Alex Calleja admits getting hurt over accusations of stealing 'car wash' joke

Alex Calleja admitted that he was hurt when he got accused of stealing the car wash joke that he performed in a show.

The stand-up comedian addressed the issue when he sat down for an interview on "Fast Talk With Boy Abunda" on Wednesday.

"Masakit 'yung salitang nakaw eh, nakarating 'yon sa anak ko. Nakaw talaga 'yung word na iniiwasan namin, puwedeng 'uy may similarity tayo,' puwedeng in a nice way eh," he said.

"Puwede naman kayong mag-usap eh. Mahirap 'yung nakaw eh, kasi hindi naman natin alam kung sino ang nagsimula," he added.

A comedy writer accused Alex of stealing the "car wash" joke, but he later apologized after Alex presented proof that he wrote the material.

Alex accepted the apology and shared his official statement, which included a warning about cyber libel from his legal counsel.

Tito Boy also asked him for his thoughts about stealing jokes in the comedy field.

"Common ito. Mahirap kasi dapat huwag kopyang-kopya. Huwag word by word, mahirap 'yon. Nakaw talaga 'yon," he said.

According to Alex, it's normal to have the same premise of the joke as long as you have different wording and lines for the punchline.

"Pero 'yung daplisan, premise, because madami ng premise, OK lang 'yon. Kapag daplisan ng premise, meaning pareho kayong nagbitaw ng car wash pero iba naman 'yung wording-wording, 'yung delivery," he said.

"Kasi ano 'yan eh, ang laki ng mundo eh, may madadaplisan talaga pero iniiwasan namin ang salitang nakaw."

—Jade Veronique Yap/MGP, GMA Integrated News