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From The Sports Guy's (former JKL writer) mailbag...

At first I thought he ripped off AC but then thought maybe AC ripped him off. And obviously, I dont mean "ripped off" in a negative connotation -- friends develop jokes and share them with each other.

Q: I wanted to address this paragraph in your ESPYs column where you complained about the Sports Gal's constant compliments of Tom Brady. First of all, great O.J. joke. But secondly, you mean to tell me that you can write countless articles about the top 10 hotties of the last 25 years (or something like that), but she can't say Tom Brady's hot?! C'mon, be fair!

-- Ellie, Chicago

SG: Yeah, but still.

(The greatest three-word comeback in the history of arguments.)

• The Sports Guy Mailbag

—Marc

Hey Marc,

As any Sports Guy fan knows, Bill is a big fan of Adam's (having worked with him on JKL for over a year). Simmons has expoused the wonders of Adam's comic genius on more than one occasion, and even drops a few Carolla-isms every now and then ("Good times," "Yeah, but still").

Just because comics share similar (or the same) expressions/mannerisms doesn't mean that someone's being ripped off. Furthermore, in an environment like a TV writer's room, a LOT of stuff gets amalgamated into one source-- in this case, Adam and Jimmy. You think Conan/Jon Stewart/Adam Sandler/et al came up with all their mannerisms and idiosyncrasies on their own? Heck no. They have hardworking teams making sure they stay funny.

Jerry Seinfeld is the quintessential example of this phenomenon. A funny and creative guy, yes, but he'd be nowhere without Larry David. Looking back, "Seinfeld" was as much Larry as Jerry.

[pause]

Whoa. Sorry, don't know where all that came from.

—Agent 007

Agent 007,

I thought I covered that when I said "And obviously, I dont mean 'ripped off' in a negative connotation -- friends develop jokes and share them with each other." But, uhhh, I guess thanks for repeating what I said. All I was saying was I wonder who came up with it first. "Yeah but still" is one of Adam's newer bits/sayings.

—Marc

Note to self: read all posts completely before responding.

Sorry.

—Agent 007

Agent 007,

Now you are making me feel bad. Any fan of Bill Simmons cant be a bad guy. It takes all kinds! Good times!

—Marc

Was Bill Simmons fired or did he quit JKL?

—j4k3

Shutup, you screwballs...........

—Nosuchsoul

Yeah, but still is pretty generic though, lots of people use it, Adam has just been overt about it.

—piesore

Simmons quit -- him and Kimmel are still friends as Kimmel wrote a column with him.

—Marc