News have been going around the internet over the past few days that Conan O'Brien is currently facing a lawsuit after being accused of stealing jokes on Twitter from Robert Alexander Kaseberg or better known as Alex Kaseberg as per report by The Hollywood Reporter.
Dated January 14, 2015 Kaseber posted: "A Delta flight this week took off from Cleveland to New York with just two passengers. And they fought over control of the armrest the entire flight." This joke was then used by O'Brien during his late night monologue.
Kaseberg then added that his jokes about Tom Brady, Caitlyn Jenner, the airlines, and the Washington Monument made it into the late night host's monologue. He then filed a complaint against the comedian on July 22 in the Federal Court of California, claiming that these jokes were from his personal blog and on Twitter which was used by O'Brien for his show.
As of Mediate, after being in heat, Alex Kasenberg had a phone call with Conan's head writer stating:
For what seemed like 15 agonizing minutes, Mike Sweeney, the head writer of "Conan," angrily and loudly denied those were my jokes. He was furious that I was accusing them of stealing jokes, but most of all he was incensed that I would suggest his writers would have anything to do with my pathetic blog and its author, me, a no-name failure.
At one point Mike Sweeney said, after he got my message, he went on my blog and he saw the jokes, but they were not the jokes used for "Conan."
(It was almost impossible to get a word in sideways, that is how agitated Mike Sweeney was)
In my defense, I told Sweeney I had contributed to Jay Leno for over 20 years, and many other TV and radio shows. Over and over I tried to explain I did not want trouble, I just wanted to contribute jokes to their show. These three amazingly similar jokes, I thought, were a great example of our shared sensibilities.
"We don't have any openings," said Sweeney, "and why would I want to hire someone who accuses us of stealing jokes?"
Mike Sweeney implied I had heard jokes on TV and wrongly assumed they were mine. Like I was some crazy man whose thoughts were being stolen by a TV show.
To be told by anyone you're a failure as a comedy writer hurts. To be told you're a crazy failure by the head writer of one of your comedy idols is much worse. It is devastating.
After filing a lawsuit for the tweets that was stolen and was broadcast on television, Kaseberg then demanded thousands of dollars in statutory and actual damages.