Ripping Shiticks & Bits

[Zebo_the_Clown]

With comedians theres a fine line that determindes if or if not you ripped someone elses material off, this has always perplexed me, I.E. Many Magians saw a woman in half thats not generaly concidered stealing.

Can anyone tell me, to what degree (if any) does this exist in the clowning comunity?

Also what is the differance between a 'shitck' or 'bit'?

[Fitzwilly]

Start with the easy one.

A "bit" is a small gag that is not complete enough to be a skit. It is sometimes called "Shitck" but really "Shitck" is the character you put into your bits, skits, routines and gags. A bit might be enough to get a laugh but it isn't strong enough to really stand on its own. A bit of filler material to round out a performance.

Not the best or the clearest definition.

Comedians deal mostly with verbal humor, and therefore it is easy to see the progression of a joke, it also makes the ancestory fairly clear. With clowns and clowning much of the humor is character specific and non verbal. You and I could do the exact same routine but it would not be the same, especially if we came back a year or two later after tweeking the routine to fit our style. Then if we did the same routine, chances are you would see some good sized differences between the two. Also, many clowns do not write much of their own material, they (we) collect ideas from numerous books, conventions, discussions and competitions. Now, if it was 1965 and you were to go do a birthday party and do a near exact impress of one of Red Skelton's routines we can pretty much agree that would be stealing. Part of it is how unique the material is. Is it something I wrote? Is is something I do not WANT to share? Most of my material I am willing to share as long as the person is not competing with me in my own backyard, and even then I usually share but I also try to offer suggestions on how they can make it their own.

I'm rambling here folks. This is an interesting question, please chime in.

[pixcoco]

Most of us do make an effort to not copy directly from someone else. I have also seen people try to imitate a look of another clown or a skit word for word. It really never works for them. People with no imagination to create their own look or ideas also lack the talent to pull off someone elses idea.

I don't understand how someone can be prode of something they copied directly from someone else. Someone told me one year that the skit I did at COAI (very succesfully) was taken to WCA by someone else 2 weeks later. Apparently the performance fell flat and the buzz was about how they stole my idea. So I would say it didn't work to well for them.

[Wowza]

If you went to a hundred different parades, in a hundred different cities, don't you think that you'd see some repetition of a walk-around gag? Hasn't that bit, then, been stolen? I agree with Fitz and say no. I think it's a matter of sharing.

Now, if you went to two different conventions, and saw the same two skits performed exactly alike (not likely, but go with me) then that would be a case of theft. But, this raises the age old question -- if a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around, did it make a sound? If a clown in a different city steals your skit, how would you know, and would you file a law suit against him for theft of intellectual property? Would the case hold water? I doubt it.

I think that, as clowns, we exaggerate on themes. We may see something that is inherently funny in it's own right, then tweak it to make it a part of our clown and then use it in a show. As Fitz pointed out, though, other clowns may have this same observation and may come to a very similar outcome. Has any theft really occurred?

I saw Pee Wee and Bumper do the "Ringy-Dingy" skit at the TnT Road Show last year. I'd love to do it with my wife. Would I do it exactly the way Pee Wee and Bumper did it? Probably not. Because Bubbles and Wowza are very different clowns from Pee Wee and Bumper. But we may still end up using that skit, or a form of it in the future. And is that skit even intellectually owned by Pee Wee and Bumper?

[Paboberto]

The academic study of jokes is one of the domains of folklorist. The reason for this is because jokes are spread verbally and within groups. Sometimes the group is a family, some times a state and sometimes even a whole language. You know you are really getting into a language or culture when you can understand its jokes.

Physical humor works the same way, but it is not limited by language. Instead, it is limited by people who are willing and able to perform it. (except visual puns, which are only illustrated verbal puns) Thus small simple physical jokes, like pulling your thumb off, peek-a-boo, or pulling your eye lids down while looking up to show only the whites of your eyes, are very wide spread, while more involved jokes like trying to put on your hat only to have it fly off your head, and then making you chase it are rarer, and truly invloved gags, like the boxing gag are performed by proffesionals in a controlled setting i.e. clowns in the circus.

Thus the same basic rules apply to physical gags, and bits as apply to verbal jokes. Origionality is best. Always. Second best, is taking a basic premise of a gag and finding a new angle on it or twisting to you own use. Third is something you know no one you are performing for has seen. There are some gags I could steal from a tv comedy show called "Gag Concert" here and take them back to the states and no one would ever be the wiser. But I am half way around the world and that is a long way to get material. What is not a good idea is taking a gag that you know people have seen and not twisting it. It is not just a matter of copyright. No one will laugh because they know this joke. You can pull your thumb off for kids, and even if they know how it is done (they usually do) they laugh. But try it on adults and they tell you to get off the stage. It is a old joke. It tends to be the same with other bits people associate with clowns, like pie throwing, banana tripping, water filled flowers, and honking red noses. (to make some extreme examples)

Lucky for us though, most people have little experience with purposeful, live, phsyical humor.

I would say that if you do something and everyone knows exactly where it came from, you are in trouble. (for clown conventions where almost everyone knows all the gags or soon learns them, use your most origional gag) If not, run with it, and modify to fit yourself and your character as has been advised by others.

[Zebo_the_Clown]

WOW , thanks you guys.... so informative can we be friends

[Sir Toony Van Dukes]

Zebo,

I attended my first Clown Alley meeting last night. DotCom gave a presentation about storytelling and finding inspiration. He suggested keeping index cards with different ideas and their sources. That way, you know where you got the inspiration.

He showed us a comic strip of two women talking, one was towing a huge coffee cup behind her and the bubble read, I only had one glass of wine last night. Which should make you think if she is towing a 20 gallon cup of coffee, how big was the glass of wine. He said you could use this as inspiration for a clown gag and use a jumbo candy bar or cookie and say you finally got your diet under control and only have one snack a day.

There are classic routines, and as a beginner, I will likely use a few ideas from books or other sources, but I hope to someday get to the point where I can write my own stories and jokes.

[Zebo_the_Clown]

Originally Posted by Sir Toony Van Dukes

.... There are classic routines, and as a beginner, I will likely use a few ideas from books or other sources, but I hope to someday get to the point where I can write my own stories and jokes.

Yes! cool..... thats pretty much my game plan also, while I'm sharping skills, in develpoping bits & such, I don't want to tread in areas that the clown police might arrest me for .
So what I'm hearing is no worry imulating others in time it works toward being your own deal?

Still laughing about that coffee cup LOL