Amy Schumer, Shameless Joke Thief?

[Galactus10]

Amy Schumer has been pretty popular for awhile now. Her stand up specials draw a lot of attention and I believe her show is pretty highly rated as well.

All in all, she seems to have made a significant impact in comedy today.

I don't know if y'all have heard (probably a fair amount has knowing the crowd here) but I didn't see a thread regarding the allegations from comedians such as Tammy Pescatelli, Wendy Liebman and Kathleen Madigan among several other comedians that Amy Schumer has lifted material from them.

For a comedian, this is obviously the cardinal sin. It's natural to think that Amy just has a big target on her back since she has eclipsed the popularity and fame of some of the comedians who have recently discredited her.

However, their claims have more than merit when you watch the instances that Schumer or her writing team have pretty blatantly repackaged stolen jokes and passed them off as her own

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv0eWN8v_tg&feature=youtu.be

I understand that in comedy it's sometimes unavoidable to regurgitate the same topics and tropes of a culture or identifying factor but most of these in the link above don't bode well for Amy Schumer's creative integrity.

What are your thoughts? Will her career suffer because of these allegations or will she keep on truckin by writing funny material of her own and hurdle this 'controversy'?

 

[Teelie]

I don't know if she did or not although I know now that she is more popular than ever she is a target of such accusations.

 

[KevanG]

I couldn't care less. Everyone's a joke thief at some point. Celebs also have people to get them material.

 

[Galactus10]

It'e pretty obvious that somebody involved with her creative team, be it her or her writers, have recycled material before. Now did that alone get her to where she is today? Def not. It's still a bad look for a comic.

Some of it seems more blatant than others; creative concepts often overlap and it's not foul play just a case of thinking of the same thing on accident.

However, in the YT link some of her jokes are basically verbatim of ones that have come before. I'm sure most of her material she came up with by herself but it would be fairly naive to believe it was all coincidence that some are so remarkably similar to others. Ideas and concepts being the same is not like almost having essentially the same exact delivery of the joke.

 

[Galactus10]

Oops I seemed to have misspelled Amy's name in the thread title. My bad, careless mistake. I tried to edit but don't see the option so I assume only a mod can do it

 

[CJ]

I just saw a comparison on YouTube (Too vulgar to post here) where Amy almost word-for-word stole material from Patrice O'Neal's standup routine, so I'm gonna say yes.

 

[The Shape]

Some of the jokes/bits in question are definitely suspect and don't make Amy look too good.

 

[MadVillainy]

Eh she'll get through it. People love her so much

I havent seen the comparison video, but I do know Kevin Hart also stole a bit from Richard Pryor but I never really hear it brought up

 

[4thWallBreaker]

She stole from Patrice and Kathleen, definitely. The jokes were done in order, even. Lest us not forget admonishing a teenage boy idolizing her sense of humor via self-deprecation. Good for her. Fight the power, sister. She sucks.

She's a flash-in-the-pan. She'll go away soon, me thinks. "Muh vag!" That joke can only go so far with female comedians.

 

[Galactus10]

What are some of her funniest bits to you guys? I've seen bits and pieces of her stuff and I haven't had an opinion either way. I just know she's been in the limelight recently and now rather unfavorably

I love standup but I can't figure out if I find her funny or not. Do you feel she mainly appeals to women or is she more universal?

 

[Webfoot Hero]

I just find her act gets incredibly old real fast since it's not as cutting edge or new as some make it out to be. She covers fat, drinking, sex, and relationship jokes that are just variations of stuff that's been done before.

 

[Majik1387]

Considering how unfunny she is, it wouldn't surprise me if she lifted material from others.

She's a pale version of a lazy Sarah Silverman.

 

[GR8GODZILLAGOD]

Good god, some of those jokes and skits were stolen word-for-word and scene-by-scene. Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia were torn apart for stealing less. With this and the incident on twitter with her and the teenage fan of hers, I've pretty much lost any sense of respect for her.

 

[Unbreakable Lex]

Dane Cook, Carlos Mencia, Amy Shumer... makes sense.

 

[Reek]

Jeselnik and his brilliant self ... laughing so hard right now.

 

[Greens]

She sucks.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Dane Cook, Carlos Mencia, Amy Shumer... makes sense.

Yup, stealing jokes pretty much puts you at the bottom of the comedian hierarchy.

Louis CK grew tremendously in popularity but rather take long breaks than release uninspired material to keep up with demand.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I can forgive Dennis Leary for stealing some of Bill Hicks stuff because he's done enough original stuff that's really funny.

 

[DeadPresident]

I just find her act gets incredibly old real fast since it's not as cutting edge or new as some make it out to be. She covers fat, drinking, sex, and relationship jokes that are just variations of stuff that's been done before.

That seems to be all mainstream comedy at the moment.

 

[Gold Samurai]

If I have to hear that Bradley Cooper story ONE.MORE.TIME! I'm going claw my eyes out


[YT]zhu7rs3Ihas[/YT]


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[C. Lee]

If I have to hear that Bradley Cooper story ONE.MORE.TIME! I'm going claw my eyes out

[YT]SHqRhMvFmnk[/YT]
[YT]SHqRhMvFmnk[/YT]
[YT]SHqRhMvFmnk[/YT]

 

[Leenie]

All I'll say is this: If she's stealing material, then she doesn't know how to pick out the good stuff.

I can't stand Amy Schumer ...

 

[Black Narcissus]

Just saw that compilation vid. Goddamn. I hope she ain't putting on a straight face tying to deny. lol

She took from Patrice O'Neal.

smh.

 

[Travesty]

I know the guy who made the YT clip. I've talked to him about editing some of the Maron stuff, cause I think it distorts what he was saying. The Context is all wrong.

I've talked about this to death now, but I have to split this up into two different categories: her stand-up and her show. As far as her stand-up goes, I think the only one that is questionable, is the Wendy Liebman bit. It's hard to say if she actually stole it, or just heard it years ago, then forgot about it, and then thought she came up with it on her own...or if she did come up with it on her own, and it was just parallel thinking? But it is questionable. The Patrice bit isn't even really a joke, as it's one of those crazy sex acts that you hear all the time. Patrice certainly didn't make it up, and while it's not a "street joke", per se, it's close enough that you can call it one. It's basically a common phrase that is funny. So while I don't think she took it from Patrice, she certainly didn't come up with it on her own. The Mulaney bit is similar, but they're both just explaining what blacking out is. I don't think she stole it. Plus, those aren't full on jokes, as it's more of a lead-in to get to the actual jokes. So as far as he stand-up goes, I don't think she's a thief, as much as she is a hack who takes easy premises and common phrases, and interjects them into her act. It's easy stuff.

Her show on the other hand, I find to be almost undeniable. Now, The thing that is hard about this, is that she has a room full of writers, so you don't know who came up with what, but I have to say, everything I've seen is pretty much on the nose. It's not only a similar premise, but the wording is basically exactly the same, along with the beats, settings, locations, etc. It basically looks like they just did a scene for scene re-creation. So overall, I don't know if Amy stole those(maybe she did?), but I do think someone on her writing staff did.

So overall, it's hard to say, and I've talked to quite a few people about this, and everyone seems split and has their own take on it. I've talked to some that are defending her completely, and then I've heard others say she stole them all. I'm kinda in the middle with this one. Again, I don't think she's a thief with he stand-up, as much as she is a hack. And as far as her show goes, I do think someone on her staff is stealing, but I don't know who, so I can't really pin it on Amy. But since its her name on the show, she gets all the heat for it publicly, and rightfully so. She also gets the praise, so it seems only natural that if something like this happens, she gets the blame, as well.

 

[Octoberist]

I'm a firm believer that..it just happens.

Like with The Matrix or Avatar, hundreds of other people had similar ideas (including yours truly )

Or you'll get an idea but subconsciously you don't know where it came from but probably got inspired by other people's material.