I know they get some jokes from guys not on their staff. The reason I ask is that Tues night both Conan and Letterman told this joke:
Charles Manson has applied for a license to marry his 26-year-old girlfriend, who calls herself “Star.” There you go, folks, another eHarmony success story.
I suppose it’s possible that 2 different guys wrote this joke.
There have been gazillions of times when virtually identical jokes about the issue of the day appear in different late-night monologues. Humor writers think along predictable lines. I’ve read complaints that Weekend Update steals jokes. The woman who writes as leftcoastsportsbabe used to accuse Leno’s writers of stealing her jokes, but every one I read was exactly the joke I’d expect to hear from topical jokesters.
For most of these, the timing itself is suspect. All the shows tape around the same time, hours before they are aired. They all have dozens of writers and they all protect their image. They might occasionally use freelancers, but that would be rare. And any one who sold the same joke to two places would never work again.
I’m calling coincidence.
I think you’ll find that the eHarmony joke has been used many times by many hosts and comics in response to a story of a mismatched couple.
Two guys wrote the joke separately, but they come from the same mentality of late-night joke writing.
This kind of joke telling is what ruined Jay Leno for me. He was this hilarious and fun guy who had very funny routines. He ended up giving pathetic jokes night after night. Chuckle-jokes at most.
Most jokes are obvious. When you’re making jokes about current events, the occasional overlap is inevitable.
True. The trick is for them to have a good strong but witty kick that not everyone else is going to use, so they’ll stand out when stolen.
It’s the blue reactive dye in the Comedian pool.
Some comedian - I think it was George Carlin but I might be mistaken - at the beginning of a routine said something to the effect of “my job is to point out things you already knew about but didn’t notice were funny.”
Just look at all the obvious jokes that came out of AC/DC’s drummer’s arrest.
It is hard to explain how good Leno was to those who are too young to know. When he was going to do one of his frequent Letterman guest spots I would make sure I stayed up and watched. He was a beast. Easily one of the top 5 best at the time. And the time included Pryor and Carlin. But then he went to do the Tonight Show. A new ten minutes a night is grueling. And he went to bland palatable material. And he relied on a room of writers. He continued to do his standup act on the side but I never saw him.
Don’t forget the same thing can be said for Letterman. He was a top stand-up himself, at the same time as Leno. That’s how they got to be friends. But his opening monologs today are the laziest of any of the late-night hosts. Instead of being the quirky mind that got him on television, he pounds home the same tired set of old jokes that’s like a golden oldies set from a two-hit 60s band.
Don’t get me started on the sainted Carson, who bombed so often that he worked the bad reactions into the monologs until his quips about failed jokes themselves became rote and stale.
It takes a comedian a year to work out a new show with 50 minutes of material. That’s a week of late-night monologs. The only surprise is how often the jokes really turn out funny.
When did Letterman do standup comedy? I don’t think he did much of it at all. He’s always been a TV host.
Leno is back on the road now doing standup, I saw him in the summer and he was very good.
Here is part of a longer clip showing him doing a bit at The Comedy Store (no date?). Here he is on Carson in 1979.
Back when it was Johnny and Dave, the staffs kept in touch to make sure they didn’t duplicate jokes and the like. Johnny continued to send Dave jokes after he retired (and Dave was on CBS!). Leno was such an immense jerk that any attempt to reduce overlap was a non-starter.
Wednesday, Dave (with Regis) made on phone call to a guy who worked for Carson, Letterman and now Ferguson. Several such people are around and could be used as conduits for keeping things simple, but I don’t think that’s happening.
Fortunately, with YouTube, you don’t have to explain it.
I also think he was closer to his old self on Fallon. There were still a lot of Late Night Jokes[sup]TM[/sup] in there, but they had a lot more edge.
Amazing how Letterman fans are still ticked at Leno after 22 years. I guess they can cry in their beer with Conan fans.
Meanwhile both Letterman and Conan are making millions per year.