Here's an epilogue to my post about the tiff between Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia that took place on stage at The Comedy Store a few days ago.

In a nutshell: Rogan and other comedians have been accusing Mencia of stealing material for some time, and the two men had a battle of words on stage with Rogan (and a couple other comedians) accusing Mencia of stealing material, and Mencia denying it.

On his Web site, Rogan wrote that he received a call from Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore (mother of Pauly Shore), asking him to explain what had happened. Later, he received a call from the club's manager telling him he might want to take a break from the club because of the tension between him and Mencia. He also told Rogan they weren't happy about him putting the video of the fight on the internet. Bottom line: Rogan has been banned from The Comedy Store, and Mencia will continue to perform there.

Carlos Mencia is not the first comedian to be accused of stealing material from other comedians --Denis Leary was accused of stealing from the late Bill Hicks, Dane Cook has been accused of swiping material from Louis C.K.-- but if all allegations are true, Mencia may be the one with the most evidence stacked against him.

I often wonder if "stealing" isn't sometimes confused with comics sharing a similar worldview. I'm not a stand-up comedian, but even I've seen funny ideas that have popped into my head appear on television shows, or in The Onion, or any other number of places. It seems that if you've thought of something, there's a good chance someone else has also thought of it.

I'm not part of the zany world of stand up comedy, but Joe Rogan is, and he's vehemently convinced that the majority of Mencia's material is stolen, and if the video below is any indication, comedians George Lopez and Bobby Lee also agree. Check out the clip to see Rogan and Mencia engage in a battle of words on stage at the Comedy Store. VIDEO CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE.

UPDATE: The YouTube video has been removed, so check it out here instead.

[via Digg]

For two reasons. The obvious reason is because Phil Hartman isn't in the picture. Instead, we get Jon Lovitz, who pretty much made the last season of the show unwatchable (except for a couple of episodes). He was really out of place as a regular cast member on the show (though he was great in the guest roles he had earlier in the series), and his character was completely unlikable.

But the second reason I'm not thrilled with the pic is that the original artwork on the box actually had Phil Hartman on it (you can see it here). The cast was standing in front of a picture of Hartman. In the new version, the cast is standing in front of a picture of New York City. Yeah, Hartman wasn't in the last season, but wouldn't that have been a nice nod to Hartman in the final set? The first episode of the season is about Bill McNeal's death, after all.

The fifth season set will be released on March 20.

Good news: your chances of seeing men pound the living crap out of one another on television have just increased. The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be syndicated in late 2007 as UFC Wired, hosted by Joe Rogan, who has already appeared on UFC pay-per-view events and on UFC coverage on Spike TV.

UFC Wired will pit the top UFC champs against one another. This isn't really my cup of tea, but then I've always been missing whatever male gene makes one drink heavily, pick fights, slap puppies and fix tractor engines. Oh why did I have to be born handsome instead of strong?

Anyway, the new series will run for twenty-two episodes, so keep an eye out to see if it plays in your neck o' the woods.

(S01E07) Along with Mary Tyler Moore and Amy Sedaris, I've always had a crush on Janeane Garofalo. I remember being happy when this episode came on, since I had loved her standup and her work on The Ben Stiller Show (with Andy Dick). She plays Nancy, Dave's ex-girlfriend who seems nice on the outside but is really kind of a nut. She comes to New York City to be with Dave, who never quite told her that they were officially broken up.

Meanwhile, Jimmy meets a business and technology "visionary" named Tom at a conference and arranges for him to be interviewed by Bill, but that doesn't turn out quite as Jimmy or Dave had hoped...

• At 8, ABC has a repeat According To Jim, followed by the Mavericks vs. the Heat NBA game.
• CBS has repeats of NCIS and The Unit, followed by the series premiere of Tuesday Night Book Club.
• NBC has the season premiere of Fear Factor (featuring reality stars) 8, followed by a new Last Comic Standing and a repeat Law and Order: SVU.
• Over on FOX at 8, two repeats of House.
• The WB has repeats of Gilmore Girls and Pepper Dennis, while UPN has repeats of America's Next Top Model and Veronica Mars.
• At 9, Bravo has a new Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List, followed by a new Queer Eye.
• Former VP Al Gore talks to Larry King on CNN at 9.
• At 10, MTV has a new Real World, followed by a new Jamie Kennedy's Blowin' Up.
• Also at 10: FX has a new ep of Rescue Me.

First, comedian Joe Rogan of Fear Factor got into an online debate with a kid half his age, and then later smoothed things over with the kid. Now Rogan may be courting controversy again with this fifty-page thread on his messageboard. The thread wasn't started by Rogan; it was actually started by a board member who found out that another board member, whom he disliked, was part of a support group for obese people. Apparently this was the culmination of an ongoing battle of wits among the members of the board, and like most messageboards, conversation eventually devolved into personal attacks and racist insults. This kind of behavior on messageboards is hardly news, but apparently Rogan decided to toss in his support for the thread, even adding a few insults of his own. Rogan apparently loves the raw and unfiltered power of the internet, even if his participation in it might be construed by some as indirectly supporting anti-Semitic sentiments.

[via Best Week Ever] 

• Gag reel
• Commentaries on several episodes
• The "One Man's Newsradio" short film.