lawn, but you laugh. Who you hang out with is your own choice. Who the fuck cares?
Delivery vs. material. They are both really important, and I never seen a truly great comedian who didn't have both in spades. That being said I have seen great writers bomb more seriously than I've seen comics with great stage presence bomb. Again, so what? To me that has more to say about audiences than comedians.
Comedians learn from each other, the copy technique of each other, but Sspad is right that joke stealing is shitting where you're eating, most comics don't do it, it can't be stopped, but it's loathed by comics the way good doctors hate plastic surgeons and MD's who practice to support a drug habbit.
I think Mencia is a joke stealer. But way before I thought that, I thought he was a totally shitty comedian, with a little bit of delivery skills, but whose material virtually always sucked. When he steals, he steals low rent material which he then delivers worse than the original stuff. But he's famous because like Larry the Cable guy, he caters to peoples inner retard. Git r' done. Duh duh duhn.
Yeah, I'm way down on the comedy totem pole. But I worked full time in the comedy world for eight years, I opened for Ron White who could beat Larry the Cable Guy to death with just his booze breath back when nobody knew who the hell he was, I coached miserable fucked up comedians for eight years and managed to keep a roof over my damn head, so when I say Menicia sucks huge ass even if he isn't a joke stealer, you have NO DAMN CHOICE but to acknowledge that I'm TOTALLY RIGHT.
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