: Re: "Stealing" jokes In one of my stories, I have a character who is a bit of a smart ass, always cracking jokes at the expense of others and sometimes even himself. I often get inspired by

@Jamie945

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Being inspired is a thing; copying entire jokes or catch-phrases may be overdoing it, and rightly be called stealing.

I agree with @Chris Sunami that it would already seem that your on the safe side, legally, but morally you're in a bit of a grey area.

It's true that some jokes become commonplace after a while and that you can't possibly credit anonymous strangers over the internet. If you want your character to look like a smart ass, you can safely watch comedians shows for reference, but that should end there.

It's good to have a good understanding of comedy in general, but probably it would be even better knowing how make a good joke in the specific situation your character finds himself in. Your jokes will be better if they are highly specific to the current context - not a fat chance you'd find anything suitable around.

So, maybe it would be productive to look upon other similarly quick-tongued characters in the media (be it films, books or comics) and get an idea of how they do work, in order to remake that attitude in your own way?

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