Review of Carlos Mencia Thievery

Ok, this may be more of a rant than a review, but whatthehell. It also is apparently very old news, but it’s new to me, so bear with me. I considered whether or not to even write about this, but you know, the internet has stretched and shaped lives, and news, pretty consistently in the last few years. Ten years ago, if something like this went down, it could have been covered up, ignored, and blown over. Today, however, with blogs like this one and a million messages flying through interspace, you just can’t keep a lid on things the way you used to be able to. This is good. This is free speech. This is the (however undignified and petty) American Way. So I’m doing my little bit here in the blogosphere to try to overthrow The Man in Media. Hehehe. Plus, it really pisses me off.

Besides, it was this or me doing a write-up on Anna Nicole’s life. You don’t want me to do that, do you? HMMM? DO YOU? I didn’t think so.

Carlos Mencia. I used to think he was funny. I would have considered myself a fan just yesterday. Am I fickle? Well, yes, but that is not the reason I am a non-fan today. Not entirely, anyway. Although I was often slightly embarrassed by his ruder, cruder performances. I would simply remind myself that it was OK…that is what comedy is supposed to do, make you laugh and make you uncomfortable. And of course there was the wide-spread understanding that it is ok for Mencia to make racial jokes because he is a self-described “Beaner”. He makes as much fun of his own peeps as any of the rest of us, ala Dave Chapalle (may he never rest in peace but come back to amuse us damn it). True, no white man could get away with it, but that’s just the Way Things Are… giggle and move on…. But.

Last night I heard the rumor that he was confronted about his joke-stealing last weekend. I just worked Valentine’s Week so gimme a break if this is Old News to everyone else on the planet. Ok, so…Mencia’s thievery of jokes. Apparently this is a well-known and hideously accepted fact in the comedy circles. They actually refer to him as “Carlos Menstealia”. He has Hollywood Clout that he can beat people up with, and this makes them keep their mouths shut. I was still doubtful… I mean, could the guy really get so famous if he was a joke-stealing asswipe? Apparently it happens all the time.

I then learned the sad fact that, maybe again, everyone in the world knew for a fact but me… that Carlos Mencia is not even Mexican! He is half-Honduran (shut up, you idiotic ‘that’s the same thing’ people…Honduras is not the same country as Mexico. Different countries, different cultures, different people. It’s like saying Americans and Canadians are the same thing.) and half German, and his name was Ned Holness until he changed it to sound more Mexican.

THEN I went and found the video clip of Joe Rogan confronting the fake Mexican Mencia. I would direct you to watch the video clip for yourself, but OHMY..guess what? When you go to watch it on YouTube this morning, there is a little blurb that says

“This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Carlos Mencia”.

What a CHICKENSHIT. He knows that his guilt is obvious to those who watch it. It was a very long video and as pointed out at The Superficial where I watched it, (and you can too, until it gets taken down) the sound is bad, but it was definitely interesting to watch. Mencia-Holness squirms like a guilty little piggy by the end of the clip, where he started out with his normal blustery bravado. You can practically smell the sweat oozing from his pores. Even one of Mencia’s friends talks about his thievery… until he realizes he is being filmed, wonders out loud, “What are you going to do with that film?” And walks off, muttering, “Nice to have seen you.” It is also still up on google- thanks google, you rock!

It really makes me tweaked that he is trying to stop the video clip from being seen. This is not a sex tape, ok? This is him getting called out, on stage, about his practice of taking others’ material and using it as his own (a.k.a. Plagiarism) and ending up looking pretty damn bad. If he had “won” the little showdown, do we think he would be trying to stop this from being seen? Nuh-uh.

It gets worse. Rogan, a talented comedian himself, although I realize that is debatable… yes everything in the fricking world IS…. got kicked out of the Comedy Store for this video clip. Why? Because Mencia can pull in a bigger number of customers, of course, and he wanted him out. Next, Rogan’s agent, who belongs to the agency (Gersh) that also handles Mencia, dropped Rogan. How coincidental. You can read about that one here. Aw….Carlos feels “physically threatened” by Mr. Rogan, and so he should, Joe Rogan is pretty ripped and could probably kick Mencia’s large-ish behind with both feet and one hand tied behind his back…. But still. Is it the gross fingers of “power” we see scuttling around Rogan’s neck, trying to choke the breath out of him for… telling it like it is?

YECK. This is a slimy feeling thing.

The more I read, the more I realize, that this is old shit, that Mencia has been doing crap like this for a long time, that people are (apparently rightly) scared to confront him because they will get banned from clubs and lose their agents and the battle is young, and let’s see what else happens. The only one with the balls to bring it on is Rogan. I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of him personally, or as a comedian. Some are saying this is a hissy fit of jealousy on Rogan’s part over Mencia’s success. I don’t think so. Watch the clip, read up on it, judge for yourself. And then, if you’re pissed, do something about it. Stop supporting Mencia. Spread the word on your own blog. Sign the petition. Whatever. This is where the internet can make a difference.