Patton Oswalt is hilarious, no really the guy is approaching all-time great status in the stand up comic world. They say imitation is the best form of flattery. Oswalt says that is bulls***. In a case of stolen identity involving a man with no identity at least in any kind of recognizable way the star of Big Fan has found out the hard way (via Youtube) that some dude was ripping off his act.
So who is this unknown instigator? Nick Madson is his name and being someone else’s funny is his game. He hails from Colorado and it looks like Colorado is where he will be staying. Submitted for your review are the the following two videos, first up the OG Patton (for those unfamiliar with Patton’s stand-up there is a heady dose of then there dirty words):
Now lets see Mr. Madson in this clip conveniently edited to highlowlight what a phony he is (being a rip off this of course needs the same profanity notice):
No you just did not watch the same video but not as funny (or actually funnier if you’re aware of what this copycat is doing). Mr. Madson got on Patton’s radar and after some quiet reflection he had a little to say via his Myspace page (Myspace, so he’s the one that still uses that).
about the bits. And he said, in effect, “I write for Patton, and Louie, and Dave. I wrote those bits”.Madson (who lifted the majority of an August 2, 1998 Boston Globe column unchanged from George Carlin’s book Brain Droppings) who truly think that stand-up comedians get their jokes from books, and that any comedy bit is somehow public domain. But then I find out that one of the other comedians on the show confronted Barnicle is a thief is undeniable. Maybe, I thought, he’s a truly struggling actor, and did this show because he needed money, and feels bad about it. Or maybe he’s one of those deluded souls, like columnist and commentator Mike MadsonThat Nick
So f**k him. I mean, I can see stealing from me, who’s still relatively obscure. But who would be stupid enough to steal from Louis CK? You may as well take a classic bit from, say, Bill Cosby. Maybe something off of the album Himself, about training your son to be a football player and then just yell it at the top of your lungs, with no nuance, finesse or humanity. That’d be mucho stupido.
Yeah that’s about how you thought he would react. Things have heated up as Mr. Madson offered up an apology about as creative and original as his stand up act also via Myspace (oh he’s the other guy who still uses Myspace). Here is a portion of that apology which Oswalt immediately destroys:
I want to let you know that I was not trying to build a career for myself by telling jokes that you and others had written. I was trying to put together a little show for my good friend, to possibly try and raise some money for his theatre that he is still in the process of getting off the ground. Without a lot of time to prepare for said show, I decided I would pull some of my favorite bits together from comedians I admire, to create a funny performance that might raise some money for his theatre. I did not want to be taped, and I did not want to become a youtube star, and was not looking for my 5 minutes of fame (however negative). I should have informed the Hilltop Theatre owners that I was going to do a performance made up of jokes and bits from my favorite performers.
And like I said Oswalt has followed up in kind with the facts of the situation via his Myspace blog. He really goes in-depth and I wouldn’t want to paraphrase any of the destruction here. Essentially he dissects the apology into little pieces of stupidity and banality. No mas for Mr. whatshisname, it is all over for his stand-up (ahem) career.
