Possibly this is for CS, but I’ll start in GQ 'cos it should have a simple answer…
A friend seems to have noticed this catchphrase all over the blogosphere, sometimes with the second phrase tacked on:
“See what I did there? [Comedy genius!]”
Usually, it’s used in a wry, self-deprecating way to refer to one’s own flat puns or jokes, she says.
She wants to know if there’s a definitive origin for it? Possibly a stand up comic or a Brit-com? Can anyone enlighten us?
I first heard it some 4–5 years ago, used by popular BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles in exactly the context your friend describes. It may not be original to him, but it fits perfectly with his on-air persona as “The Saviour of Radio 1”.
I don’t recall hearing “Comedy genius” (though I haven’t listened to his show in some time), but that sounds like him (or his style) too.
I’m almost sure I saw something like this on an episode (or more!) of Family Guy, spoken by Stewie. I have no idea when that (those?) episode(s) occurred, so that might not help you!
I’m pretty sure it’s from Friends. I think Friends contributed quite a few sayings to pop culture.
I first heard the phrase in the movie “Mr. Saturday Night,” about a washed-up comedian.
Close, but in that movie Billy Crystal was mimicking several of the old Vaudeville comedians that were still working when he was a kid. George Burns used it in his movie * Going in Style (1979) *, but it was most famous with Milton Berle.