If you were under the impression that all comedians pilfer jokes from elsewhere and rejigger them to suit themselves, you'd be wrong. Amy Schumer does not do that. She swears on her own life this is on the case.
According to sources, Schumer was first accused to knicking jokes - specifically from the late Patrice O’Neal - back in October, when her HBO special aired. According to Uproxx, an internet sleuth (they're not all working to help prove Steven Avery's innocence) has since painstakingly cobbled together this video inferring that the comedian has been borrowing heavily from other sources.
According to The Hollywood Reporter: "This week, three comedians - Wendy Liebman, Kathleen Madigan and Tammy Pescatelli - took to Twitter to discuss alleged similarities between their jokes and ones that Schumer has used in her Comedy Central series, Inside Amy Schumer, and movie, Trainwreck. The thread was quickly deleted off social media, but the conversation had drawn enough heat that Schumer wanted to clear the air, and even offer up some proof."
Now Amy is on a quest to prove her innocence. She took to twitter to post the following last night...
On my life, I have never and would never steal a joke.
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) January 20, 2016
She got herself an appearance on a radio show to help prove her innocence.
Thanks to @amyschumer for coming over and addressing joke stealing allegations on my show. https://t.co/MXai3zQFJE
— Jim Norton (@JimNorton) January 20, 2016
Assuming you're not going to listen to an hour-long interview, some of the main points include: "I would never, ever do that and I never have. I'm literally going to take a polygraph test and put it on my show this season, and I promise, whatever the results are - I won't let them cut - I will show that I had never, never seen Patrice do that bit. I had definitely never seen Tammy Pescatelli do that... I didn't happen to catch [Pescatelli's] 2006 Comedy Central special and like, sit on that bit until I got a movie," Schumer told Norton. "Both Kathleen and Wendy believe me, they know me and they don't believe I would do that."
So, it's either a case of "the lady doth protest too much" or an extremely frustrating series of coincidences.