Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Benefit of Sharing



Today, comedians are willing to gather together as a posse to lynch a joke thief.  But it wasn't always like that.  At one time, comedians willingly shared material and it was through this sharing that routines were able to develop and improve.  We would have lost out on a lot of great comedy if comedians refused to ever borrow material from other comedians.  The following clip is from a golf sketch performed by Sid Field and Jerry Desmonde in 1946.


This became the inspiration for a much funnier and better known golf sketch performed by Jackie Gleason and Art Carney on The Honeymooners ("The Golfer," 1955).  


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