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This article was originally published on July 15, 2011.
Jokes about the fact that youre an irredeemably selfish asshole?
Jokes that someone else wrote that you venture to pass off as your own?
People will tell you to kill yourself.
Joke thieves are out there and they do indeed suck.
So, what should you do if you think youre the victim of a joke thief?
Is it likely that they saw your joke?
Well, then its reasonable to think that the person in question may have seen it.
Unless you know for a fact that the person saw it, the chances are good that they didnt.
Clubandthis websiteafter their accusations, its view count was still around 4,100.
Not exactly something that was setting the world on fire.
Is your joke highly original?
For example, in 2010,Tim and Eric accusedSNLof ripping off their tiny hats sketch.
Tim and Eric essentially claimed ownership over the comedic idea of tiny hats.
Is your joke topical and obvious?
Everybody is making that joke.
For one, the chances are slim that theSNLwriting staff saw the original video.
Two, this is the most obvious parody imaginable.
Are you sure they didnt make the joke first?
Thats what happened to Bill Maher, whoaccusedThe Onionof stealinga joke he made in a standup special.
The problem?The Onionpublished the joke in questionsix months before his standup special aired.
He had just seen it brought back from the archives on the front page and assumed it was new.
Bill Maher then looked like an asshole.
Is the new version very similar, or does it only share some specifics?
While the structure was the same, the actual humor of each routine came from completely different places.
Does it make sense that theyd steal your joke?
Take a step back and look at the people youre accusing.
Do you really think the writing staff ofSNLis scanning YouTube looking for sketch videos to rip off?
These highly visible shows have the most to lose from joke theft.
This is not all to say that joke stealing never happens, and by established writers and comedians.
It most certainly does!
Its really tough to find any legitimate excuses for Carlos Mencias well-documented cases of joke theft.
Theres no excuse for joke plagiarism, and anyone busted doing it deserves to be publicly shamed.
And not the funny kind of idiot.
