Recently I did a spot at Low Stakes Comedy in Streatham, which as far as I’m concerned is a dream open mic night. It’s in a nice little room that’s perfect for comedy, it’s well set up, and even though the audience was mostly made up of other acts, they were all engaged and up for it – just what you want for trying out new material.
The name of the night says it all: Low Stakes. It’s a fun place to play, and if your stuff doesn’t work out, no big deal.
A short while after I did my spot, it was the turn of another act who I remember seeing once before, probably a month or so ago, at another open mic where I did the same material. Midway through her set she told the audience she’d had a similar experience to me, and then did an almost identical bit to one that I’d performed both at the first open mic where I saw her, and also earlier in this same show.
I’m not talking about a similar premise with a different punchline – it was literally the same joke with a few minor details changed.
Now, I’m a low level open mic comedy bottom feeder – my jokes aren’t worth a thing, and I’m pretty sure that nobody else in the world gives a shit about this, but I was blown away by the sheer audacity. Even if you charitably assumed that she somehow independently came up with exactly the same joke, within a month of seeing me perform it, to go on stage and do the same bit a previous act did just moments ago is wild.
I don’t know whether she stole the bit – it’s possible this is all just a coincidence, but I think on balance probably not. Maybe she wasn’t really listening to my set when she first saw me, and somehow the bit worked its way into her subconscious. Or maybe she just thought tweaking a couple of small details counts as writing a new joke.
Personally, I’ve been in situations where I’ve completely changed up my set in the final minutes before going on stage, purely because a previous act did a bit that felt a bit too close to something I was planning to do. That matters to me – I know some acts are only doing standup because they want the laughs and the spotlight, and don’t care how it happens, but for me it’s important to know that I’m getting laughs from material that I came up with.
I’d rather be an open-micer with my own material, than have any kind of career built on other people’s ideas.
Either way, I don’t really care too much – if she did steal the bit, I’m more flattered than anything else. It’s a good bit, I know, because I’ve got a video of it getting a big laugh at Up The Creek in 2022. Anyway, here’s a bit of fun from Low Stakes the other night: