Conan O’Brien Will Stand Trial Over Stolen Joke

A judge this week refused to dismiss a copyright lawsuit filed against late-night comedy show host Conan O’Brien, claiming his TBS show used jokes from a freelancer’s social media and blog. That means O’Brien will go to trial in a California federal court, where Robert “Alex” Kaseberg alleges Conan writers used his material about Caitlyn Jenner, Tom Brady and the Washington Monument. U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino said that, while jokes based on current events are only entitled to “thin” copyright protection, O’Brien must still face trial over three jokes which appeared in his monologue. Kaseberg claims credit for more than one thousand jokes used by Jay Leno, and material that has appeared in publications like The New York Times and the Washington Post. “Accusing a comedian of stealing a joke is the worst thing you can accuse them of, in my opinion, short of murder,” O’Brien said in the deposition for the case. “I think it’s absolutely terrible.”