From ‘Stephen Colbert’ to ‘Stupid Pet Tricks': 6 Talk Show Sketches Claimed as Intellectual Property (Videos)
On an episode of “Late Night With Stephen Colbert,” the talk show host revealed that Viacom — which owns Comedy Central — has prohibited Colbert from using his conservative, clueless TV show host persona “Stephen Colbert” elsewhere. Instead, Colbert skirted around the issue by going into character under the guise of being Colbert’s “identical twin cousin.”
The host also riffed off of his popular sketch “The Word” by recreating it with the name “The Werd.”
Top 10 lists
NBC President Robert C. Wright had published statements back in 1993 stating that Letterman could not take over popular sketches like “Top 10 Lists” and “Stupid Pet Tricks” to his CBS show because they were the “intellectual property” of NBC.
Letterman still managed to keep the sketch on the “Late Show” by renaming it “Late Show Top 10” and adding a different intro soundtrack.
Stupid Pet Tricks
“Stupid Pet Tricks” was another one of the most popular sketches on “Late Night.” As the name would imply, pets would come on stage and perform strange tricks for the audience.
Though NBC included the sketch in its list of “intellectual property” that Letterman could not take over to CBS, the host still continued to keep the sketch alive on the “Late Show,” albeit at a lower frequency. A spinoff, “Stupid Human Tricks,” was also created.
Larry “Bud” Melman
Another popular staple on “Late Night with David Letterman,” Larry “Bud” Melman was considered property of NBC and Letterman was barred from using him on the “Late Show.”
What Letterman and his team did instead was rename Larry “Bud” Melman to Calvert DeForest — the actor’s real name — and have him essentially play the exact same character.
Triumph the Comic Insult Dog
A recurring character on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien“, Triumph the Comic Insult Dog, almost didn’t make it over to TBS due to the same “intellectual property” woes. The puppet, who was voiced by Robert Smigel, would frequently appear to insult guests with a cigar in its mouth.
Triumph eventually managed to find his way onto “Conan” without too much drama.
Five Questions
Craig Kilborn, the host of the “Daily Show” from 1996-98, created a sketch called “Five Questions” that involved him asking celebrity guests a set of obscure and/or subjective questions. But when Kilborn left for CBS’ “Late Late Show” in 1998, he claimed the sketch as his own intellectual property and that other “Daily Show” hosts would not be able to use it. Comedy Central did not fight back against this and the sketch did not reappear in full again.
