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Jimmy Kimmel accused of stealing joke from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

By Emily Sweeney Globe Staff,February 27, 2017, 1:40 p.m.
Host Jimmy Kimmel onstage during the 89th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif.Kevin Winter/Getty Images

When Jimmy Kimmel joked about an actor’s weight loss at the Oscars on Sunday night, his punch line sounded vaguely familiar.

“Andrew Garfield lost 40 pounds — where is Andrew? You can barely even see him he got so thin. There he is,” said Kimmel. “He lost 40 pounds for his role in the movie ‘Silence.’ It was an astonishing physical transformation that hasn’t been attempted since every actress in every role ever.”

Garfield and the rest of the audience had a good laugh, but some astute observers noticed that the joke was eerily similar to one told by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the Golden Globes in 2014. Matthew McConaughey was the butt of their joke back then, and Fey said: “For his role in ‘Dallas Buyers Club,’ he lost 45 pounds, or what actresses call, being in a movie.”

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Well, you know what they say . . . imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. So was this a perfect example of a recycled joke? Or was it pure coincidence? Alas, we don’t have the answers to those questions, but what we do know is the Twittersphere reacted to the gag swiftly and harshly.

One Twitter user wrote: “Anyone else notice that Kimmel stole that Tina Fey joke about female actors and weight....?? Anyone?”

Another tweeted: “That joke about Andrew Garfield was so funny that Tina Fey made it about Matthew McConaughey three years ago.”

Another Twitter user summed up the situation like this: “My Twitter feed right now: Men: Kimmel did a good job. Solid opening. Women: Kimmel totally stole a joke from Tina Fey. End him.”

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