Australia's Got Talent comic ripped off Lee Mack

A would-be comedian has been outed for stealing Lee Mack’s jokes when he appeared on Australia's Got Talent.

Jordan Paris, 22, impressed the judges of this week’s show enough to be put through to the live semi-finals.

But one routine was a near word-for-word plagiarism of Mack’s jokes about going to see Robbie Williams.

When confronted by journalists, Paris admitted he knew Lee Mack but refused to admit he’d done anything wrong. ‘A joke's a joke and if it's making people laugh then I'm happy,’ he told the Gold Coast Bulletin

Mack took the plagiarism in good spirits, saying: 'This Australian comedy genius is being unfairly treated. It's clearly his own material and not plagiarised from me, because I say "150 quid" whereas he says "150 dollars".'

On the show, Paris told judges Dannii Minogue, Kyle Sandilands and Brian McFadden that he had been performing stand-up for three years,

One viewer on YouTube also claimed the first part of Paris’s act was stolen from an American comedian called Geoff Keith.

Here is Paris’s routine:

And here is Mack’s:

Published: 26 May 2011