On the earth of stand-up comedy, joke theft is not any laughing matter.
When a comic book delivers a punchline or pulls a joke, it might finish friendships, immediate bodily threats, and even drive authorized motion.
So that you’d anticipate comedians to be very cautious when crafting their materials, lest they be accused of plagiarism.
Nonetheless, accidents can occur, as Ricky Gervais has realized in latest weeks.
The 64-year-old co-creator of The Workplace and award-winning stand-up was accused by some folks on-line of stealing a joke from comic Andy Subject.
Particularly, the joke concerned an notorious line from The Exorcist about one of many characters’ moms and what sucked them into Hell.
The purpose is that no matter she has to suck would not actually sound like torture when you think about how a lot ache the Satan and his legions can inflict on somebody (it is funnier when Andy or Ricky narrates it).
This prompted Andy to make a video for Instagram asking the query, “Did Ricky Gervais steal a chunk of my stand-up?”
The video, which has been considered greater than 95,000 instances, contrasts Andy’s tackle the prank (which aired on the BBC in 2020) with Ricky’s bit from his 2025 Netflix particular, Mortality.
The jokes in query
Andy’s joke:
‘Has anybody seen The Exorcist? “Your mom sucks c*cks in hell!”
“And it is best to say, ‘Oh no, that sounds horrible!’ However I do not know, I feel that sounds good. It is hell, is not it? It is the place the worst attainable issues occur [happen]There are one million folks burning ceaselessly in a lake of fireplace, always seething in ache.
“My mother is down there sucking dick, good job, Lindsey. Whose dick is getting sucked in hell anyway?
“That looks as if a unusually constructive occasion.”
Ricky’s joke: (edited for size)
“My favourite horror film of all time remains to be the unique Exorcist, proper?
“There’s one thing in there that is meant to be actually poignant, and I laughed after I first noticed it as a result of it was the concept of the Satan being so impolite and infantile.
‘You recognize the drill. So the little woman is possessed by the satan, they usually do an exorcism, they usually throw holy water on her, and she or he hisses… and he makes her say, “Your mom sucks in hell!” Proper.
‘If scientists really discovered the Satan… I might like to satisfy him.
“And I met the satan, and he tried to harm my emotions… and he stated, ‘Your mom sucks in hell.’ I stated, ‘Pfffft, I do not care.’
One: she’s useless. Second, she was heterosexual. Third, she by no means sank her enamel into it in the direction of the tip, so….
‘However it’s hell! Consider all of the horrible issues that might occur to him: being raped by red-hot pokers whereas rats eat her eyes. My mother will get c*ck obligation, maintain going woman…
‘Who will get their c*ck sucked in hell? I wish to know that, as a result of we’re there as a punishment, and that may be a small deal with.’
After the video’s publication, Metro reached out to Andy to speak to him in regards to the alleged plagiarism and what he has to say could shock you.
“There have been bits that have been fairly shut collectively, however they’re two separate bits of stand-up,” Andy defined. ‘I by no means thought that [Ricky] stole it.
“I feel for those who begin to unravel the logic of one thing, stand-up comedians will finally observe the same path.”
Andy went on to clarify that many comedians have related frames of reference from which they draw concepts, and that may result in parallel considering.
“I feel it is extra frequent than folks suppose, it is much more frequent than joke theft,” Andy stated. ‘From time to time, [people] have the identical thought.
“So the concept of issues like the road from The Exorcist about ‘your mom sucks c*cks in Hell’ is kind of fertile territory for comedy as a result of it is a line that everybody acknowledges.
‘There’s beneficial logic there you could play with. It’s kind of tense and crude, however on the identical time it is acceptable. I used to be stunned that nobody else had considered it after I considered it, and I used to be additionally stunned that nobody else had considered it earlier than Ricky.”
Apparently sufficient, Andy first heard in regards to the alleged prankjacking in 2025, whereas Ricky was engaged on the present that will grow to be Mortality, and he was extra curious than something.
“Somebody messaged me a yr in the past and stated he was at a Ricky Gervais work-in-progress present, and he did one thing similar to mine,” he defined. “However you already know, you get bizarre messages on a regular basis.
“There was an internet site, a comedy evaluate web site known as Chortle, that did a evaluate of this present, they usually checked me on it, and that was the primary time I assumed, ‘Oh effectively, it have to be good, fairly shut.’
‘I used to be particularly interested in which paths he took, which of them he missed, and what their use was throughout the present.
“So it is really fairly attention-grabbing. It wasn’t that surprising. I wasn’t notably shocked. It was sort of what I assumed it might be.”
So if he did not suppose Ricky stole his share, why would he submit the video? Properly, Andy hoped to show to those who there are considerably extra proficient folks on the planet than there may be room for well-known comedians.
‘I assumed this is able to be an excellent alternative to encourage folks to go to comedy golf equipment and uncover comedians they’ve by no means heard of. As a result of, as somebody who has been doing stand-up for nearly sixteen years since 2010, the quantity of sensible stand-up being carried out on a regular basis throughout the nation is staggering.”
It additionally would not damage that the video had the potential to go viral, with Andy admitting to me, “something that will get folks on the web, will get me in entrance of individuals, is useful, as a result of I need to have the ability to tour larger and extra stunning places.”
What would Andy say to Ricky in the event that they ever met? Properly, he is keen to select his comedic mind, and he thinks they’re going to get alongside nice. They in all probability would; they clearly have the identical humorousness.
Metro has contacted Ricky Gervais for remark.
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