There is an update on this story, I guess... Joe Rogan was banned from the club and that video on youtube was removed. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog&FriendID=3470011 <a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1943040863">Joe Rogan VS Carlos Mencia ON STAGE!</a><br><embed src="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" flashvars="m=1943040863&type=video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430" height="346"></embed><br><a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.addToProfileConfirm&videoid=1943040863&title=Joe Rogan VS Carlos Mencia ON STAGE!">Add to My Profile</a> | <a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.home"> More Videos</a> It's on myspace video, however. FROM JOES WEBSITE: So, now I'm banned from the comedy store. Posted by Joe Rogan on Wed, Feb 14th, 2007 07:26pm The aftermath of the video of me clowning Carlos Mencia and exposing him for being a joke thief released its havoc on the internet like a tidal wave of exposure and comic justice. Unfortunately, it also got me banned from the club. I got a call from Mitzi Shore the owner of the comedy store yesterday, and she wanted to hear my side of things. I told her what happened on Saturday night with the whole Carlos thing, and she told me that she would try to work it out. She called me back today to give me a spot tonight at 10pm, and said that Carlos and I would just have to avoid each other around the store. She asked me what times I wanted to go on stage this weekend, and I said as long as I got on before Carlos I didn't care. I said thank you, and hung up. Then I get a call from Tommy the manager of the club an hour later. He told me that "they" had decided I needed to "take a break" from the store, and that Carlos was physically threatened by me, and worried about me being around. That, and they're upset at me for putting the video up on the internet because they had asked me to stop filming my internet reality show "the JoeShow" at the club. They also said that Carlos apologized for the weekend, and said that they could advertise that he would be performing there this weekend. Now, I know this isn't coming from Mitzi, because I had just talked to her an hour before, so I'm assuming it's her sons that have made the decision to have Carlos there and keep me out. Mitzi's health hasn't been well over the last years, and slowly her sons have assumed the role of taking over the club. Whether the decision is financial, because they can sell a ton of tickets with Carlos, or whether it's personal, because Pauly and I have never really liked each other, either way, it is what it is. It's also indicative of this massive problem we have in the comedy community in general. Here you have a club that basically sells other people's art. They put the chairs there, sell the drinks and turn the mic on, and the artists do the rest. You have a situation where a comic that's been known for stealing other people material gets called out onstage, exposed, and then the video is put on the internet for all to see, and their reaction is to ban the guy that exposed him and made the video. To the thief, they sit back quietly and profit from his crime. It's truly ****ing mind blowing. There's not another art form in the world where the creative rights of the artist get as little respect. If they banned the both of us for this incident, then I would understand that they're just trying to avoid conflict, but the fact that they have told me to "take a break" but they have him onstage this weekend is just a tremendous slap in the face to me, and to the art of stand up comedy. The first thing I did when I got the call, is to phone my friend Rita over at the Improv in Hollywood and ask if I could get on there this weekend. She bent over backwards to accommodate me, and gave me spots for Thursday night at 10, Friday at 8:30, and Saturday at 10. To her, and Joel over there, I say thank you very much. I truly appreciate the support. If anyone wants to come down and see me this weekend, that's where I'll be performing. If you want to come down and show your support and have a good time, the address for and phone number for the improv is: 323 651 5810 Hollywood Improv 8162 Melrose ave. Hollywood, CA I've been working out at the comedy store now for almost 13 years, and I've always wondered when it was all going to end. The comics have always speculated that when Mitzi dies the sons would probably turn the place into a parking lot. We always used to sit around talking after the show was over, wondering where we would perform in LA when the end came. The place was even one of the reasons why I still lived in LA. I would go on the road to certain places and think about moving there, but I could never find a club that I could work out at that was anything like the store. There's really no place like it. At one point and time it was a mob run nightclub owned by Bugsy Segal, and the building radiates this weird energy from the years of performers, criminals, customers and experiences. It's an energy vortex, and a magnet for crazies. That was one of the best things about filming my reality show there, it was just guaranteed that you would get nutty people to talk to there. They're just drawn to the place, like moths to a light bulb. The problem is, Mitzi was always the one that kept the place together. She's the one with the true love of stand up comedy. She created it, she nurtured it, and she supported the art form. As she fades, so does the essence of the club. For me at least, this decision by whoever is in charge over there now to have me "take a break" is the last sign I needed to see that the end is nigh. It's been a great time, but like all great times it must eventually end. I think the way it ended, with a video seen by millions of people is just about a perfect way to go. It's almost fitting that I get banned from there, because it makes no sense. Nothing about the comedy store has ever made sense. That was always a part of the beauty of the place. If you feel like calling them and expressing your disapproval, or perhaps thanking them for banning me, the number there is 323 656 6225 Unfortunately, this is probably the last time you'll see my name on the Marquee there. It's been great!!
I think I was one of the 3 people that really liked his show on HBO Lucky Louie, but his stand up he did on HBO a few months ago was even better than his show.. I haven’t been that much into a set for along time.. I'm sad to say I paid to see Carlos here in Houston before he had his show and even then I was saying to myself.. "I've heard this somewhere before", but the thing that really pissed me off is when I found out he placed a heckler in the audience on purpose so Carlos could slam him and make himself look good on stage.. I have a feeling it’s the begging of the end for his 15 minutes of fame..
Is this the guy on the HBO special that did the bit about his 4-year-old daughter being a lazy bum, and how he enjoys takin' a p0Op?
I don't think I've heard so many dick jokes in my life. That special was so wrong from top to bottom. I loved it. The part about him sitting on his friends ass while he's jerking off.
New video of the confrontation: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PRmMBFbroS8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PRmMBFbroS8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
New article in Radar magazine about joke stealing. http://radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2007/02/take_the_funny_and_run_1.php Take the Funny and Run How some of the biggest names in comedy built their careers on pilfered punchlines By Larry Getlen Anyone who has ever performed stand-up is familiar with the red light, the universal signal that warns dawdlers it's time to wrap things up. In the '80s, comics at the Hollywood Improv came up with a novel use for the light. When shining steadily, it had the conventional meaning. But if the bulb began sputtering, it was the comedic equivalent of an air-raid siren, warning performers to lock up their original material immediately unless they wanted to lose it to a master thief. Robin Williams, comedy's most notorious joke rustler, was in the house. Though the rap has followed Williams for years, he's not alone. In the world of stand-up, joke-jackers are as common as exposed brick walls and liquored-up hecklers—an occupational hazard that eventually robs every working comic of time-tested material. It's the dirty little secret of the comedy world, a crime committed at every level—from amateurs at open mikes to big-name pros on late-night TV. Though rarely discussed outside the clubby, if sharp-elbowed, comic community, the subject is the surest way to wipe the grin off a funnyman's face. Daily Show correspondent Demetri Martin learned the lesson during his first year on the circuit, when he watched in horror as a comic brazenly recycled a joke he had told the previous evening. "I thought, Jeez, this is how it works?" he recalls. Unfortunately, it is. While most comics take pride in performing their own material, many have built lucrative careers on borrowed bits. Williams, for example, has long been lauded for his ability to instantaneously improvise scenes and gags. But while few question his gifts as a live performer, there's no way to know how much of his sharp-minded inspiration over the years has been provided by an unwitting writing staff. "I've been in clubs in L.A. where Robin'll walk in the room and whoever's on stage will just get off," says Boston comedian Kevin Knox. Ritch Shydner, a former Improv regular and coauthor of the book I Killed: True Stories of the Road From America's Top Comics, agrees. "Robin is a ferocious performer," he says, "but he isn't the kind who can generate material, material, material. His style is to watch people and regurgitate what he sees." Steven Pearl, a veteran comic who, like Williams, worked on the San Francisco circuit in the '80s, claims the star was renowned for stealing jokes—a comedic Winona Ryder. When he was caught, says Pearl, Williams sheepishly copped to the charge by opening up his wallet. "I'd call him and say, 'Hey, what happened there?'" recalls Pearl. "And he'd say, 'Oh, sorry.' Then there'd be compensation." Though Pearl is now reluctant to discuss details, he told Canada's National Post that Williams wrote him a check for $1,000, and noted that "there were a few more checks for substantial amounts of money that kept my rent paid for a while." Even Robert Klein, an old pal of Williams, commented in a 2001 interview that "things would float into [Robin's] head that he heard onstage—sometimes with unhappy results." Some of Williams's longtime friends defend him, saying that a key component to his brilliance is his lack of a filter—his inability to block ideas from entering or leaving his head. Which means that if Williams hears a joke, he feels compelled to repeat it, even at the risk of infuriating his colleagues. Scott LaRose, a veteran stand-up and director of the upcoming Comedy Hell, a horror movie set in the stand-up world, says Williams knows he has a problem but is virtually helpless to stop it. "Everybody knows he's a genius, but he's like SpongeRobin SquarePants," says LaRose. "He's just a big sponge." Still, while ripping off one-liners may seem more benign than lifting lingerie from Saks, many comics beg to differ. When a comedian is the first to tell a stolen joke at a major gig or on national television, the public associates the material with that comic, forcing the actual author of the joke to drop the bit from his or her act. A comedian can write the best joke of his career only to lose it to a sort of "finders keepers" rule. Click the link for the rest of the article http://radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2007/02/take_the_funny_and_run_2.php
Rogan may be an absolute tool sometimes, as SamFisher noted, but this (and his News Radio work ... "your last name is Garelli?") WAY more than makes up for those mitigating factors. Mencia is the worst. Remember, he's also the guy who plants his writers in the studio audience to look like random guys, and Mencia goes into a pre-written riff on their looks/tats/etc. Another Brother and I went back and forth on that a few months ago, with AB hardly offering what could be called a sterling defense on Ned's behalf. You notice he hasn't posted on this thread yet. Respect Mitzi Shore to no end, but she's wrong on this thing. Looking out for the cash. Louis CK is the best stand-up around, and has been since Rock gave up doing the material from his second HBO special.
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Here is an audio link with Rogan talking about Dane Cook and Jim Breuer stealing jokes, also Dennis Leary taking jokes from Bill Hicks and Ray Ramono. http://media.putfile.com/Joe-Rogan-Exposes-Joke-Thieves Here is Louis CK talking about Dane Cook (because the DJs brought it up). http://www.freebeerandhotwings.com/audio/other/2007 02 02 - Louis CK unedited interview.mp3
EVERYONE steals material and you won't find a guy who does stand up that will deny that. The difference is that most people will add bits and pieces from elsewhere to supplement their own material. That's only natural. The difference is the sheer amount of theft and un-originality that is Mencia's routine. It's not funny and on top of that, a lot of it isn't even original. It's just bad in every way. Also, to top it off, this seemingly super-fraudulent comic has his on tv show and stand up appearances on HBO which pisses off even more people. There are plenty of guys who steal as much as Mencia but he's the most high-profile guy of the bunch and consequently the biggest target. Rogan sounded like a complete douche but he called him out when others wouldn't.
LOL, I saw the trailer for Chris Rock's new movie and saw that Louis CK had co-written the script. I went to look at his credits on IMDB just now to see how much he has worked with Rock when I noticed that on his writing credits he has 2 for Comedy Central Presents and it's the Dane Cook episode and when you click on it, he has a writing credit for (stand up material).
That's the whole point. No one cares if the ****ty ones are stealing jokes and they stay in the same ****ty club every night, it's when they start making real money off of other people.
okay, here's a question, louis recycled alot of his routine in his show on hbo. is that okay, or as long as it his, there's no expiration date?
You'd be suprised at how many comics do this. There are alot of guys who have standing gigs in Vegas who use plants nightly. I remember somehow ending up at two Vinnie Favorito shows about 2 months apart and hearing the same riff, on the same guy, sitting in the same row. Don't get me wrong, Vinnie's a funny guy, but a little of the 'magic' was lost after I found that out -- if that makes any sense.
Seinfeld's show was the same thing. A lot of the premises for jokes and the plot were based off his stand-up. After the show was done and Jerry said he would go back to doing a stand-up tour of all new material, comics said that was a pretty incredible thing. I think I saw all of this in his 'documentary' "I'm Telling You for the Last Time." They basically said an hour of material is like a lifetime of material that constantly evolves. Constantly refining, slowly adding stuff and removing stuff. And to start all over w/ new material was a huge goal. They interviewed other comics like Chris Rock, Colin Quinn, etc. Nice to see a lot of NewsRadio & Louis CK fans. Great minds think alike.
You've got to see Pootie Tang. Got to. Got to. CK also wrote for early Conan and the Christ Rock Show on HBO. But you've gotta see Pootie Tang. Soooo funny. EDIT: There's a typo in my post, but I'm leaving it in.
