Most likely you've never heard of Nick Madson. He's a stand-up comic trying to make a name for himself, playing small clubs in Iowa. And after today, you most likely still won't have heard of Nick Madson. For he will forever be known as "the hack that lifted Patton Oswalt's jokes WORD FOR WORD."
It's one thing for comics to cover similar topics. Creative minds looking for jokes are bound to stumble on similar bits. But it seems that Madson literally stumbled on Oswalt's "KFC Famous Bowls" routine (among others) and decided to just take it for himself. What's even more shocking is that he thought he could get away with it in this day of YouTube and everyone knowing everything about everyone -- yes, even comics playing (judging the by the lack of laughs) empty clubs in Iowa.
Anyway, Oswalt wasn't too thrilled with this revelation (and rightfully so) and took to his blog:
That Nick Madson is a thief is undeniable. Maybe, I thought, he's a truly struggling actor, and did this show because he needed money, and feels bad about it. Or maybe he's one of those deluded souls, like columnist and commentator Mike Barnicle (who lifted the majority of an August 2, 1998 Boston Globe column unchanged from George Carlin's book Brain Droppings) who truly think that stand-up comedians get their jokes from books, and that any comedy bit is somehow public domain. But then I find out that one of the other comedians on the show confronted Madson about the bits. And he said, in effect, "I write for Patton, and Louie, and Dave. I wrote those bits".
So fuck him. I mean, I can see stealing from me, who's still relatively obscure. But who would be stupid enough to steal from Louis CK? You may as well take a classic bit from, say, Bill Cosby. Maybe something off of the album Himself, about training your son to be a football player. And then just yell it at the top of your lungs, with no nuance, finesse or humanity. That'd be mucho stupido.
(via The Comic's Comic)
WATCH:
OSWALT'S ORIGINAL BIT: