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Previously on Newsbiscuit...(and now on The Onion)

(8 posts) (5 voices)

Started 1 year ago by nealdoran
Latest reply from Quaz

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nealdoran

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Afternoon all.

Now I know it's easy to come up with the same comic idea as someone else -- often with a frighteningly similar take -- with no knowledge of the comparable work. I've done it myself several times and it's annoying and a bit embarrassing when it happens.

But I can't help wonder where the Onion News Network is getting some of its ideas...

Anger-powered cars:

http://www.theonion.com/audio/new-angerpowered-cars-may-revolutionize-the-way-we,26244/#next

Is mighty similar to this:

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2008/03/06/new-car-to-be-powered-by-anger-323/

Extra light on traffic lights here:

http://www.theonion.com/audio/new-colored-light-added-to-traffic-signals,20749/

And here:

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2010/11/25/traffic-lights-to-have-four-colours/

And while we're on the subject, this

http://www.theonion.com/audio/heroic-turtle-dials-most-of-911,20372/#next

isn't a million miles from:

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2011/06/01/pensioner-dies-as-kitten-dials-porn-line-instead-of-999/

And this mythical military beast:

http://www.theonion.com/audio/friendly-dragon-added-to-us-arsenal,20283/

Might share an arms dealer with this fellow:

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2010/11/13/bush-iran-has-mythological-weapons-236/

Not obvious plagiarism, as they're handled quite differently, particularly the last two, but it makes you think, eh? What? Eh?

Posted 1 year ago #
Oxbridge

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They also came up with 'The news before it happens' as a tag line. I told JO'F to sue their ass, but did he listen?

Posted 1 year ago #
nealdoran

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Over the years there's been a few things that are similar to stuff on the other site -- in both directions -- but it's interesting that almost every time it happens with the Onion, it's the audio stuff that has the similar headlines.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it. I'll get back in my box for another six months now.

Posted 1 year ago #
shitsu_tonka

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Think it's probably a case of people independently having similar ideas.

As a crap stand-up I do open mic nights and the amount of gags that overlap from one act to the next is huge. No one's being a thief it's just the way it goes when people - often from a similar graduate, left-leaning, atheist, middle-class background - look for things to be funny about.

Posted 1 year ago #
The All New Jeni B

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It's amazing how such a disparate demographic would think so alike Shitsu.

Posted 1 year ago #
shitsu_tonka

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It just seems to be what most people on the circuit at my level i.e the very bottom are like or pretending to be. Rape gag, Madeline McCann gag, joke about God but then observation that you wouldn't say the same about Allah because you're not suicidal leading into a gag about seventy-two virgins, isn't David Cameron posh? Wasn't George Bush an idiot? Jordan joke, self-service check out joke, what if everything in life was judged like the X-factor which is either about sex or school. Aren't old people shit? And on it goes.

The main variation is that some people pretend to be working class regardless of their actual background if they have even the merest hint of a regional accent because they think that makes them more likeable.

Oh and everyone keeps saying cunt like it's dreadfully shocking. I swear like a sweary thing in real life but on stage I never do because I'm so sick of hearing people use cunt and fuck like punctuation in their act.

Rant over. I feel better now.

Posted 1 year ago #
The All New Jeni B

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Feel better for that?

I know what you mean though. There was a Comedy Night once a month in a nearby pub, and we used to go regularly until we got fed up of each act being little more than a variation on a theme. It even had the 'posh person' doing the apologising for being posh bit.

Posted 1 year ago #
Quaz

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On the first John Finnemore sketch show the other week there was a skit on Winnie the Pooh being a Honey addict and Tigger being nuts that was a similar idea to my FP the other year on Pooh having an eating disorder ( http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2009/01/13/pooh-bear-diagnosed-with-eating-disorder-438/ ), but it was a different enough spin for me to think it was just convergent ideas.

Yes, I'm not a big fan of gratuitous swearing in standup. Billie Connolly gets away with it because it works in his act, maybe the Glasgow shipyard background and the propper use in the flow of the words.

Shitsu, I haven't tried my hand at standup for over 10 years now, and I haven't been to see any for the last few years. But if you look at the way the NB formular works, take a mad idea and run with it, I think you have a good template for material, though told in a different style. Also, stories from people you have met, the more diverse the better, can be the best or a good seed idea. Never be afraid to get chatting to people when you are out and about and listen to what they tell you. When I get on a roll (rarely now) on a night out, it's all about how you tell the story you heard, and you polish it with every telling. I think people relate more to story tellers who relax and talk to them, not comics who talk at them. If you can think on your feet and respond to comments without resorting to set putdowns, even better.

Posted 1 year ago #

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