Damon Wayans is speaking out about the late Robin Williams and claims that he stole jokes from other comedians.
During his interview with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay, the topic arose about comedians who would steal jokes from other comedians, and Wayans quickly brought up Williams. “Robin Williams was a notorious thief. I ain’t lying,” the actor said. “His manager used to walk around with his checkbook, and Robin would come off stage and a comedian would be like, ‘Hey, he just took me…’ and he would just write him a check for $75. Cause he knew Robin was all stream of consciousness, and he would steal material. It was known. Comedians would go, ‘I’m not going on cause Robin is here.”
He continued, “It happens, but I always look at comedy like this. If this is not the last joke I’m ever going to tell, then I ain’t going to treat it like that. You ain’t take my wife or my kid. It’s just a joke. That means I gotta think of something else. For people to be up in arms about a joke, really, what is the joke?”
This isn’t the first time Williams has been accused of stealing people’s material. In 2017, Budd Friedman and writer Tripp Whitesell came together to give a backstory on the legendary comedy club scene, “The Improv,” in which Richard Lewis and Robert Wuh accused the “Mrs. Doubtfire” star of stealing their jokes.
Joe Rogan also spoke about the matter last year on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “I think Robin wanted to kill more than he wanted to be ethical at any cost,” Rogan said. “Part of that manic sort of style is this constant need to have a bit about anything that you’re talking about ever. Killing was more important; filling that hole inside of him was more important than anything.”
He continued, “If you ask any of those comics from back then, there are always instances of Robin going on a talk show and doing your bit.”