Is this the UK's most prolific joke thief? | The Tory who's ten times worse than Keith Chegwin

Is this the UK's most prolific joke thief?

The Tory who's ten times worse than Keith Chegwin

The former leader of young Conservatives in Wales is selling comedians’ jokes without their knowledge.

Grant Tucker has compiled a book of 5,000 Great One-Liners, which is just about to go into its second edition. But none of the writers of the jokes is even credited in the ‘definitive volume’ of snappy gags.

Among the f jokes easily identifiable with comedians are Tim Vine’s ‘Velcro? What a ripoff!’ and ‘Exit signs. They’re on the way out’, Steven Wright’s ‘I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time’ or Chris Addison’s: ‘It's easy to distract fat people. Piece of cake.’ 

Others have been cut-and-pasted from Twitter, such as ‘FUN FACT: The Mamas & Papas song Monday Monday was inspired by the Beatles song Eight Days A Week’ from @sixthformpoet; while others are from old-school comics such as Max Wall’s ‘At the age of six I lost both my parents – what a card game’ or Groucho Marx’s ‘Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.’

The book was first published in 2012, selling out its initial print run of 5,000 in just two months. Now a new edition is due out on March 10, priced £9.99.

Tucker has also compiled More One Liners Jokes And Gags and The Margaret Thatcher Book Of Quotations, in which he declared himself ‘the staunchest of Thatcherites'.

Chortle asked publisher Biteback if they or the author had any comment about the non-attribution of the gags, but have not replied. However in the introduction to the book, Tucker says: ‘I’m sure many of these jokes were told long before I was born, in the corners of pubs up and down the country, so I cannot take credit for them all.’

He also credited a ‘hive-mind’ rather than individual writers for some of the jokes he has lifted from the internet, saying: ‘Some of the funniest one-liners have been the creation of the Twitter hive-mind, and have been constantly retweeted and retold around the world.’

Tucker hit the headlines in 2010 when he had to resign as chairman of the Welsh branch of Conservative Future – formerly the Young Conservatives – after tweeting that ‘I really would like to see George Galloway dead’.. He was re-elected to the role two months later. He went on to be an assistant to Tory blogger Iain Dale, and is now a Times diary columnist.

The inside sleeve of Tucker’s book states: ‘Grant Tucker has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.’

And with a certain irony adds: ‘No part of this publication may be reproduced… in any form or by any means, without the publisher’s prior permission in writing’ - which may be tough on the originators of the jokes wanting to tell them on stage.

The copyright notice also claims: ‘Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers would be glad to hear from them.

The publisher it Biteback Publishing Limited at Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP.  It is owned by billionaire Michael Ashcroft, and its catalogue Call Me Dave, his score-settling 2015 biography of David Cameron.

Today’s news comes as Keith Chegwin has again come under the spotlight for stealing jokes. His reputation took another battering on Twitter this week over his lifting of gags and blocking of comics who call him out on it. Much of the new fury was directed a 2014 app of 500 gags he was selling for 99p, which has since been made free. Tucker's book contains ten times as many jokes for ten times the price.

Meanwhile, joke repository Sikipedia, which has also been criticised for appropriating comedians’ work, is currently down citing’ serious technical difficulties’.

Published: 24 Feb 2016

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