Damon Wayans is the latest person to claim the late Robin Williams stole jokes from other comedians.
During his appearance on Club Shay Shay, Wayans commented on comedians who would steal jokes, and he brought up how Williams had no problem taking material from others. It was such a common occurrence that he had his manager compensate those who lost their jokes to Williams.
"Robin Williams was a notorious thief. I ain't lying," said Wayans. "His manager used to walk around with a checkbook, and Robin would come off stage, and a comedian would be like, 'Hey, he just took me...' and he would just write him a check for $75. Cause he knew Robin was all stream of consciousness, and he would steal material. It was known. Comedians would go, 'I'm not going on cause Robin is here.'"
He added, "It happens, but I always look at comedy like this. If this is not the last joke I'm ever going to tell, then I ain't going to treat it like that. You ain't take my wife or my kid. It's just a joke. That means I gotta think of something else. For people to be up in arms about a joke, really, what is the joke?"
This isn't the first time someone spoke about Williams' alleged thievery. In 2017, Budd Friedman joined forces with writer Tripp Whitesell to provide an oral history of the legendary comedy club franchise The Improv, and in it, Richard Lewis and Robert Wuh accuse Williams of stealing jokes.
Last year, Joe Rogan fanned the flames when he accused Williams of "material theft" in an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. According to Rogan, Williams wanted to do his best on the stage and would do anything to accomplish that.
"I think [Robin] wanted to kill more than he wanted to be ethical at any cost," Rogan said. "Part of that manic sort of style is this constant need to have a bit about anything that you're talking about ever. Killing was more important; filling that hole inside of him was more important than anything."
He added, "If you ask any of those comics from back then, there are always instances of Robin going on a talk show and doing your bit."