Photocoping Pirates!

[Eric]

I think the major difference is if what the copier has done can be classified as a "shared" routine that was learned with the aid of the originator; or a "plagorized" routine that was stolen with no credit, no questions, no nothing.
If you learn a trick from a book, that would be a shared style trick because the author, in writing the book and you buying it, gave you that permission.
There was a recent article in JUGGLE magazine about comedy which talked about germs. Germs are the nucleus of the joke, the frame the rest is built apon. If you can use the same joke, but change it so that the audience can't tell it's the same joke, that's good. If you change it but the audience doesn't laugh because they just heard the same thing from the other guy, that's bad.

<stealing is only stealing when stolen from someone> -Eric

[This message has been edited by Eric (edited 06-09-2001).]

[martin ewen]

You're right about 'ascending' to the moral level then decending back to day to day decisions.
Theres a popular belief that humour can be broken down into preset patterns of conflict and resolution(that there are only 5 or 7 jokes or something) and as such we're all just crowded round the teat using these archetypes bare or with our own spin.
That infers that we are all secondary collaborators being used as vehicles by these ideas (memes) for their own advancement.
It comes down to whether we believe we,re unique enough to actually be adding to the worlds content or else in a lesser way just artfully playing with form to survive.
I've been lucky to meet performers convinced that their shows content is secondary to their attitude and form and so while someone may use their structure and content, no-one can reproduce them and the way they relate or share something with an audience.
Still obviously it irks when a piece of content escapes running off reproducing like a rabbit but the gift of looking at things and coming up with a new angle is what street theatre celebrates.
It also celebrates that you can take age old dynamics and walk through them for cash.

<disembowelment is only disembowelment if you're disemboweled>

[Vantage]

Everything has been done before. I doubt that anyone truly believes that the shows they do are not in some part stolen from another. That said, no matter who it was or what the situation I could never steal a whole show. I doubt many here would either. I am certainly guilty of attempting to add some pieces of other acts to my collection. Some day I may incorporate these into a show. Maybe not. I would say that an individual "trick" is generally ok to use. The transitions between the tricks and the interaction with the crowd, the hardest part to steal anyway, is what makes a performers show their own.

[scot]

I think we're talking about stealing whole acts here. My show was once performed by William Howard Taft and my website is www.deadjugglers.com. If you want relief from this dead-end topic, check out my website. Stare at the text and have a good laugh from reading the pictures.

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scot nery
mailto:scot@juggle.comscot@juggle.com</A>
deadjugglers.com

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[Pokie-Poke]

I like that apple 2ball thing can I use that, I'm working on a joke about having 7 socks in the drier

oh and for the putzes who stole part of my act, thay suck, one stoped doing it, I tryed to teach the other one how to do the bit right it din't work and he still sucks.

[herbie treehead]

The best shows are the ones where the line has been heard,
then reproduced with the words in the wrong order,
without any idea of the understanding of the original line.
Now, that's real comedy.

Love
Herbie treehead
PS: I stole these words from other people

[herbie treehead]

The best shows are the ones where the line has been heard,
then reproduced with the words in the wrong order,
without any idea of the understanding of the original line.
Now, that's real comedy.

Love
Herbie treehead
PS: I stole these words from other people

[theballoonman]

i agree with you herby...

"work like nobody's watching,make love like you dont need the money,and dance like youve never been hurt before...."

mike
stuck on the cul-de-sac
less travelled.