Above all else, Amy Schumer has always been controversial. Her style of humor has polarized critics and listeners alike. Despite her relative notoriety, Schumer’s career has been on a tremendous rise in recent years, thanks to the success of her sketch comedy TV show "Inside Amy Schumer," hit summer movie "Trainwreck" and her widely viewed stand-up specials.
It therefore comes as no surprise that the recent allegations of joke theft made against Schumer have exploded into a veritable ruckus. Joke theft is always a huge deal in the comedy community—the dramatic rise and fall of Carlos Mencia is a great example—but reactions to Schumer’s alleged plagiarism have set a new standard for drama and anger in response to stolen material.
The alleged theft of the material in question was brought to light by comedians Kathleen Madigan, Wendy Liebmann, and Tammy Pescatelli, all of whom called out Schumer over Twitter for bits in her comedy and TV show that bore striking similarities to their own work. Soon after, other Twitter and internet users brought attention to jokes by the late Patrice O’Neal and fellow sketch comedian Joseph Tran.
After the material surfaced, internet users were quick to make side-by-side comparisons between the bits in question. The videos, and the similarities run deep. A skit about a frustrated Schumer attempting and failing to have sex with a magician is very similar to an earlier skit by Tran almost joke-for-joke—employing the same visual gag of an inflated condom being tied into a balloon animal, as well as other striking similarities. Schumer also mirrors one joke by O’Neal about a fictional sex position—again, with almost the same wording. Internet users even drew further attention to jokes that were suspiciously similar to ones made previously by John Mulaney, Marc Maron and other comedians.
Despite the seemingly overwhelming evidence of comedic larceny, criticism of Schumer was far from unanimous. In addition to support from her many loyal fans, Schumer gained vocal support from Marc Maron, comedian and host of "WTF with Marc Maron," one of the people from whom she allegedly stole.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Maron commented on the issue: “It’s a horrendous display of humanity but can you even call it that when so much of it is from a nameless, faceless horde of hateful man-children? …the malignant momentum against Schumer has nothing to do with joke stealing or justice and everything to do with hate and attempted of… her pride, humanity, career and sense of self."
Other comedians were ambivalent about the issue. In a recent podcast, Joe Rogan and Hannibal Buress discuss similarities between a Schumer sketch and an earlier one done by CollegeHumor. Rogan avoids directly accusing Schumer, but admits an “originality problem.”
Rogan is quick to clarify, however, that Schumer may not have had any knowledge of the matter.
“There’s so much content out there today," Rogan noted. "To be aware of every premise and every bit is almost impossible."
Schumer was quick to jump to her own defense. In an interview with Jim Norton, she explained that the cause of the similarities was the volume of jokes that she makes, rather than outright theft: “I have to come up with so much material… I am so careful, and none of these things had ever reached me."
Apart from humor, Schumer openly discusses issues that are often only handled delicately in mainstream media, such as her highly active sex life and her body image. Critics from many publications including Time, The New York Times and Variety have lauded her work for its satirical portrayal of stereotypes about women, as well as Schumer’s own reflections on topics such as her sex life and body image.
The evidence, however, almost overwhelmingly points towards Schumer being guilty of joke theft—or, at the very least, of not supervising writers for her show well enough. What to make of this fact is really the more difficult question.
On the one hand, Schumer establishes a positive precedent as a female comedian who is able to be successful by being just as gross as male comedians consistently are, and who inspires honest conversations about topics that many people would be hesitant or uncomfortable to bring up. Her show presents positive messages to both women and men, and has received wide praise for addressing women’s issues in a way that male comedians consistently fail to do. Given these important contributions, it would be a shame if her plagiarism led to the complete collapse of her career and the re-evaluation of her previous (original) work.
There are many reasons, however, why it would be unfair to let the issue slide. Is it really okay to let her off the hook because she has a positive momentum in her career and as a result has to produce “so much material?" In the case of some of the less well-known sources of “inspiration” behind her plagiarized material, this would be a classic case of the big guy bullying the little guy, and not having to face consequences as a result. Furthermore, the issue at hand is integrity, not feminism, and the positive contributions that Schumer has made to dialogue on feminism are not an excuse to turn a blind eye.
In the end, however, Schumer is the one who will suffer if she continues to allow the theft of material to happen. Apart from being funny, originality is the most important part of comedy. All the greatest comedians in the history of stand-up have rocked the boat in one way or another, from the extreme case of George Carlin being dragged to the Supreme Court over profanity in his act to Mitch Hedberg’s awkward, monotonic delivery. Amy Schumer’s career is on a meteoric rise, and this controversy comes at a crucial moment as she breaks out onto the national stage. If Amy Schumer wants to capitalize on her potential to be one of the best comedians of our era, then she will need to make sure that the impact that she makes is due to her work alone, not that of other creators.
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