SMBC Comics Forum

Kimra wrote:You may think you aren't finding Pratchett the enemy, but each time you have mentioned the situation you have been certain to mention his 'theft' (however inadvertently). Just observing.

Sure, but that's just because that was my original claim ("I think he stole this joke from Woody Allen") and I was defending it against someone who was posting specifically to say I was wrong.

Kimra wrote:However what I was implying, more than to say that your brief search was incorrect, was that perhaps with greater research (not limited to the internet) you might find that Woody Allen is also a thief.

I'm sure that's quite possible, but you're reading something into my post that isn't there if you think I am "for" Woody Allen and "against" Pratchett or something. All I'm doing is defending the original claim that he stole this one joke from Allen, which as I said is really not something I'm condemning him for or even saying he necessarily did it consciously (that's why I linked to the example of George Harrison apparently stealing a melody without realizing he was doing it). I think a lot of comedians do modified versions of jokes they've heard elsewhere, it's not a big deal unless it's done really frequently and without putting their own spin on the jokes.

I think Kimra's point is that it's not really within our power to know whether you are right, or they both came up with the joke independently. Which is possible, it's not really a huge logical leap to come up with something like that.

It is within my power to know when I am right. This is because I am always right, and never wrong like you pathetic mortals are.
In any case, nobody can write anything completely original, so I can't see why there would be any point in discussing it. This is like pulling an individual piece of grass out of a lawn and saying you saw a similar blade in Terry Pratchett's book and he totally copied it from someone else guys, this is serious business.
Good artists create, great artists steal!

Good artists create, great artists are inspired!

An artist who relies on inspiration is slave to a fickle mistress.

An artist that does not suggest adding fries to your order is a sellout.