How Important is Originality in Comedy?

At university, I joined a surrealist Islamic group and at the initiation ceremony they made me drink a jihad of ale.

It’s not true, of course. How could it be? But it is something I often say on stage. It goes down well, People like it. And I wrote it. All by myself – which is the point of this short article.

No, I am not the short article in question. I mean the short article you are reading at the moment.

Back on track! Yes, the point of this article is that I once used that line and immediately I saw a man take out his phone and start tapping away.

“What are you doing?” I asked politely but with a hint of menace.

“Googling” he replied, without taking the hint.

“What, pray, might you be Googling?” I continued, trying to bond with him by speaking English in a manner that suggested I’d been here for a long time.

“That joke” he answered. “To see where you nicked it from.”

“I do not nick other people’s material,” I assured him. “How very dare you!”

“No results“

“What?”

“No results found for ‘jihad of ale’,” he smiled.

And he applauded quietly before putting his phone away.

I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Phew! The rest of my act is stolen from Shappi Khorshandi.

Ha! Ha! That is not true either. I would rather fail in originality than succeed in imitation.

I always tell Ronni Ancona that, but will she listen?

Anyway, my question is do other BCG writers and performers Google the ideas they come up with to see if those ideas are original?

And, if not, is that something we should do?

It's just a pun Jasmine. Take on things is what makes something original. So I wouldn't waste too much time googling for jokes, leave that to Cheggers!

I never Google jokes. What comes out of my mouth is mostly what I'm thinking at the time and how I feel about it. I can see my stories in my head, so I don't usually have to write too many actual jokes. I find it hard to write stand-up for other people. Unless I know them very well, it's hard to know if they can deliver a line I would have no problem with. Even then, I wouldn't Google what I've written to see if someone else has written it. I suppose that's because I write little scenario stories, rather than separate gags.

If you feel you need to Google stuff, that's up to you, though. I just think it would make life more difficult for you than it has to be.

often times creative, comical types might think along the same lines. I can't tell you how many times I have seen the same joke on 2 or 3 late night chat shows in america (on the same night)!

just keep doing what you're doing, and don't worry about it...

however, I must point out that this joke makes no sence.
according to wikipedia, the word Jihad translates to struggle.
so, you drank a "struggle" of ale?

perhaps you should change it to:
"I drank a submarine ballast tank worth of ale!"
or
"I drained all of my thirteen friends' home brew tanks in one hour."

or some shit like that.

SHe is punning the sound of the word Luke.. in the pronunciation - yard/jihad

and it only works if you put it in an islamic context or if the audience knows you're islamic yourself otherwise its pretty lame.

Quote: Marc P @ August 31 2012, 10:27 AM BST

SHe is punning the sound of the word Luke.. in the pronunciation - yard/jihad

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Isn't Jihad pronounced "Gee-had" rather than "Gee-hard" though, the pun doesn't work for me.

Well, I read it and immediately understood the pun. It's a good gag.

I think it's a good gag too

Quote: Joyce @ August 31 2012, 10:47 AM BST

Well, I read it and immediately understood the pun. It's a good gag.

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Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ August 31 2012, 11:07 AM BST

I think it's a good gag too

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Thank you.

If the test of a good joke is whether or not it gets a good laugh, then it is indeed a good joke. People always like it.

That is why I would rather work to a room full of Joyces and Stephens than to a room full of Cowards.

Do you get that pun, Tony?

Quote: Jasmine @ August 31 2012, 11:08 AM BST

Thank you.

If the test of a good joke is whether or not it gets a good laugh, then it is indeed a good joke. People always like it.

That is why I would rather work to a room full of Joyces and Stephens than to a room full of Cowards.

Do you get that pun, Tony?

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And I'm sure you'll never work to a room full of Dukes.

Quote: Jasmine @ August 31 2012, 11:08 AM BST

Thank you.

If the test of a good joke is whether or not it gets a good laugh, then it is indeed a good joke. People always like it.

That is why I would rather work to a room full of Joyces and Stephens than to a room full of Cowards.

Do you get that pun, Tony?

View original

Yes thanks, didn't make me laugh but it's a definite pun.

I would love to see you do the Jihad/Yard of Ale joke at 10 gigs and see what reaction you get for it, I may be wrong, may be it works every time but I would guess that it fails as often as it works and if it was one of my jokes I'd probably retire it fairly quickly, but hey what do I know about one-liners and puns?

How important is originality in comedy? Based on empirical research, probably not as much as you might at first think. Again Marc P hits the nail on the head with the take on things making stuff original.

Also, while originality is (in my opionion at least) much more virtuous and to be strived for, there is sometimes an onus to repeat a really good joke or phrase so it doesn't just fall by the wayside and die.

It might not be amazingly funny but as far as I can ascertain, everyone who uses the word 'interweb' is simply repeating a joke from Viz, assuming Viz didn't lift it from someone else in the first place.

Furthermore, how should people define original? Is a comedian repeating a line written for them by a gag writer being original even if the gag is cutting-edge and nothing of its like has been heard before by the general population? The moment he tells it, is it not already second-hand goods?

When people blatantly lift other people's material are they not just joke tellers like someone down the pub? If they are good at it and make the material better is this not a quality? It's when they are shit at it that it makes the case against plaigarisers so much easier.

Questions, questions, questions. Ah well, at least one thing is for certain: the guy Googling your joke sounds like a right dick. Besides, he should have used Startpage instead as it doesn't record your IP address like Google does. But I digress. Well done for not hitting him.

Quote: Tony Cowards @ August 31 2012, 11:18 AM BST

, but hey what do I know about one-liners and puns?

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>_<

Quote: Tony Cowards @ August 31 2012, 10:35 AM BST

Isn't Jihad pronounced "Gee-had" rather than "Gee-hard" though, the pun doesn't work for me.

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It depends how posh you are.