Comedy Central's Colbert stands accused

A comedian says he is launching a $65million lawsuit against a rival who stole his joke.

Cenk Uygur, who hosts a TV show on Air America, claims Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert took his gag comparing Republican Presidential candidates to Star Trek Klingons.

The publicity-seeking Uygur claims Colbert, pictured, has stolen his jokes on many occasions, but says this joke was ‘directly pilfered’ by Colbert four days after he made it.

He says he chose the $65million figure because it’s the same amount a Washington judge is seeking from a dry cleaners who lost a pair of his trousers.

He said: ‘As OJ would say, “Think you can steal my shit? Up against the wall motherfucker.”

‘If a pair of lost pants is worth $65 million, then my jokes are worth a hell of a lot more. How do you value the gift of laughter? I think the Mastercard commercials nailed it. Priceless. Except this time it has a price and it’s $65 million.”

‘He’s messing with my livelihood. That’s how I put food on my kids’ table. If I had kids, that’s definitely where I would put the food. Plus, my girlfriend won’t have sex with me anymore because she says I’ve lost my sense of humour. I told her I didn’t lose it, it was stolen.’

Colbert’s spokesman said the comedian had no immediate comment but was likely address the allegations on his show, the Colbert Report.

This is what all the fuss is about:

Published: 20 Sep 2007