Accusing people of joke stealing has become such an old problem in comedy that it hardly raises eyebrows anymore. Except maybe when somebody is actually accusing an industry heavyweight like Conan O’Brien of being, ahem, a joke thief. But this one case seems more interesting than most because of the rather contemporary feel to it…
In 1998 comedian Gary Shandling and his former manager, Brad Grey, the current chairman and CEO of Paramount Studios in Hollywood had a major falling out, followed by a $100 million lawsuit by Shandling. Their long term relationship collapsed over money issues surrounding the well-acclaimed HBO series The Larry Sanders Show, which ran between 1992…