SNL writers have been thief hacks for years. Almost everything is stolen. They used to specifically hire writers from Canada and the UK because those writers would memorize the acts of foreign comics and then rewrite the jokes for American audiences. That doesn't work anymore because most big standups have DVDs and HBO specials where all of their material is popular that stealing it gets you caught (Dennis Leary, Dane Cook, Dice Clay, Carlos Mencia, etc.).
That hack Norm MacDonald made his entire career thieving jokes from Canadian comics and taking credit for them when he was on SNL. Eddie Murphy even stole Charles Barnett's job from SNL including co-opting his schtick. They'll just take everything. Being an SNL writer is the easiest job in the world if you can find out how to use Reddit or Disqus.
SNL now is taking other comedians' material. Listening to Stern and O&A and stealing. Listening to podcasts and stealing. And browsing webforums and YouTube comments and stealing. Just like how Sal and Richard browse here and SFN for jokes. Carlos Mencia's entire show on Comedy Central was non-stop joke thieving. He took from Kinison, Carlin, and was stealing from South Park to the point where they made an entire episode about him being a joke thief.
Speaking of South Park. The South Park guys hired some writers a few season ago and those writers did nothing but steal. That show now is non-stop theft of others' work. There was an episode based on Inception that was nothing but 25 minutes of stolen jokes and a stolen premise. The South Park guys
said that they stole the jokes and took the heat for it but really they had outsourced that episode to their writing staff who do nothing but steal.
So yes. SNL is terrible. But everyone steals and most writers are hacks. Kimmel and Leno listen to Stern every day and just take what they want. Leno paid Stuttering John $1.5 million dollars to get some of that Stern magic going. Even the South Park guys have resorted to stealing and ripping off jokes now. George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Patrice O'Neal, and pretty much all other original comedians are dead. We're left with Carlos Mencia, SNL, and the rest of the hacks.
Bookmarks