Transformers the Movie (the cartoon one, not the Michael Bay movie sure to piss people off this summer) reference. Go me.
Anyway, I've just heard about this, though it's about a week old. Joe Rogan, defender of the poor victims of joke thievery throws down at the Comedy Store with Carlos Mencia, who Rogan likes to refer to as Men-steal-ia. For obvious reasons. Mencia is a hack, a joke thief. He's a showman who doesn't have the mind (go figure) to write his own shit. So Rogan makes it known. He calls him Men-steal-ia as he finishes a set. So what does Mencia, who happened to be there, do? Jumps on stage, grabs the mic and tries to smack talk Rogan down. Rogan then proceeds to OWN him. With the crowd clearly on Rogan's side, Mencia says the same shit over and over again, and Rogan makes him look downright silly. Rogan's been documenting this shit for years now, and he's finally got Mencia face to face, in public. Who do you think's gonna win?
But here's the weird thing...somehow, for some reason, it seems like Mencia has the upper hand. According to Rogan, he's been giving a time out of sorts from the Comedy Store. A video of the incident was removed from YouTube, who cited a "copyright claim" from Mencia, which is deliciously rich when you think about it. I guess he's somehow got more clout, though I can't imagine why.
Rogan has a great overall point...in the world of comedy, intellectual property rights aren't guarded as well as other industries. Most of the time it's because of the sheer number of comics vs. the amount of available material. So must comics don't get upset for the little stuff, because what's the point? However, this isn't just little bits, he's almost stealing material verbatim. Check out this video for not only Rogan's verbal beatdown, but for edited illustrations of what Rogan's saying:
http://www.redban.com/blogy/?p=80
Also check out Joe's site, www.joerogan.net.
