As a comedian you become used to certain things, that Liverpool will be a tough town to play, that a 5 hour drive to do a gig in front of a handful of people who couldn't care less if you live or die will become such a regular occurrence that it barely seems worth it to mention, and that someone more successful than you will come up with a joke that's almost identical to one of yours and a wider audience will see it and assume that it's theirs.
It happens, it's convergent thinking. Jokes live out there in the ether like fruit hanging from a vine waiting for the right moment, the right time and place and for the right person's brain to see something that everyone else has missed and twist a joke is born. Sometimes more than one person will see that thing in that way and then two people have the same joke.
I've been on both ends of this, and it's never fun.
Once I unwittingly did a joke that was word for word the same as another comedian's, and yesterday another comedian did a joke that was similar enough to one of mine for me not to be able to use it again.
On both occasions I've been the lesser known comedian, though only one of those occasions has it done any damage to my career...
It happens, it's convergent thinking. Jokes live out there in the ether like fruit hanging from a vine waiting for the right moment, the right time and place and for the right person's brain to see something that everyone else has missed and twist a joke is born. Sometimes more than one person will see that thing in that way and then two people have the same joke.
I've been on both ends of this, and it's never fun.
Once I unwittingly did a joke that was word for word the same as another comedian's, and yesterday another comedian did a joke that was similar enough to one of mine for me not to be able to use it again.
On both occasions I've been the lesser known comedian, though only one of those occasions has it done any damage to my career...
