He's at it again...

Joke thief Jordan Paris exposed again

The comedian who stole Lee Mack’s material has been plunged into a new row over joke theft – despite claiming to have cleaned up his act.

Jordan Paris returned to the semi-finals of Australia’s Got Talent last night with what he promised were his own gags – and died terribly.

His comeback performance portrayed him as a brave battle trying to do the right thing despite being vilified for his previous plagiarism. But it quickly emerged that even so he used a line previously told on TV by another comic.

The 22-year-old’s self-deprecating routine about the scandal, included the line: ‘I just sacked my two writers, copy and paste.’

However the joke was used by Jeffrey Ross at the Comedy Central's Roast of Joan Rivers in 2009. He introduced Brad Garrett by saying: ‘This guy has two writers, their names are cut and paste.’

Paris was voted off the show last night after an embarrassing performance – with one judge telling him his new material ‘sucks arse’.

In an interview before he returned to the stage, the joke thief audaciously claimed: ‘It was never my intention to go out there and rip off people’s jokes.’

Last month, Paris – who is primarily a singer – was exposed for ripping off Mack’s routine about attending a rock concert almost word-for-word. Other parts of his set came from American comedian Geoff Keith.

At the time Mack laughed it off, while Keith said: ‘I don’t have any respect for people like that; I don’t think they have respect for themselves deep down, because they know they’re not funny. He’s not a real comic.’

But after last night’s cringeworthy performance fell on stony ground, judge Brian McFadden said: ‘It was really uncomfortable to watch. I am really sad for you.’

And Dannii Minogue echoed his sentiments, saying: ‘It was uncomfortable for everyone.’

But TV presenter Kyle Sandilands didn’t mince his words, saying: ‘My God, man.. Stick to ripping off other people’s stuff because your stuff sucks arse. It is not good.

And he encouraged Paris to steal more material, saying it wasn’t such a crime. He said : ‘I don’t care if you ripped off other people’s jokes, you delivered them well. I know than in Comedian World they’re against that, and they say “don’t do this, don’t do that”. Well I say, don’t do your own material – save your own life. Steal other people’s gear because that was no good.’

Here is how his appearance unfolded::

Here is Jeffrey Ross doing the cut and paste gag:

And here is the original row:

Published: 29 Jun 2011

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