RABrady gives his MVP truck to Pete Carroll
Conan O'Brien , compared with Robert "Alex" Kaseberg
Tom Brady says he will give his Super Bowl MVP truck to whoever really won the game, which means Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.
“Tom Brady said he wants to give the truck that he was given as Super Bowl MVP . . . to the guy who won the Super Bowl for the Patriots. … Brady's giving his truck to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.”
Conan (TBS) monologue, 2015quote source ↗find on YouTube ↗
“Tom Brady said he wants to give his MVP truck to the man who won the game for the Patriots. So enjoy that truck, Pete Carroll.”
Blog / Twitter, 2015quote source ↗find on YouTube ↗
Nearly word-for-word: same setup, same twist, same Pete Carroll payoff, though O'Brien noted many people on Twitter wrote this gag.
- Premise 39/40
- Structure 27/30
- Punchline 25/30
- Premise39/40Both use Brady's vow to give his MVP truck to whoever won the game for the Patriots.
- Structure27/30Identical order: quote Brady's promise, then name Pete Carroll as the real winner.
- Punchline25/30Both land on Pete Carroll getting the truck; only the phrasing of the final line differs.
Setup
Brady says he wants to give his Super Bowl MVP truck away.
Setup
Brady says he wants to give his MVP truck away.
Turn
The recipient is the guy who won the Super Bowl for the Patriots.
Turn
The recipient is the man who won the game for the Patriots.
Punchline
So Brady is giving the truck to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.
Punchline
Pete Carroll is told to enjoy that truck.
In the words themselves
50% of the meaningful words are shared · longest identical run: “tom brady said he wants to give”. Shared words are highlighted in the quotes above.
Scores and beats are our editorial reading of the public record, not a ruling.
Context
When and where
Kaseberg posted it on Twitter at 8:49 a.m. and on his blog at 9:02 a.m. on Feb 3, 2015. Conan writer Kiley submitted the joke at about 3:14 p.m., and it aired the next night (Feb 4).
What followed
Kaseberg sued O'Brien, his writers, TBS and Time Warner in July 2015; a federal judge let this joke go toward trial, finding it "virtually identical" but only thinly protected. The case settled in May 2019, weeks before trial, on undisclosed terms; O'Brien wrote in Variety that his staff had never heard of Kaseberg and settled to avoid a costly trial. O'Brien later noted dozens of people on Twitter were writing the same Pete Carroll gag.
Receipts
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Conan O'Brien by Montclair Film, CC BY 4.0