It wasn’t a brilliant joke, but I wrote it myself, and it had been consistently cracking my friends up:
Dateline is planning to do a spin-off of its popular series To Catch A Predator, and the new spin-off will be hosted by Jeff Foxworthy.
It’s going to be called Are You Horny for a 5th Grader?
(And if you thought I was going to tell a redneck joke… you might be a redneck.)
The joke certainly wasn’t going to set the comedy world on fire, but it follows the setup/punch/tag formula and always got solid laughs. I was really looking forward to telling it on stage. Unfortunately, I kept getting bumped… and before the next time I got up on stage, I saw the brilliant Jeffrey Ross’s No Offense
I can’t remember exactly how his version went, but it had the same premise of “Jeff Foxworthy plus To Catch A Predator.” I instantly had a sinking feeling in my gut as I realized that I had to snuff my own joke in the cradle.
What to do when that happens
In general, the rule of thumb is that if you hear someone famous do a bit that’s similar to one of yours, you should immediately stop doing yours. It’s not fair, it’s just how it is. Otherwise you run the risk of someone thinking you’re a thief every time you do the joke.
Sir Isaac wants to know if thou heardest
the one about the differential variable
and Her Royal Majesty’s cooter
The reason there’s a rule of thumb for this situation is that it’s surprisingly common for two people to independently come up with the same material. It’s called parallel thinking, and while jokes aren’t exactly the calculus controversy, accusations of theft can ruin a comedian’s career.
The classic example of widespread parallel thinking happened during the Catholic priest molestation scandal. More than a few comics immediately started telling jokes about how, despite being altar boys, they hadn’t been molested, and it was really wrecking their self esteem (or whatever). It was funny territory, but it was also obvious enough that it became well-trodden ground almost immediately.
I’ve also been proud/dismayed to hear jokes of my own devising pop up in places like Will Ferrell’s You’re Welcome, America
I’m sure that at least a thousand other people have come up with these same jokes, tossed off extemporaneously at a party or told to a friend on the bus. We all share the same basic social and cultural experiences, after all, and the basic structure of a joke restricts the parameters even further. It’s pretty much inevitable. The best way to keep it from affecting you is to simply write a lot of jokes.
Then there is the special case of joke thieves, a despicable breed which I’ll tackle separately…
Related entries in Creating a Comic:
- How to tell if new material is any good
- Preparing a set list
- “How long have you been doing comedy?”
- Working new material into a stand-up set
- Writing For the Stage
- Open Mic: First Timer Primer
- Stand-up Comedy Glossary
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