In response to a lawsuit filed by a Winnetka-raised comedy writer, Conan O’Brien’s legal team last week revealed how the late-night host prepares his monologue.
Alex Kaseberg sued O’Brien and employees of his TBS network show "Conan" for copyright infringement in 2015 after noticing similarities between five jokes he posted online and jokes in O’Brien’s monologue.
Kaseberg, a longtime comedy contributor to TV and print publications who now lives in California, said he posted this joke on his blog on Jan. 14, 2015: "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."
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That same day, O’Brien said in his monologue: "On Monday, a Delta flight from Cleveland to New York took off with just two passengers. Two passengers on the whole plane. Yet somehow, they spent the whole flight fighting over the armrest. As if they wouldn’t sit together, but they did. Everyone’s OK."
In a court filing last week, O’Brien’s attorneys said a "Conan" writer submitted that joke via email for monologue consideration nearly five hours before Kaseberg posted his joke online. The attorneys also argued that Kaseberg failed to register a copyright for some of the other jokes included in his lawsuit and other social media users posted similar jokes online before Kaseberg published them.
O’Brien’s attorneys said "Conan" writers visit a "short list of specific, online news websites" to source their material for monologues, but do not research social media profiles, conduct general Google searches or review content on other comedians’ blogs, social media or personal websites. They create an initial batch of monologue jokes that are edited for grammar and style and sent to O’Brien for review.
O’Brien edits and approves jokes and identifies topics he wants the writers to focus on. Multiple batches of jokes are created. After rehearsal, approved jokes are sent to the "Conan" research department to vet factual accuracy and producers to vet sponsorship issues.
Forty-five minutes before taping begins, O’Brien and members of his staff, including his Yorkville-raised sidekick Andy Richter, meet to finalize the monologue, according to O’Brien’s attorneys.
His legal team asked the judge on the case for a decision without trial. Kaseberg, whose attorney did not return a request for comment, is seeking at least $600,000 plus attorneys fees.
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