Entertainment & IP attorney for comedians. Serious law for funny people. Comedy historian, Grammy-nominated producer, law professor. Attorney advertising.
New York
Joined May 2014
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I made you something. Marketing people call it a lead magnet. I call it a bribe.
The Court Jester's Checklist: 8 ways to protect the business side of your comedy career. Free for your email.
howardleiblaw.com/checklist.…
Attorney advertising. #CourtJesterLegal
Corporate gig season is here. Read before you sign.
Watch for vague content restrictions, indemnification clauses, recording rights that keep your set forever, and net 60 or net 90 payment.
My free Court Jester's Checklist covers it: howardleiblaw.com/checklist.…
#standupcomedy
An AI can write an hour of comedy in the style of George Carlin. Nobody can tell you who owns it.
Monday, Nov 9, noon ET: my free Cornell keynote, "Claude, Gemini, and Copilot Walk Into a Bar: Who Owns the Punchline?"
ecornell.cornell.edu/keynote…
#standupcomedy #copyright
Your catchphrase is worth money. Probably more than your last gig.
Saying it on stage for ten years doesn't stop someone else from registering it first. If it sells anything, even tickets, it's in commerce.
Search it. Clear it. File it.
#standupcomedy #trademark
The First Amendment protects a comic's act from the government, not from critics. Criticism is speech too.
The government rarely punishes jokes. The paperwork does: the morals clause, the right to cut a set, the booking that doesn't recur.
#standupcomedy #EntertainmentLaw
The front row didn't sign a release.
A club generally isn't a private place, and recording notices help. But image rights vary by state.
When a crowd work clip built around one person takes off, get a one-page release. Beats a takedown demand.
#standupcomedy #EntertainmentLaw
Format is powerful. War of the Worlds scared people in 1938 because it borrowed the clothing of real news.
Every mockumentary, fake sketch-show ad, and parody news desk works the same muscle. That's why broadcasters started adding disclaimers.
#comedyhistory #standupcomedy
Oct 30, 1938: Orson Welles's War of the Worlds aired as news bulletins. Historians say the "mass panic" was mostly a newspaper creation.
Satire works when the audience is in on it. A clip stripped of context doesn't bring the room with it.
#standupcomedy #comedyhistory
An AI "George Carlin" hour came down after his estate fought it. Who owns a joke a machine helps write?
Nov 9, noon ET, free Cornell Keynote: "Claude, Gemini, and Copilot Walk Into a Bar: Who Owns the Punchline?"
ecornell.cornell.edu/keynote…
#standupcomedy #copyright
The five scariest clauses in a comedy contract:
1. "In perpetuity, all media"
2. The unilateral option
3. An undefined morals clause
4. Unlimited indemnification
5. Net profits, defined by them
All negotiable before you sign. Happy Halloween.
#standupcomedy #EntertainmentLaw
John Cleese was born 87 years ago today, October 27, 1939.
He changed comedy at least twice: Monty Python, then Fawlty Towers. Just twelve episodes. Scarcity protected the asset: there's no tired eighth season to remember.
#comedyhistory #OnThisDay
On November 9 I'm doing an interview on AI and comedy for Cornell's free online lecture/interview series.
What do you want to know about AI and comedy? Reply or DM me your questions. They might make it into the presentation.
#standupcomedy #AI
My only paid gig on the NYC audition trail: a bringer show at the Lotus Room, a Thai place across from Penn Station.
Look like you had 3 friends? 50 minutes and half the door. The longest, and one of the best, gigs I ever did.
I still have the tape.
#standupcomedy
Comedy trivia: Why did Mel Brooks name his western Blazing Saddles?
He told me once, and it's one of my favorite pieces of humor-ana.
Guess below. If you don't know, there are points for being funny. Answer tomorrow.
#comedyhistory #standupcomedy
Yesterday's trivia: Why did Mel Brooks name his western Blazing Saddles?
He told me: Because when you ride a Blazing Saddle, what you get is a flaming asshole.
#comedyhistory #standupcomedy
Johnny Carson was born 101 years ago today.
On Oct. 1, 1962, Groucho Marx introduced him as the new Tonight Show host. He kept the chair 30 years.
Comics he waved to the couch saw careers change overnight. One spot. One booker. One yes.
#comedyhistory #OnThisDay
"I sold my special." Which parts?
A special is a bundle of rights: the jokes, the recording, distribution by platform and territory, clips, audio.
"All rights, worldwide, in perpetuity" takes the whole bundle. Know what you're selling.
#standupcomedy #copyright
Is a bringer show a scam? It's a business model: you bring the crowd, the venue fills a room on an off night.
Ask first: What do I get on tape, and can I post it? Who's in the room? What will my friends spend?
Comics are small businesses. Know your costs.
#standupcomedy
Jon Stewart signed on to host and executive produce The Daily Show through 2028.
Two years, not five: short deals get repriced often. The EP credit puts him where the business gets decided.
Sign long when YOU want security, not when they do.
#standupcomedy #EntertainmentLaw
Norm Macdonald and Bob Newhart had a mutual admiration society.
When Bob hosted SNL in 1995, Norm wrote him the "Postal Worker Evaluation" sketch in Bob's one-sided phone call style. Bob loved it: "Norm, do you mind if I do that in my act?"
#standupcomedy #comedyhistory
Before SNL: Your Show of Shows (1950-54). 90 minutes, live, Saturday night, New York, a repertory cast and hungry young writers.
Sid Caesar built that formula 25 years early. His rooms launched Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Woody Allen.
#standupcomedy #comedyhistory