#975 Hearing someone else tell your joke

It takes some wit to think of a joke that's good enough to repeat. Once you say that joke and hear the warm reaction though, you can gratifyingly put that joke into your mental bank and store it away for later use with another crowd. That's your joke and everyone that heard it knows that.

Sometimes, someone greedy is lurking in your audience. Someone who puts your joke into their own mental pocket with selfish intentions. Of course, you won't realize your joke is in danger of theft until it's too late. You might be in the middle of a conversation with someone else or you might just be walking by, when you hear some guy (sorry girls, let's be honest, you're not very funny) telling your joke. Externally, you'll just shrug it off, because it would be kind of overblown to flat out confront him about the imaginary copyright infringement he just committed; you don't want to be that guy. Internally, however, you'll feel the slight twinge of annoyance at the idea of other people thinking that this guy is the witty comedian. Before your slightly annoyed feeling evolves into a fiery hatred, relax big guy, you've got plenty of jokes left up there in that noggin of yours. Life goes on.

It's just slightly annoying.