Steve Coogans production company obviously copied sitcom by little-known stand-up comic, High Court told
A comedian suing Steve Coogans production company has told the High Court it obviously copied elements of a sitcom he created.
A comedian suing Steve Coogans production company has told the High Court it obviously copied elements of a sitcom he created.
Joshua Rinkoff, also known as Harry Deansway, is claiming Baby Cow Production copied parts of his sitcom Shambles in its 2022 series Live at The Moth Club (LATMC).
Mr Rinkoff, who created, wrote and directed two series of Shambles said producers working on LATMC would have seen some or all of his show and obviously copied both the format and distinctive elements of the sitcom.
LATMC, which is set at a run-down comedy club, was first released in 2022 and includes real life comedians performing stand-up and sketches.
Mr Rinkoff claims that some of the characters in the show are identical to those in his web series, released in 2013, Shambles, and that even the jokes are similar.
A comedian suing Steve Coogans, pictured, production company has claimed producers obviously copied elements of a sitcom he created
Mr Rinkoff, pictured, who created, wrote and directed two series of Shambles said producers working on LATMC would have seen some or all of his show
He says he is going ahead with legal action for the principle and even compared it to a classic David and Goliath clash.
Meanwhile Baby Cow Productions strongly refute the allegations and say there are no substantial similarities between the two shows that would lead one, in context, to believe one has been copied from the other.
At a hearing in London on Monday, Tim Sampson, on behalf of Mr Rinkoff, said in written submissions that Shambles was freely available to watch online and had been shared widely on social media by individuals connected to the comedy scene, including producers and writers associated with LATMC.
Dr Sampson argued there were numerous high-level similarities between the two shows, such as both being set in a real comedy club, interspersing genuine live comedy acts and the use of fly-on-the-wall documentary style, that simply could not all have arisen by coincidence.
The barrister said that although the plotlines of two episodes, LATMCs Dont Go In There and Shambles High Spirits, were not identical they were clearly based on the same premise - a false belief that the club is haunted.
Mr Rinkoff says the series bears a striking similarity to his web series, Shambles (pictured), which is also set in a run-down comedy club
Live at the Moth Club is set in a run-down comedy club. Pictured: Seb Cardinal (left) and Dustin Demri-Burns (right), who appeared in the show
He argued that LATMCs writers made a tweak to their episode to avoid their version being a direct copy.
Jonathan Hill, on behalf of Baby Cow Productions - which Coogan co-founded in the 1990s - said the writers who were brought in to work on LATMC were unaware of Shambles.
He argued that LATC is a mockumentary, not a sitcom, and one of its key features is that it presents substantial passages of actual stand-up, which Shambles does not.
Mr Hill later said the similar real-life settings and the unsurprising features of showing comedy club personnel are all the series have in common.
He added: As can be immediately seen by watching the shows, the two are very different and, leaving aside the defendants evidence that Shambles was not copied or referred to when making LATMC, it is deeply implausible that LATMC was in any way copied from Shambles.
The hearing in front of Recorder Amanda Michaels, is due to conclude on Tuesday with a decision expected in writing at a later date.
