Conan O’Brien compares stealing jokes to murder in lawsuit

Conan O’Brien is trying to fend off allegations that he’s a joke thief , likening it to murder in a recently unsealed lawsuit.

Earlier in 2016, Conan O’Brien found himself caught up in the worst kind of allegation that a comedian can find themselves in. The late night host was accused of stealing jokes from Twitter over the summer, something that he flat-out denied when it happened and has since been battling in court.

All of this stems back to allegations from Robert “Alex” Kaseberg, who accused the comedian of stealing his jokes off Twitter and using them as part of his opening monologue. Needless to say, Conan isn’t taking this accusation lightly and is fighting back against it.

The Hollywood Reporter posted quotes from the lawsuit this weekend, in which Conan likens accusing a comedian of joke stealing to murder.

"“Accusing a comedian of stealing a joke is the worst thing you can accuse them of, in my opinion, short of murder,” he said during a deposition last September and released in court papers on Friday. “I think it’s absolutely terrible.”"

That’s a stiff claim and a staunch defense from Conan. Something no comedian  ever wants to be associated with is joke theft as it’s a reputation killer that doubles are career poison. Comedians are a close knit group, and crossing the line in such a severe way as to steal someone’s joke is an unforgivable offense.

So it’s not a surprise that Conan and his writing staff — which includes Roast Master General Jeff Ross — are trying to get the claims thrown out.

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While this is something that has drifted to the back of a lot of minds, being attached to joke theft in anyway is a huge deal. We’ll have to see what the courts say about this case, as Conan has a lot riding on the line.