Menstealia busted out again

[Kyyle23]

A little background, Joe Rogan confronts Mencia onstage....

 

 

 

Shameful. This guy is railroading himself right out of showbusiness. Nowadays you just cant do that, the media will catch it and someone will remember seeing that joke somewhere.

[Flash Tizzle]

BEANERS!!!! Bmags should be laughing hysterically about now.

 

This Cosby incident is a much more damaging account of plagiarism than previous allegations. Perhaps someone could have realistically argued the wall comment within the Rogan video was coincidence. His whole routine is about BEANERS and it's not out of the realm of possibility. You would stilll have to ignore the fact he performed on the same event as the Jewish comedian who originally mentioned the joke.

 

This recent Mencia routine, from the beginning until the end, was framed exactly the same. Starts off about teaching a child how to play football, goes through all the achievements, then ends with a punchline of the player waving to his mother in the endzone.

 

His career should end, and every remnant of his existence on Comedy Central should be burned.

[Kyyle23]

Im surprised Comedy Central hasnt taken action yet. This cannot put them in a good light to be promoting obvious act thievery. Then again, maybe they should have done some research before throwing him on the Chappelle show format and saying "Ready-set-go!"

[Flash Tizzle]

Im surprised Comedy Central hasnt taken action yet. This cannot put them in a good light to be promoting obvious act thievery. Then again, maybe they should have done some research before throwing him on the Chappelle show format and saying "Ready-set-go!"

After Chappelle left Comedy Central it was as if they were desperate for racial comedy. Unfortunately for everyone, it was the DER DEE DER guy.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

BEANERS!!!! Bmags should be laughing hysterically about now.

 

This Cosby incident is a much more damaging account of plagiarism than previous allegations. Perhaps someone could have realistically argued the wall comment within the Rogan video was coincidence. His whole routine is about BEANERS and it's not out of the realm of possibility. You would stilll have to ignore the fact he performed on the same event as the Jewish comedian who originally mentioned the joke.

 

This recent Mencia routine, from the beginning until the end, was framed exactly the same. Starts off about teaching a child how to play football, goes through all the achievements, then ends with a punchline of the player waving to his mother in the endzone.

 

His career should end, and every remnant of his existence on Comedy Central should be burned.

 

A german named ned (yeah, I know he's part Hispanic) just should not be making Hispanic and other racist jokes, much less horribly unfunny ones and saying "beaner" so much. He's like a one-man campaign to make that word into the new n word, and I'd like to punch him in the face each time he utters it.

[RockRaines]

Of all of the comedy routines to steal a joke from, why must you make it probably the best stand up performance of all time by a comedy legend? Seriously, go down to the laugh hole and steal from some car repairman who is just trying out his dinner time material. Idiot!

[NorthSideSox72]

Mencia is the equivalent of a shock jock anyway. He's like Dice Clay, only less funny. Just likes to spew shocking things. Any moron can do that. I don't think with world will be heartbroken if he fades out of the spotlight.

[Kyyle23]

Mencia is the equivalent of a shock jock anyway. He's like Dice Clay, only less funny. Just likes to spew shocking things. Any moron can do that. I don't think with world will be heartbroken if he fades out of the spotlight.

 

The problem is that HBO is giving him One Night Stand specials and Comedy Central gave him his own show, so we have to hope that his newfound fame due to plagiarism gets him booted.

 

Im just bothered by this because this newfound fame due to plagiarism is drawing viewership.

[jackie hayes]

Of all of the comedy routines to steal a joke from, why must you make it probably the best stand up performance of all time by a comedy legend? Seriously, go down to the laugh hole and steal from some car repairman who is just trying out his dinner time material. Idiot!

That's what amazes me. I must have seen that video dozens of times. It was a huge hit. Why would you even think of ripping off Bill Cosby Himself? Idiot.

[The Critic]

There was also a clip on YouTube showing an old Sam Kinison bit about Jesus and the crucifixion and then a Mencia bit roughly about the same thing, but it didn't seem as blatant a ripoff as the Cosby thing. Mencia's bit, as always, wasn't funny.

I can't wait for Mencia's 15 minutes to run out - the amazing thing about him is his ability to suck the funny out of the stolen bits. The thing that made Cosby's "Hi Mom" bit funny was the sadness behind it at the end - Mencia, as usual, just freaks out and screams, which kills the bit in my opinion. But that's his schtick, The Screaming Beaner.

Ugh.

[Kyyle23]

http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2007/03/...s_mensteal.html

 

So... where does this leave us, in the midst of the whole ecstasy of influence stuff that we've been examining here on the blog?

 

Simple: Mencia was stealing other people's work and claiming it as his own. It's a clear-cut case of plagarism that he should be appropriately reprimanded for. Let me explain why I don't think this falls into some of the greyer depths we've been talking about on the blog.

 

Here's why it could appear not that clean cut:

First of all, it's important to understand the legal issues here. It will be very hard (almost impossible) for Rogan and other comedians whom Mencia has taken routines to get anything out of this. Stand up comedy is not exactly that well documented an art form. People don't often write down their jokes, and said jokes are never published (except on teleivision). Also, with observational humor (especially observational humor based on racial stereotypes, which is the kind of humor Mencia specializes in) it is entirely possible that someone could have thought up much of Mencia's material sui generis. Let me be clear, I don't think Mencia came up with these routines, but he could continue to try to argue-- half-convincingly to some I would guess-- that he did.

 

The other thing to look at is whether or not Mencia knew he was taking other people's material. Perhaps, perhaps not. Someone opens for you on tour, a few months later you write down a joke, you (perhaps conveniently) forget where it came from... who knows? This is another reason why Rogan et al. are coming forward-- they know they probably can't prove anything, but they can cause a lot of trouble for (and hopeful hurt the career of) someone they view as having betrayed some kind of comedians' code.

 

So why, given all of this, do I think Menstealia is in the wrong? For two reasons, that affect most clear-cut cases of plagarism:

 

(1): No Value Added. Simply put (in terms of aesthetics) did you take something, combine it with some other things, and thus create something better/significantly different (like Shakespeare with As You Like It? or Dylan with several poets worth of lyrics) or did you just take something and put your name on it? Mencia clearly did the latter for the goal of personal gain.

 

(2): Dishonesty. Mencia is not openly placing himself in a rich vaudevillian tradition of theft. He is not claiming to be a great performer of other people's material. He is simply taking other people's jokes and promoting his own originality and creative ability as a writer. The consistent complaint that has come out of the comics accosting Mencia is that he's a first rate performer who, instead of hiring writers to write him some great jokes, is trying to pretend to be a great writer as well.

 

There are clear cut examples of plagarism (Mencia, that Harvard student, that dude who put like 95 pages of a Martin Amis novel in his own novel) just like there are clear cut cases of originality. What I'm more interested in is examining the murky depths in between, the very same murky depths that commodified understandings of the artist-audience relationship seek to eliminate.

 

(of course there's some small chance that this is all a comedian stunt. which would be kind of brilliant if you think about it. it's just kind of almost unbeleivable that someone would make as many blunders on this as Mencia has...)

 

Very interesting take on this situation.

 

And an ironic comment posted at the end:

 

Comments

That Mencia/Rogan video was like watching a train wreck.

 

I think that there are certain jokes that a harder to steal than others, as you hint at. Jokes that are intricately linked to an on-stage persona (think Steve Martin or Steven Wright) are difficult to steal piecemeal because the jokes crucially depend on the act as a whole. I think that's part of what makes performers like them so important -- they redefined the way a joke could be told. Similarly, some of the best material out of Bill Cosby is impossible to steal because he was doing storytelling and the jokes depended on the context of the story.

Edited March 25, 2007 by kyyle23

[DrunkBomber]

I was never a fan of his show but I know a lot of people were but you really cant deny that hes stealing his material. I would venture to say theres other stuff hes has stolen which simply hasnt been figured out yet. He will fade out of the spotlight in due time.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

But that's his schtick, The Screaming Beaner.

Ugh.

 

I know he's trying to make it the new n word, but is it really acceptable to say? I still see it as a racial slur. Mexican-Americans and immigrants I know or have encountered never, ever call each other that.

[CubKilla]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks Mencia isn't funny in the least.

 

After Mencia is dealt with, I hope someone goes after Dane Cook. His HBO show gives me douche chills everytime I flip over it.

 

In both their cases, thank God for remotes.

[The Critic]

I know he's trying to make it the new n word, but is it really acceptable to say? I still see it as a racial slur. Mexican-Americans and immigrants I know or have encountered never, ever call each other that.

I would never use the word in a discussion not involving him.

I only used it because it's so prevalent in his routine.

 

I certainly didn't mean to offend you or anyone else, and I'm sorry that I did.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks Mencia isn't funny in the least.

 

After Mencia is dealt with, I hope someone goes after Dane Cook. His HBO show gives me douche chills everytime I flip over it.

 

In both their cases, thank God for remotes.

 

I found cook funny maybe about 6 years ago, with the "Christ-chex" routine and what-not, but he's been garbage since.

 

 

 

I would never use the word in a discussion not involving him.

I only used it because it's so prevalent in his routine.

 

I certainly didn't mean to offend you or anyone else, and I'm sorry that I did.

 

Not really offended, although I do appreciate a sincere apology. I was just trying to point out that this idiot is making a living off of a racial slur that doesn't even apply to him fully anyways. Not only does he rip off jokes and kills them, but he's also claiming to be something he isn't as a way of verifying his use of racial slurs. Kinda like rappers claiming made-up street cred, but worse. It annoys and pisses me off more than it offends me.

[shoota]

I know he's trying to make it the new n word, but is it really acceptable to say? I still see it as a racial slur. Mexican-Americans and immigrants I know or have encountered never, ever call each other that.

 

All the mexicans who work in the kitchen of my building call each other "beaners." It's a term of endearment.

Edited March 25, 2007 by shoota

[SleepyWhiteSox]

All the mexicans who work in the kitchen of my building call each other "beaners." It's a term of endearment.

 

Maybe at times in some places, but nowhere near how African-Americans use the n word, as he's basically trying to turn it into. Much more rare to hear it used that way from what I've seen and heard.

 

And that curse word-type term of endearment Mexicans most commonly use is probably "guey."

[GoodAsGould]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks Mencia isn't funny in the least.

 

After Mencia is dealt with, I hope someone goes after Dane Cook. His HBO show gives me douche chills everytime I flip over it.

 

In both their cases, thank God for remotes.

 

You might not like Cook and he might not have much for new material, but atleast he doesnt steal anything that I know of.

[Flash Tizzle]

You might not like Cook and he might not have much for new material, but atleast he doesnt steal anything that I know of.

That's funny, because he has been accused of stealing material from Louis CK in the past.

 

Search in youtube for several examples. I know there was one that was pretty damning involving someone about to be hit by an automobile, and not knowing how to warn them.

[3E8]

Cook also stole material from one of those stand-up clips Jerry used to show at the opening of Seinfeld.

[Flash Tizzle]

Here's the clip I was talking about:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh_xfJZxvto

 

Three examples.

[mr_genius]

it's a tough call

 

worse comedian: Dane Cook, or Menstealia?

[greasywheels121]

Mencia, by far. They may both steal stuff, but at least when Cook does it, it's funny.

[Flash Tizzle]

Mencia, by far. They may both steal stuff, but at least when Cook does it, it's funny.

I agree.

 

Cook also covers material other than his ethnicity for an entire show. And actually carries stage presence.