Opinion please - is this a co-ink-a-dink? Or is Stephen Colbert running out of material?

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CapNCrunch sees a correlation here, and I think that:

1. It's Pure coincidence CapN, this kind of thing happens all the time
3
100%
2. The CapN may have a point
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No votes
3. Some other explanation
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No votes
 
Total votes: 3

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CapNCrunch
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Opinion please - is this a co-ink-a-dink? Or is Stephen Colbert running out of material?

Post by CapNCrunch »

So, here's a story for you. Wanted to get a wider sample of opinions, and as I'm not a really active internet gadfly, I don't have another place to do that - since Dharma wheel has this nifty sub-forum for media, allow me to ask :

Here is video my brother in law shot for an ice-cream he was working on. He had a friend in school, who directed a short commercial about the ice cream. I wrote the script and she ran with it - of course had to edit it way down as I tend towards verbal diarrhea.

In any event, this is what they wound up with. It got about 200 views on Youtube, as you can see:

Just yesterday I was minding my own business, jarring some honey, listening to some Stephen Colbert on youtube and just about fell out of my chair when I heard this clip from just the other night:



I was seriously stunned for a moment and thought... No WAY. Noooooooooo. No. No. There's no WAAAAAY....

But I don't' think I'm completely out in the night, because as the writer, someone who labored over this, I see more than a few points of correlation. The main idea, obviously, of something benign riffed on as a drug. But there are other things. I know parallels can be a happy hunting ground when it comes to more complex things like textual criticism, but this is a pretty short succinct idea, so after my shock wore off, I was, like, dude - did they just rip off our work whole-sale!??

I mean, they're much, much, much better, of course. It's the frickin' tonight show and they have a world class team and definitely a much larger budget than we had.

What think ye, a coink-a-dink? Something pulled from the ether by both writers, with mine just happening to pre-date this Say no to Rugs piece by a couple of years? The older I get, the less I believe in coincidence. But that's just me.

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Re: Opinion please - is this a co-ink-a-dink? Or is Stephen Colbert running out of material?

Post by jkarlins »

It is similar, but I think it's a coincidence. They are different enough, and it's a very common joke idea.

I'm sure you could find "addicted to x" on Youtube and bring up many videos.

Comedians do talk about joke stealing, and it has been documented many times, including for late night shows via their writing staff. It does happen, and people get understandably furious about it, especially when the thief is already wealthy and famous.

Jake
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CapNCrunch
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Re: Opinion please - is this a co-ink-a-dink? Or is Stephen Colbert running out of material?

Post by CapNCrunch »

Thanks, sincerely, for taking time time to respond Jake. I'm pretty far from furious, more curious than anything how others perceive it.

I also submit that it's one thing to take a quick perusal and compare the two, something else entirely to work on a project like this for a couple of weeks and internalize it, the nuances of the idea etc. As I said, I see more than just the parallel in the main idea and the overall presentation - but there are specific things that caught my ear and later my eye. As the writer I really feel that there's a fair chance that the writer for Colbert at least saw this video. It circulated widely in a university as it was part of someone's masters work. I'll wait to see what the others who worked on the project think.

But your input is most appreciated. I hope others opine, I'm fine if others see it different, it's not a big deal anyway.
“I say good-bye to hope, but I also say goodbye to hope's disappointment.”

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Re: Opinion please - is this a co-ink-a-dink? Or is Stephen Colbert running out of material?

Post by CapNCrunch »

A sincere thanks to those who weighed in and equally to those who cultivated the quality of wood in response to this vanity project.

To summarize results, a collective yawn, with respondents skewed overwhelmingly to the verdict of coincidence. :woohoo:

I'd have liked to have a larger sample, but given the response & the discussion the other night about the appropriateness of political or non-dharmic centered threads, I can see that according to community norms, this is probably coloring even further outside of the lines than something focused on politics - focus on self.

If so, then yeah, well, that's just like your opinion man.

I guess this is why people use twitter for this sort of thing?!

But I now have serious doubts about the utility of such an endeavor.

In any event, Mods, please close this thread until overwhelming response to the contrary temporarily disrupts the flow of the space-time continuum at Dharma wheel, compelling you in the name of doug to re-open it. :thanks:

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“I say good-bye to hope, but I also say goodbye to hope's disappointment.”

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