Great minds or great memories?

Oops! Received this comment from blog faithful Doug McEwan:

"Raiders of the Lost AARP"

A perfect example of my point two columns back, that sometimes two brilliant minds will come up with the same joke independently, that it's not always a steal, because Tallulah used "Raiders of the Lost AARP" several times over on her blog back when the film came out a year ago.

Great Minds and all that.

Yes, it is very possible for two people to independently come up with the same joke or premise or subject for a painting. I just recently learned that Cezanne wasn’t the only artist to paint fruit. And in the case of “Lost AARP” that’s partly the case. It would be entirely the case if I hadn’t read Tallulah’s blog (she has a new piece that’s a riot, by the way). I had consciously forgotten it but my brain’s komedy kloset apparently did not. So, sorry about that Tallulah. And little Dougie.

This is why when I review award shows I always try to post them as soon as I can. Other reviews may tread on similar comic ground and I want to cover myself that I came up with the jokes myself and didn’t lift them from other sources.

But the greatest story of inadvertently stealing someone else’s material comes from singer/songwriter, Neil Sedaka. Neil is an incredibly talented musician. His performing career spans fifty years and he has written hundreds of hit songs including “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” and “Love Will Keep Us Together”. Neil was part of that Brill Building collection of superstar songwriters in the early 60s that included Carole King and Bacharach & David.

One day while noodling at the piano he came up with an incredible melody. He was ecstatic. This was the best melody he ever wrote. He quickly rounded up some musicians to do a demo. This was going to be a sure-fire smash.

The excited musicians gathered for the session, Neil proudly played the melody and they looked at him dumfounded. One had to gently remind him that that was Gershwin’s “Our Love Is Here To Stay”. I’m sure, like me, a red-faced Sedaka said…

Oops!