Episode 904: Joke Theft

By Sarah Gonzalez,

Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, Sarah Gonzalez

Published April 6, 2019 at 12:01 AM CDT

A screenshot of Jen Lewis' original famous image: Kanye kissing Kanye.

In 2015, Jen Lewis posted a photoshopped image to Twitter that would go insanely viral. In it, Kanye West is kissing a mirrored image of himself. The image is so popular it even ends up spray painted on a wall in Australia. Kanye, maybe inspired by the photo, writes a song about how much he loves himself.

But the thing is... Jen's original tweet didn't get much. What made it famous was that the Instagram account, f*ckjerry, reposted it. Without crediting her.

Passing off content without credit is the newest form of a problem that has long troubled the comedy community: Joke theft.

Today on the show, we trace the history of protecting jokes. Comedians and meme creators aren't relying on copyright law; they've created a whole informal system of sanctions to protect their material from thieves.

Music: "Slapped Cheeks," and "I Love Kanye," and "Playin' Games."

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Sarah Gonzalez

Sarah Gonzalez is the multimedia education reporter for WLRN's StateImpact Florida project. She comes from NPR in D.C. where she was a national desk reporter, web and show producer as an NPR Kroc Fellow. The San Diego native has worked as a reporter and producer for KPBS in San Diego and KALW in San Francisco, covering under-reported issues like youth violence, food insecurity and public education. Her work has been awarded an SPJ Sigma Delta Chi and regional Edward R. Murrow awards. She graduated from Mills College in 2009 with a bachelorâ

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Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi is a host and reporter for Planet Money, telling stories that creatively explore and explain the workings of the global economy. He's a sucker for a good supply chain mystery — from toilet paper to foster puppies to specialty pastas. He's drawn to tales of unintended consequences, like the time a well-intentioned chemistry professor unwittingly helped unleash a global market for synthetic drugs, or what happened when the U.S. Patent Office started granting patents on human genes. And he's always on the lookout for economic principles at work in unexpected places, like the tactics comedians use to protect their intellectual property (a.k.a. jokes).

See stories by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

Sarah Gonzalez

Sarah Gonzalez is a host and reporter with Planet Money, NPR's award-winning podcast that finds creative, entertaining ways to make sense of the big, complicated forces that move our economy. She joined the team in April 2018.