Not funny when a comic steals another’s joke
Stand-up comedian Rahul Subramanian has now accepted that fellow comic Gaurav Gera making a video with his joke was an honest mistake, but the row reignited the issue of plagiarism.
Gera, known for making the Shopkeeper-and-Chutki series of videos, uploaded a video joke on Instagram, but was confronted by Subramanian, who claimed that it was his joke, and not credited to him. Subramanian created a video spoofing Gera’s series, and made his allegation.
Gera replies, “A friend had told me this joke. I’ve made around 1,200 videos and have no qualms about attributing a joke to the right source. Had I known it was Rahul’s, I would’ve tagged him.”
Comedian Rohan Joshi feels that while mistakes are a different matter, comics earn their living through their content, so anyone who steals a joke should be called out.
“Comedy is our creative currency, like music is for musicians,” says Joshi. “We put in a certain amount of effort to create these jokes... People have this attitude that content can be recycled.”
Comedian Daniel Fernandes points out that while someone quoting a joke is not the same as someone stealing a joke, “there are content creators out there taking other people’s work, passing it off as their own and earning money from it”. Fernandes strongly feels that this is “morally wrong, and if someone does it, that person should be called out”.
Actor-comedian Ali Asgar, who plays naani on The Kapil Sharma Show, has a different take. “My understanding,” he says, “is that a lot of things get recycled in today’s day and age. It’s about how you present it differently. Everyone doesn’t have similar timing.”
The East India Comedy member Sorabh Pant says, “A lot of people are joke thieves. The rule book is a little vague, but any performer who steals another’s jokes, eventually has no one to pair up with.”
I’ve made around 1,200 videos and have no qualms about attributing a joke to the source. Had I known it was Rahul’s joke, I would’ve tagged him [in the video] GAURAV GERA, COMEDIAN My understanding is that a lot of things get recycled in today’s day and age. It’s about how you present it differently. Everyone doesn’t have similar timing ALI ASGAR, COMEDIAN