Has anybody watched the video of Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia arguing at the Comedy Store about Mencia stealing material from other comics? [EMAIL=http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070215/ENTERTAIN/70215009/-1/entertain]Here is an article. It is a claim I have heard several times about Mencia, so there may be some truth in it. I never thought he was funny, so he must be stealing some really crappy jokes.
Cripple Fight!
Stolen from another board.
I saw it. Both of them are pathetic. Mencia is an unfunny joke theif. Rogan is a no talent, unfunny (aside from Newsradio) comic with a tragically low level of self-esteem. It was only a year or so ago he was aguing with some kid on my space.
(AGEN138 ‡ Multiprovider Online Games Limited Sensasional Jackpot Everyday).
Here’s Rogan’s blog, which includes the video. He certainly seems to have Mencia dead to rights (and I think it’s pretty funny that the non-Mexican Mencia’s real name is Ned Holness), and while I can see Rogan being a prick IRL, he is standing up for a principle and willing to suffer the consequences: losing his agent (who’s also Mencia’s) and being banned from the Comedy Store. I’ve heard the same things (bit theft) about Robin Williams, Denis Leary, and others, and given the dog-eat-dog world out there, I can understand why more up-&-coming comics aren’t willing to force the issue when it’s against an established “name” who could kill their burgeoning careers. Still, Rogan can be in the right and still come across like an antagonistic jerk.
I can’t stand Carlos Mencia/Ned Holness, whatever his name is. I always thought he was lame and derivative, and now I feel justified in that sentiment. I hope he has to go back to whatever job he had before he trotted out his stolen act.
That said, I have never heard of Joe Rogan before this. He does have some balls for pursuing this despite the consequences.
Damn, how many BAMF folks are posting here on the Dope? Heheheh…
(of course, since it was called that on BAMF, there’s no saying it’s not called the same thing on, say, Digg or Fark or something…)
What’s BAMF? 
well, Dane Cook would call a BAMF a Bad Ass Mother-(fill in what you want :D)
I hate sticking up for Mencia since I am not a fan but the Ned Holness thing is wrong. For one thing I first heard Mencia on the radio long before he was famous (at least on the East Coast). I never heard him claim to be Mexican, he was born in Honduras. His mother is Honduran and his father is German. He was born Ned Mencia not Ned Holness. He later took his father’s name (but not legally). He grew up in East LA. He speaks Spanish. Mitzi Shore told him to change his first name to go with his accent and last name.
Like I said I’m not a fan but wanted to check out Rogan’s claims when he started saying his “fake Mexican” schtick.
The Blog is blocked by the Saudi Authorities. Good solid Tory government.
But the “fake Mexican” thing isn’t really what Rogan’s rant is about, it’s the fact that Mencia has been stealing jokes from other comedians. Seems like the video goes some way to prove those accusations.
Look, I have no love for either of these guys. Rogan is (outside of Fear Factor at least, where I thought he was a decent presenter) an asshole and not funny, Mencia is, well, an asshole and not funny. The issue at stake is really not funny though - Mencia appears to be plagiarising other’s work and making a lot more money than them from it.
As such, how about addressing what’s important and not the tiny side issue that’s apparently easily debunkable?
Huh. Why does it suddenly feel like I’m posting in a political thread? 
I think Joe Rogan’s stuff is pretty funny. While the theatre doesn’t do stand-up (a question I answer multiple times a night) we’re still pretty in the loop on comedian news and such. We were talking about it last night, in fact Robin Williams’ name came up then too.
Stealing jokes happens. It’s just part of the business. I salute Rogan for calling Mencia out on it, had Rogan’s agent not dropped him I would have called it a stunt where they were just trying to get publicity.
Though I find it interesting that the Comedy Store handed Rogan a mic that night and then banned him. I suspect he got banned for filming it.
– IG
Damn. I thought this thread was gonna be one of those “Death is not an option” polls.
Mencia is a one-note hack. So, pretty much, is Rogan. However, Rogan was on Newsradio. Therefore AFAIC he is the de facto winner of any contest between the two, even a hypothetical “Who’s More Mexican?” battle.
It’s not the first time either. He was a celebrity judge on the first season of Last Comic Standing and he called out Ant for a few of his jokes (one about Manhattan being the Island that they threw all the gays on to, and the other about how gay men must have invented boxing cause it involved topless men in silk shorts fighting over a belt and a purse). Rogan didn’t out and out call him a thief, but just told Ant that those jokes were old and had been done by hundreds of other comics. Then Buddy Hackett told Rogan to go f— himself.
I kind of like what he’s doing though. There enough comics who are unoriginal through no fault of their own. We don’t need to add out and out plagiarists to the mix.
If that’s the best Joe can do, color me unconvinced. The video seems to have 3 main points:
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Carlos’s real name is Ned Holness/Mencia, but so what? As far as I know, Carlos has never even tried to hide this (Ned is in the name of his production company). Has Joe never heard of stage names? His real name could be Xavier McGillicuddy; is that supposed to invalidate his life as a hispanic growing up in East L.A.? Joe comes off as some kind of pseudo-racist bringing this up again like those idiots who want to say Barack Obama isn’t really black. I’m looking forward to Joe’s daring expose on the criminal deception of using the name Carrot Top. :rolleyes:
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A number of comics say Carlos steals jokes. Okay, but from what I can tell most comics think most other comics steal jokes (usually their jokes). If it’s such a problem, let’s see the compelling evidence. Which brings us to…
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The supposedly stolen joke: “If the U.S. wants to build a fence along the border to keep out illegal immigrants, who’s going to build it?” Really? That’s the big steal? A joke so obvious, it’s come up in every discussion, online or real-life, I’ve ever had on the subject, and from people I guarantee have never heard of Carlos Mencia or Ari Whatshisfuck. If you can’t come up with that joke, you really shouldn’t be doing stand-up (which may be Joe’s real problem).
Look, Carlos is a good stand-up comic whose act has gotten a lot more attention than it deserves. Joe is a good comedic actor, but not really funny himself. In a perfect world, Carlos probably wouldn’t have gotten as much attention as he has, but Joe repeatedly comes off as a whiny, jealous bitch about it. The only time I hear about Joe these days is when he’s trying to drag Carlos down. Grow up, Joe.
Indeed, didn’t this really happen at one point? I vaguely remember a story floting around (on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me perhaps) that one of the contractors helping to build border security stuff was caught using illegal immigrant labor (albeit on a different project, IIRC). But in anycase, that joke is common as hell.
I’m sure when Mencia told it, it wasn’t funny though.
Joe is simply trying to preserve the last vestiges of virtue in the stand-up comedian outlet
The evidence is far from condemning. Some big fat loud idiot recently had a special on comedy central. I can’t remember his name because he sucked. Anyway, he had a bit on how the taped-off lines at the bank resemble rat mazes, and how we should be offered a piece of cheese at the end. Sound familiar? Seinfeld did that same joke during one of the show’s intros. I wouldn’t call the big fat loud idiot a joke thief though, since it’s a fairly obvious observation that anyone would make. It’s a bad joke.
Is it possible the whole thing was staged? They were sitting right next to each other, calmly facing the audience. I’m not convinced they weren’t both laughing and enjoying a drink together after the camera was off.
It seems pretty damaging to Mencia’s reputation for him to be in on the joke. But I guess you never know with those wild and crazy comedians.
Here’s another YouTube with another pretty compelling example of Mencia stealing material, this time from Bill Cosby.