Comics blast 'joke thief' Chegwin

Comedians Simon Evans and Ed Byrne have attacked Keith Chegwin on Twitter for stealing jokes.

Chegwin responded to the accusations by claiming that most of the gags were either his or so old that they could not be credited to writers. When he became a trending topic on Twitter yesterday, he blamed the controversy on "the usual bunch of jealous comics".

According to Chortle, Simon Evans was one of the first comedians to complain to Chegwin after he posted a Milton Jones one-liner on Twitter. The joke he tweeted was: "My auntie Marge has been ill for so long we changed her name to 'I can’t believe she's not better'."

Evans said: "Cheggars old chap, you are no doubt acting out of good intentions but these jokes are written by professionals. They earn their keep telling them and it's really not on to just distribute them like this, without credit."

Stand-up Ed Byrne added: "I think you're wrong not crediting your sources. Of the last four jokes you tweeted one was Milton Jones and one was Lee Mack. Both working comics."

Chegwin responded to the remarks, commenting: "Most of the gags are my very own and original. Others are so old I'm not gonna start crediting dead people?

"I've really upset these standup comics. Most of them don't write good stuff they just refresh your memory.

"Look If I do a gag. I'm not worried - if you nick it for yourself. Good on ya... so long as it gives people a chuckle. Life is too short."