Comedians Who Got Caught Stealing Jokes

While getting into the entertainment business and actually reaching the point where one can sustain themselves and their families through their work is a rarely accomplished feat from a sheer statistical standpoint, making it big as a stand-up comic — or any kind of comedian, for that matter — is especially difficult. Comics typically spend years on the road, performing in front of small crowds and in seedy venues, as they work to hone the craft of eliciting laughter from strangers. "It feels like weight lifting; just to get stronger, little by little," Taylor Tomlinson said on Comedy Central's "This Is Stand-Up," adding, "if you take time off from doing that, that muscle just disappears." Along the way, jokes are perfected, bits are carefully crafted, and characters and new personas are developed, some of which are deeply personal. 

So, when one comic is found — or even believed — to be using other performers' material and passing it off as their own, it's considered a sin of the highest order. To working comics, joke-stealing is actual stealing, as their material is essentially their livelihood. The rub there is that parallel thinking exists; shared or similar experiences filtered through similarly creative minds can produce similar social commentary and art. Moreover, proving that a joke or a bit has legitimately been stolen can be difficult. And some of comedy's all-time greats have been accused of the crime. Here are comedians who have been caught stealing jokes.

Arguably one of the most notorious alleged joke stealers, other incredibly well-known comedians have confronted Carlos Mencia for stealing jokes from them in very public and even violent ways. In an interview on "The Howard Stern Show," fellow Latino comic and actor George Lopez accused Mencia of stealing a whopping 13 minutes of his material for use in an HBO comedy special, and the push and pull between the two stars eventually got ugly, with Lopez reporting that they eventually got into a physical altercation over it. Mencia, who some consider one of the shadiest comedians in the business, confirmed that the two fought during a 2023 interview with VladTV, but claimed that he told one of the jokes in question — a bit about parents hitting their children on the head to change the channel because they don't own remote controls — years before Lopez did. Added Mencia, "We live in the same world, we're looking at the same things."

Comedian Joe Rogan also confronted Mencia about his alleged joke-stealing, doing so live onstage as the latter was performing at the Comedy Store in 2007. Rogan also coined the Carlos "Menstealya" moniker that has followed Mencia around to this day, but there have been consequences for his actions. Rogan was effectively banned from the Comedy Store for several years and was also dropped by his agents (who reportedly also represented Mencia) as a result of the incident.

Three-plus decades in, actor-comedian Denis Leary has established himself as a versatile star with the kind of staying power most would-be performers can only dream of. However, it was his "No Cure for Cancer" stand-up routine, which became a comedy album, a television special, and a book, that first launched him into the stratosphere. The act, which lampoons the stereotypical, red-blooded American male of the day and pokes fun at things like being a vegetarian, being politically correct, and refusing to conform to modern standards of health and good behavior, opened doors for Leary in the early 1990s. However, it borrowed heavily from the comedy stylings of the late Bill Hicks, who had been a friend of Leary's as he was coming up in the business. Both men even had a joke about the famous jogger and author Jim Fixx, who died of a heart attack at 52 despite his healthy habits.

The animosity over the alleged theft of Hicks' persona and style reached a point that their friendship ended, and Hicks died of pancreatic cancer before they could mend fences. That hasn't stopped other comics from calling out Leary, though. Although it didn't make air, comedian Lenny Clarke joked that there was a carton of cigarettes backstage for Leary from Hicks, with the attached note reading, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner," during the 2003 "Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary." Louis C.K. has also suggested Leary takes others' material.

Denis Leary isn't the only person who has found themselves in Louis C.K.'s orbit due to accusations of joke theft. Fans of the "Louie" star had a major gripe with comedian Dane Cook, as it was observed by many that three bits on Cook's 2005 album "Retaliation" were eerily similar to segments from Louis' 2001 album "Live in Houston." Specifically, bits about itchy butts, children with strange names, and failing to find one's words in inopportune moments were found on both releases. For his part, Louis C.K. never hit Cook with the full-on onslaught over the alleged stealing, telling Movieline (via Vulture), "I'm not sure he stole [the material]. I don't know that ... I think it's possible he might have seen these bits and absorbed them, and not known that he took them from me. I worry about that myself sometimes."

For his part, Cook vehemently denied having stolen anything, but the situation still made for some weirdness between the two performers. Louis C.K. later mined the matter for a plotline on the second season of "Louie," which saw the two hash things out on-screen. Whether it was simply a matter of parallel thinking, an honest mistake, low-key plagiarism, or something that touches all three, Louis C.K. seems to be alright with Cook now, but fans and pundits continue to recall and discuss the issue. 

While Louis C.K.'s name has come up in deliberations about comics stealing his or other performers' material, he, too, has found himself in the crosshairs over the alleged repurposing of comedy concepts. While hosting "Saturday Night Live" in 2017, Louis C.K., who's also considered shady by some, appeared in a "Birthday Clown" sketch, during which he plays a grown and seemingly depressed adult man who hires a clown (played by Bobby Moynihan) to do a one-on-one performance for his own birthday, after which he reveals that he intends to murder said clown. Meanwhile, comedian Tig Notaro had released a short film, "Clown Service," a couple of years earlier, during which a down-in-the-dumps Notaro employs a similarly confused clown for a solo performance to cheer her up.

"While I don't know how all this actually happened, I did find it extremely disappointing," Notaro said in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. Added Notaro: "I have recently learned that a writer/director who was fully aware of 'Clown Service' when I was making it, actually worked on Louis C.K.'s clown sketch that is in question." Notaro and Louis C.K. were also connected more directly; he was a producer on Notaro's Amazon series "One Mississippi." This one may ultimately fall at the feet of "SNL's" writers, but Louis C.K. caught some shrapnel in the aftermath of the alleged joke theft, and maybe deservedly so.

In many of the cases where a comedian is accused of stealing jokes, those doing the accusing aren't directly involved in the situation or are piling on after the fact. However, in the case of Amy Schumer, there's a group of female comics accusing the "I Feel Pretty" star of allegedly taking from them directly. In 2016, not one, or two, but three comedians took to social media to blast Schumer for taking their jokes and passing them off as her own: namely, Kathleen Madigan, Wendy Liebman, and Tammy Pescatelli. Analyses have been done on the bits in question, with specific lines from Schumer's performances and sketches practically mirroring those comics' own bits. Comparisons have also been drawn between Schumer's material and that of the late Patrice O'Neal.

Madigan, Liebman, and Pescatelli ultimately deleted their tweets and backed off in their criticism of Schumer, despite the striking similarities in some jokes. For her part, Schumer, who some celebs can't stand, has strongly denied knowingly repurposing material from her contemporaries, telling Jim Norton (via Vulture), "I would never ever do that, and I never have ... This stuff makes me upset and angry, and then I just get stronger, and I'll fight back. I am not going to become one of these other comics who's been accused of stealing jokes. This will not be a part of my name." Unfortunately, the reputation stuck more than she had hoped.

Expanding upon a preexisting joke or taking it and repackaging it in your own words or style is one thing; online creator, social media influencer, and author Josh Ostrovsky, also known as "The Fat Jew," literally copied and pasted jokes or got screenshots and pushed them out to his followers without including a word of credit. For his part, comedian and television writer Patrick Walsh was taken aback when a friend showed him a funny Instagram image, only to discover it was one that he himself had created, with some notable omissions. "My name, handle and face had been removed," Walsh told Rolling Stone in 2015. "The date had been removed. It was mind-blowing to me how blatant it was ... It was so obvious."

Walsh was just one of a veritable bonanza of comedians to have their jokes taken and pushed back out into the world this way, as Ostrovsky caught flak from the likes of Norm Macdonald, Kumail Nanjiani, and Patton Oswalt, just to name a few. But that didn't prevent his follower counts and engagement rates from skyrocketing. In his own defense, Ostrovsky told New York Magazine (via Vulture) that he never endeavored to fool anyone into believing the jokes were his original content. "It was never my intention for anyone to think all of this was mine. That's not the nature of the internet. I want people to shine." Ostrovsky has since endeavored to give credit or include screen names in his posts.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and flattery or compliments from a highly influential stand-up star is the highest tier of that for would-be comics, Robin Williams seemingly made a lot of performers very happy during his lifetime. During a 2025 appearance on "Club Shay Shay," Damon Wayans Sr. referred to Williams as a "notorious thief," further alleging that Williams' manager would carry a checkbook with him to pay off comedians who were upset with him for using their bits. "He knew Robin was all stream of consciousness, and he would steal material. He was known; comedians would go, 'I'm not going on because Robin's here.'"

Joe Rogan had a similar take on Williams' frenetic style, saying on "The Joe Rogan Experience" in 2024, "Part of that manic sort of style is like this constant need to have a bit about anything that you're talking about ever. And killing, I think, was more important, and filling that hole inside of him was more important than anything. So, he would just do other people's stuff." Comics who confronted Williams over his perceived joke-stealing over the years include David Brenner, Joey Camen, and Tom Dreesen. For his part, Williams copped to inadvertently soaking up and reusing others' material, telling Marc Maron in 2010 (via Cracked), "In the old days, if you hung out in comedy clubs, which I was doing almost 24/7, you hear things. And then, if you're improvising, you're all of a sudden repeating [jokes] and going, 'Oh, s***.'"

Joke-stealing can be inadvertent, as with Robin Williams reportedly soaking up things he heard in the clubs, then spitting them back out again when he's on stage, desperately trying to keep his audience rolling for the duration of a stream of consciousness rant. There are also times when performers make the same observation about a situation. In Jay Mohr's case, though, the "Saturday Night Live" alum was fully aware when he took an existing bit, transcribed it, and submitted it as his own when he was on the iconic sketch show in the 1990s. Mohr took a sketch from comic Rick Shapiro about an Irish bartender who insults his patrons, wrote it down word for word, pitched it, and the segment ultimately made the broadcast.

Mohr admitted to the joke theft and recounted the entire affair in his book, "Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live." He was later confronted by "SNL's" producers, who showed him a tape of Shapiro's bit, but Mohr refused to admit wrongdoing at the time. Surprisingly, he wasn't fired, despite learning later that Shapiro and his manager were suing the show for what he had done. Wrote Mohr of the incident: "I never saw Rick Shapiro again, but if I did, I would have acted as if I didn't see him. What I did was inexcusable, and no apology in the world could ever make up for it."

Trevor Noah drew raves for his seven-year run on "The Daily Show," and was even named one of the 35 most powerful people in New York media in both 2017 and 2018 by The Hollywood Reporter. Before he ascended to the upper crust of comedy and the media world at large, though, the Johannesburg, South Africa-born performer cut his teeth in the entertainment industry as a stand-up, actor, and host for the better part of a decade in his home country. It was there that his countryman and fellow comic, David Kau, accused Noah of biting his material while the former was performing on a Comedy Central South Africa roast. Those claims resurfaced a few years later when, in 2015, comedian Russell Peters brought them up during an episode of Channel NewsAsia's "Conversation With," calling Noah a "thief."

"He's stolen material from David Kau, he's stolen material from myself," Peters said, as recounted by The Hollywood Reporter. "You know, but whatever. That's his gig now, and congratulations! That's all I can say." Meanwhile, Noah, who has a celeb-packed relationship history, addressed Kau's original accusation during a 2013 interview with Mahala, saying, "For too long in South Africa comedy was such a small thing that people didn't understand the fundamentals: what it is and how it runs. Nobody owns comedy, nobody owns a premise, nobody owns an idea. Comedy is your personal take on a thing."

Make no mistake about it — the Wayans family ascended to the highest ranks of comedy royalty thanks to their creation of "In Living Color" in the early 1990s, their many memorable bits and characters from the show, and their myriad comedic efforts on other television series and feature films like the "Scary Movie" franchise and "White Chicks" afterward. Marlon Wayans has been at the forefront of the clan's rise, particularly in the years after everyone in his family split from the Keenan Ivory Wayans-created sketch show (which didn't last long without them). However, as evidenced by many of the performers on this list, even the best of the best can find themselves in hot water for recycling or reworking other comics' material for their own ends.

For his part, Marlon was accused by comedian-actress Mo'Nique of stealing one of her jokes and using it in "White Chicks." The bit in question is a "yo mama" joke, which culminates in the teller blowing baby powder from their hand (because their mother is so old that her breastmilk is powdered), and Mo'Nique's earlier performance and the bit from "White Chicks" are strikingly similar. Wayans praised Mo'Nique as a performer but denied the joke theft during a 2024 "Club Shay Shay" appearance, claiming that the joke predates them both. Wayans was also accused of lifting a joke about having a white friend around to interact with police during a 2016 appearance on "The Tonight Show." Dave Chappelle had a similar bit on his first HBO comedy special.