Jon Stewart lifts shoplifting joke from comedian to mock Palin

During last night’s airing of The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart took a crack at former Gov. Sarah Palin’s handwritten notes, which she awkwardly referred to during the National Tea Party Convention. But the joke — which, ironically, is about shoplifting — appears to have been lifted word-for-word from a comedian who posted it on Twitter.

“You really need to remind yourself to ‘lift American spirits?’” Stewart asked Palin sarcastically, referring to one of the handwritten notes on her palm. “Unless ‘lift American spirits’ is a note to steal a carton of cigarettes…”

Twitter users quickly found that comedian James Urbaniak made an identical joke on his Twitter feed not 24 hours prior to Stewart’s on-air comments.

Asks Gawker:

Clearly, Urbaniak is not actually upset with this development. The world of comedy is filled with comedians stealing and buying material from each other. It is well documented that Dennis Leary ripped-off Bill Hicks wholesale and that Carlos Mencia hasn’t made an original joke in his entire career.

So what should we make of all this? Was it just a coincidence because it was an obvious joke? Or will there be hell to pay in The Daily Show‘s writer’s room?

Full story: Did The Daily Show steal a joke? – Gawker