Blogger seeks $780k over four gags

American chat show host Conan O'Brien is being sued for alleged joke theft.

San Diego blogger Robert Alex Kaseberg has filed a lawsuit claiming the show violated copyright on four gags he posted online.

On January 14 he wrote on his blog: 'A Delta flight this week took off from Cleveland to New York with just two passengers. And they fought over control of the armrest the entire flight."

O'Brien cracked a similar joke on his TBS show that night.

Another involved the Superbowl: 'Tom Brady wants to give his MVP truck to the man who won the game for the Patriots. So enjoy that truck, Pete Carroll.' [Carroll is the coach of the Seattle Seahawks, who the Patriots defeated].

And the other two are: 'The Washington Monument is ten inches shorter than previously thought You know the winter has been cold when a monument suffers from shrinkage'; and 'Three streets named Bruce Jenner might have to change names. And one could go from a Cul-De-Sac to a Cul-De-Sackless'.

A similar joke was cracked on Conan's show on the same day, or the day after, in each instance between January and June this year..

Kaseberg is seeking damages of $780,000 for the four jokes, described as 'literary works' in the papers filed in California federal court. If he wins what he seeks, he would land more than £125,000 per joke.

His lawsuit says he has 'sustained and will continue to sustain substantial, immediate and irreparable injury' for the alleged theft, 'for which there is no adequate remedy at law'

The production company behind the show said: 'We at Conaco firmly believe there is no merit to this lawsuit,' in a statement to US media.

But O'Brien's sidekick Andy Richer was more cynical in his response, suggesting it was easy for more than one person to have come to the same punchlines. He tweeted: 'There's no possible way more than one person could have concurrently had these same species-elevating insights! THESE TAKES ARE TOO HOT!"

Here is the full lawsuit.

Published: 28 Jul 2015