It’s an accepted, and expected, tradition in jazz that musicians play songs written by and for those that inspired them. In the jazz lexicon, the most influential of those songs are called standards. Everybody knows them. Every jazz musician has played a standard at some point in his or her career; some reinterpret them to such an extent that they’re unrecognizable, others use them as jumping-off points for their own work, and still others play them as they were played the very first time and always will be played. It’s a sign of respect, of knowing the history of what’s come before.
The philosophy of comedy, on the other hand, seems to be exactly the opposite: a comedian who performs another’s jokes is looked upon as a cad and a thief. You don’t hear up-and-comers doing George Burns jokes unless they’re impressionists. Sure, the homages are there to some small extent: even a casual listener knows Abbott and Costello’s Who’s On First? (I don’t know.
Third base!
) and has heard more bad imitations of it than they’d care to. By and large, though, comedy routines are performed only by the individual or group who did them in the first place. Bob Newhart is The Driving Instructor; Bill Cosby is Noah; there’s only one wild and crazy guy, and that’s Steve Martin.
It’s too bad this is the case; I think it would be hilarious to hear comedians performing others’ jokes, especially established ones. They can be similar or different in their own styles: Woody Allen doing Bob Newhart would be just as funny, I think, as Robin Williams doing Tom Lehrer. Picture Jerry Seinfeld doing Steven Wright’s material and vice versa; how about George Carlin and Denis Leary in the Pythons’ Nudge Nudge?
I’ve considered and rejected quite a few theories, and I just don’t get it. Anyone else care to wager a guess?
