I’ve mostly heard of hack in terms of joke stealing, and not so much in the context of just being unoriginal. I suppose then, the key would be to spend time thinking about possible directions and not take the most obvious route out. I mean every joke isn’t going to be a diamond, and sometimes old standards can be fun in a real time context.

I have observed that whenever people take in a lot of one art form it removes the enjoyment because of experience/overexposure. I can watch a horror film and tell you exactly what is coming next because I’ve seen hundreds of them. Luckily, our audiences are not connoisseurs of comedy with an alleged sophisticated palate.

I try to focus on improving my material and hope everyone else is working as hard to be the best they can be.