It’s a really sad state of affairs when a comedian takes it upon themselves to steal comedy material from other comedians.
Unfortunately, it’s a reality in stand-up comedy.
Any comedian who has the ability to effectively deliver stand-up comedy material on stage should never have to resort to stealing comedy material — ever.
So, why does it happen?
It happens because…
Comedians who are “joke thieves” really don’t know how to quickly and easily develop their own original comedy material.
And I have to tell you that this condition does not surprise me at all, given the fact that most comedians are stuck trying to write “jokes” the hard way.
I will be the very first to tell you that conventional joke writing is not only very difficult, but even the most popular comedy teachers can’t seem to teach folks how to “write jokes”. I know I can’t and I don’t pretend that I can.
So I don’t show comedians how to write jokes.
I show them how to structure what they want to talk about on stage. There’s a huge difference between that and trying to write jokes one at a time the hard way, which is like trying to dig a swimming pool with a spoon.
When I was actively performing, I have seen comedians perform small pieces of my own comedy material — word for word — while I was sitting in the audience. And yes, I did approach them about it after the show.
There is a big difference between stealing a comedian’s material and parallel thinking, which can result in the development of very similar stand-up comedy material.
By the nature of stand-up comedy itself, comedians must talk about things that all audience members can understand. Subsequently, there can be some overlap with the development of very similar material.
But if you are developing stand-up comedy material that is personal to you, you should have relative few issues with parallel thinking material.
The bottom line:
Don’t steal another comedian’s comedy material. Take the time to educate yourself on how to develop your own high level comedy material.
It is really not that hard to do IF you have comedy talent and you are using the techniques and strategies in the Killer Stand-up Online Course.
For more information about Steve Roye, author of this blog and the Killer Stand-up Online Course, click here.
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Theft of material is one of my biggest fears.
Sure, whoever resorts to it probably doesn’t “get it” and is desperate – but the comedy community is small and if you’re caught doing it, I would assume it would amount to professional suicide. A damning act, similar to a teacher having sex with a student or a chef spitting in someone’s food.
If someone’s caught doing it Steve, how does the comedy community deal with it? (bookers and agents banning him/her) Hell, there should be comedy theft tribunals! I’d love to see a panel of reigning comedians like Greg Fitzsimmons or Dana Carvey in a judge’s robe.
Steve outlines a method in his Killer stand up system that circumvents the pricey, long and painful process of copywriting. That gave me a little bit of relief.
Still, if some idiot at some open mike has the balls to lift my shit, I’ll let ‘em have it. I sort of combat this by paying attention of the other comics in attendance at a particular open mike, either by face or by name, then if my material pops up in the future (acusatory evaluations of parallel thinking aside) WHAMMO! I’ll make that particular guy’s life a living hell.
At least with Steve’s writing tips I can rest assured that my material development can “outpace” any theft that occurs. Still, I feel that theft doesn’t happen THAT OFTEN, but I’m definetly hyper-vigilant.