FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

09.15.00

AL GORE STEALS JOKE FOR LAST NIGHT'S "LETTERMAN"

He May Have Given Us The Internet,
But Modern Humorist Gave America That Joke A Month Ago

NEW YORK, September 15––Last night on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman," Vice President Al Gore showed his lighter side, bantering with Dave and telling jokes.

Except one of the jokes wasn't his. It was perfidiously pilfered from Modern Humorist.

While delivering a Top Ten list of Rejected Gore/Lieberman Campaign Slogans, Gore read, "Number Nine: ‘Remember, America: I gave you the Internet, and I can take it away. Think about it.’" The quote was picked up by ABC's "Good Morning, America," the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the Associated Press and elsewhere.

The Modern Humorist campaign sticker reads: "Al Gore: He gave us the Internet and he can take it away."

It appeared on Modernhumorist.com on August 16 and was distributed at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles last month to delegates, politicians, protestors, journalists, members of Gore’s staff and actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. The sticker and several others are visible at http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0009/stickers/index.cfm and for sale at http://modernhumoriststore.com/setof4demsti.html. (The collection includes a slogan Gore chose not to steal: "Vote Gore: He doesn't even LIKE oral sex.")

"It all comes back to character," says John Aboud, Modern Humorist's co-editor. "If we can't trust him on joke-writing during the campaign, how can we trust him on joke-writing in the Oval Office?"

The vice president has perpetrated Internet humor larceny before. In May the New York Times reported that the list of Jewish country and western songs that Gore read during several campaign speeches was lifted from topfive.com.

"Al Gore doesn't realize that by pirating jokes from the Internet, he's taking food directly from my mouth," says Modern Humorist senior editor Daniel Radosh. "What will he do next, steal compressed audio files of Fleetwood Mac songs?

"Clearly," continues Radosh, "Al Gore thinks he OWNS the Internet, too." Radosh capitalized the word "owns" for emphasis.

"He owes us big time," says Modern Humorist senior editor Alexandra Ringe. "He's a major league Adam Clymer."

This situation is not without remedy. If Gore appoints Modern Humorist to the Supreme Court, we will not only forgive him but also scale back the aggressive marketing of our Web site to 12-year-olds.

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The complete list of Modern Humorist Democratic campaign stickers:
"Al Gore: He gave us the Internet and he can take it away"
"Replicants for Gore"
"I'm a Buddhist monk and I vote"
"Vote Gore: He doesn't even LIKE oral sex"
"Vote Gore: HIS scandal will involve anal"

Campaign stickers for George W. Bush, distributed at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia:

"Bush 2000: Kegger at the Liberty Bell!"
"George W. Bush: Leadership and stuff"
"Bush 2000: Tough as nails and just as smart"
"Democrats Fuck Babies"

Modern Humorist (www.modernhumorist.com) is a daily comedy Web site based in Brooklyn. The company also publishes comedy in several print magazines, produces a bi-weekly segment for NPR's "On the Media" and recently signed a two-book deal with Crown Publishing.