Talk:Denis Leary

? O'Brien / Leary relationship

Request for information: It's certainly true it has been said that O'Brien & Leary were cousins, but unless it's further specified it's fairly meaningless, and I suspect they may be more distant cousins than first cousins (Conan's parents are Thomas O'Brien & Ruth Reardon, Denis's parents are John Leary & Nora, so unless Nora's maiden name is O'Brien or Reardon, they're not first cousins). Does anyone know the actual relationship? -- Someone else 00:51 28 May 2003 (UTC)

Nora O'Sullivan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.79.98.9 (talk) 04:01, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

It was discussed on Late Night a few years ago. They're distant cousins through marriage; they do not share any blood. They did not know each other growing up (O'Brien's from Brookline, while Leary's from Worcester), and O'Brien didn't know about the connection until Leary discovered it and told him. They do live fairly close to each other in Connecticut (O'Brien has a weekend home in Washington and Leary's main home is in Roxbury), but they aren't extremely close outside of their professional connections. In any case, calling them "cousins" gives the wrong impression; it should be "distant cousins through marriage". I wrote it as "cousin through marriage" in O'Brien's article, but I'm going to add in a "distant" there as soon as I'm done correcting this article. Beginning 22:01, Jul 20, 2004 (UTC)

Material theft

I have provided the release yearon Leary's album which allegedly contains stolen material, and the Hicks album and video from which the material was allegedly stolen, as the claim that Hicks recorded the material before Leary is obviously central to that allegation.

By the way, that was me. --Thedangerouskitchen 03:36, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Picture

He looks like a deranged insect in this picture, can we get a new one? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jack Cain (talk • contribs) 01:21, 3 June 2005 (UTC)

This is a really bad picture of him. One from The Ref would be cool but just anything that doesn't look like a picture someone really creepy snuck up on him for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.112.119.142 (talk) 04:34, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Movies?

Virgin Suicides, I can't remember him from that movie (I did however watch it with just half an eye), but more interestingly I can't find him on IMDB either. Whilst not entirely an authorative source, it certainly sounds curious that they would forget such a "mainstream" actor in such a "mainstream" movie...

04:22, 10 August 2005 (UTC) -andreala — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andreala (talk • contribs)

Drivel

American radio is concerned about the right wing and christian audience? Who wrote this drivel? --adembroski 20:34, 25 Oct 2005

"Similiar"

In the course of using Google to search for the typo "similiar" (which should be: 'similar') I came upon this page, and made my correction. I didn't notice I was correcting quoted text (Sorry!), and have since reverted my edit. However, if the indented section under the "Material Controversy" header is indeed a quote, I suggest placing a sic sign after the quoted typo. It's exact location in the text is here: "[...]that sounded incredibly similiar to old Hicks[...]". Sorry, again! --Dzhatse 00:07, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Clarification Needed

Here are two consecutive sentences which may be contradicting each other:

"The friendship ended abruptly as a result. Leary has said he wanted to patch things up before Hicks died in 1994, though this confession happened several years after Hicks' death.

While it has never been proven conclusively that Leary actually leeched any of his jokes from other comedians other than from Hicks (a claim which he fiercely denies), some comedians (notably Joe Rogan and Greg Giraldo as pro-Hicks comedians against Leary) and especially fans loyal to Hicks consider aspects of Leary's act and persona to be stolen."

What is this saying? The first sentence seems to be saying that Leary confessed to stealing Hicks' material, but the second sentence makes it unclear as to whether Leary is fiercely denying having stolen Hicks' material, or fiercely denying having stolen OTHERS' material... if it's latter, wording is confusing and the statement that these claims are coming from "pro-hicks" comedians is part of the reason for the confusion, making it seem like a reference to Hicks' material being the allegedly stoeln material in question.

If it's the former and Leary is fiercely denying having stoeln Hicks' material, then these two statements need to be reconciled as they are totally oppositional. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.35.93.97 (talk) 03:16, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Surely Leary could just have wanted to kiss and make up regardless of any guilt? Orbtastic 20:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I read it to mean that he confessed that he wanted to sort things out with Bill Hicks, not necessarily that he was admitting to stealing his act. It doesn't seem to be a contradiction to me, but some sources would help! ~~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by ThunderPeel2001 (talk • contribs) 17:34, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

"Selfish" - opinion or fact?

This line:

This new fund was established because the families of the Worcester fire were selfish and did not want to include New York families into the fund; as a result Leary created a separate fund for New York.

Is including the description of the familes being "selfish" based on fact or rumor/opinion? It doesn't seem appropriate if it's merely the opinion of the author for the families could have perfectly valid reasons behind their decision. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Elsebet (talk • contribs) 01:15, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

MTV REMOTE CONTROL

What was not included in this article that Denis Leary along with Adam Sandler and Colin Quinn were bit players who did sketches for the MTV game show, Remote Control in the late 80s and early 90s. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rggca61 (talk • contribs) 00:40, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Libertarian?

The article is in the "Libertarians" category, though there is no mention of Leary's being a libertarian in the article itself. Apparently he described himself as such on the Tom Snyder show in 1998. [1] I considered incorporating this into the article, but there was no obvious place to put it. Perhaps a "Trivia" section should be created? dbtfz^talk 02:02, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

okay now it says he has an "overt affinity" for libertarianism. Is this encycopaedia speak? I mean, does it tell the reader if he is a libertarian, if he's a libertarian sympathiser (whatever that is) or does he just consider libertarians to be cute? Does anyone here who doesn't hate Leary know which it is? I avoid contributing to articles on things & people I don't like for the whole NPOV thing. - and you will know know me by the trail of dead. (talk) 03:15, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

No talk about hockey!

There is no talk about hockey in his life - which is something he's always been very vocal about. He's even mixed hockey into his show, Rescue Me.

He is a HUGE hockey fan, the Bruins (I think but maybe it's the Rangers), he's done a video of some sort with Wayne Gretzky, and has a yearly celebrity hockey game that he does for a charity (or probably his firefighters foundation). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ivand67 (talk • contribs) 07:05, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

-- He's a Bruins fan. There is no possible way he would ever be a Rangers fan, and he has a close relationship w/ Bruins legend Cam Neely. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.232.209.228 (talk) 05:51, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Bill Hicks section

I gotta say there's narry a source here for these allegations and it goes on way too long thus I'm tempted to cut the entire section. Am I wrong to do so? Jolomo 03:23, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

I tend to agree that this section should be cut from the entry. Speculation has it's place, but when you going into such detail without citing any sources things become confused. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chadq (talk • contribs) 07:50, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

I'd like some (any) evidence of material theft. There doesn't seem to be any similarity at all between the acts. Milo99 00:27, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Nice try, Denis. The evidence was cited. What do you need, the videos played back 30 times like the Zapruder film in JFK? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.10.172.243 (talk) 08:15, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

No, I just think the article could use some specific examples. What evidence has been cited? They both did material on Jim Fixx? Similar jokes/quotes from both acts would be useful. Milo99 12:01, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Since we're talking about performers, the best evidence is comparing video footage. This way you can see the similarity of presentation as well as the words. It's not as compelling of a demonstration with just comparing words although that will probably have to suffice for now. Give me a week and I'll put together a text comparison and timeline. Time willing, I will put together a video presentation and host it on YouTube. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.230.27.34 (talk) 18:26, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

The only part that really bothers me about this section is the claim that Hicks and Leary were friends BUT THEN Hicks heard No Cure for Cancer and ended their friendship. Is there a citation for this? MrBlondNYC 18:48, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I've cleared up some of the confusion: No-one was *just* accusing him of stealing material (which would seem petty), but of rather stealing his Bill Hick's ACT (ie. his stage persona, the "angry comedian" who talks about similar topics). No-one could argue that there's a similarity between the two acts, in fact many people I've shown Bill Hicks to have said "have you heard Denis Leary? Because you'll probably like him, too!". I just assumed they were cut from the same cloth, so to speak, but when I learned the *real* accusations (that he stole Bill Hick's whole act), it made more sense why people thought he stole from Bill Hicks. Just to clarify: In 'No Cure for Cancer' Denis Leary showed a whole new "angry" stage persona that he had never used on stage before. Not only did this stage persona talk about a lot of the topics (if not *all* the topics) that Bill Hicks discussed, he also used much of the same material. Before NCFC he was a lot more mild mannered and didn't cover the same topics as Bill Hicks. Those who knew him back than were shocked by the transformation, which is why many comedians, and those who knew Bill Hicks, started to accuse him of stealing Bill's act.

It should be mentioned that although Bill Hicks thought Denis Learly had stolen his act, he didn't bother persuing any legal action. Bill wasn't that type of guy, and simply wanted to get on with his act, although he did comment on it in public. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ThunderPeel2001 (talk • contribs) 17:46, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Not only did Leary steal Bill Hicks "act", he stole his jokes and ideas, almost word-for-word. Do your own research --- get some CD's and compare it. Denis Leary's entire career consists of semi-refabrications of Bill Hicks (changed so little that even a moron can tell it's stolen) interspersed with some cursing. Hey, I love Leary's work on the excellent "Rescue Me" and hope the show NEVER goes off the air, but until he admits to ripping off Bill Hicks, he will always be waiting for the other shoe to fall, whic is the day that "60 minutes" takes him to task on his theivery -- right now, only the comedic world knows about it, plus all of Bill Hicks' fans. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.117.178.14 (talk) 23:13, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Okay. Here's the deal. Denis Leary and Bill Hicks both arrived in NY in the late 80's - ask Bill Scheft - monologue writer for David Letterman and at that time the host of Catch A Rising Star's new talent night. Bill said to Denis and Bill - seperately - you guys gotta meet each other. Then came the onslaught of ny club owners ALREADY and IMMEDIATELY telling Bill and Denis that their acts were too similar. FROM THE FIRST DAY THEY MET. Then, Caroline Hersch - owner of the famed comedy club Caroline's - started booking Bill and Denis as CO-HEADLINERS - meaning at the 8 o'clock show one guy would open and during the 10 o'clock show the other guy would open - Bill Scheft actually hosted several of these gigs - both Bill and Denis killed doing the exact same mnaterial people now accuse Denis of stealing. Anyways - here's the facts - they were friends and comrades in arms against the comedy 'disco' bullshit of the times plus - Denis has a comedy band that includes three guys who were in his band at emerson college in 1975 - so the idea that he ripped off music from bill hicks is just another ridiculous conspiracy - denis had a record called punk baby / mailman that came out in 1979 - ten years BEFORE he met bill hicks. do your fucking homework. this stroy flies because bill hicks died a tragic early death and denis did the awful disservice of becoming famous. Who wrote his HBO special Lock 'n Load? Who wrote the movie 'Monument Ave.'? Who co-wrote all 19 episodes of the ABC sitcom 'The Job'. Who wrote the movie 'Blow'? Who writes 13 episodes of 'Rescue Me' every year. Who wrote 'The Asshole Song' and 'Fuck You' and 'The Mel Gibson Blues"? I guess Bill's been pretty busy from the beyond. Grow up. Bill was pissed that Denis made it before he did. It's a shame he didn't live long enough to prove just how different he and Denis's talents were. Check the facts - the real facts. Check them deep. Stop ignoring reality in order to fuel yr own fantasies. Denis and Bill - I saw them live in 1989 at a club in Greenwich Village - were - at that time and even now - startlingly original comics. I watched them both rant and rave about elvis and god and jim fixx and smoking and i laughed my ass off. Denis didn't rip bill off. Bill didnt rip denis off. they complimented each other. bill died. denis didn't. get over it. or - is bill supplying denis with all the funny shit he says on leno lettermen elllen oprah etc etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.157.243.30 (talk) 00:49, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Recent edits

Alistair M: Hi there! Unfortunately you altered my comments so they became completely factually inaccurate! (For a start, Joe Rogan clearly states that he wasn't aware of Denis Leary before his reinvented stage persona). Also, it's clear from the number of people that have heard the infamous NCFC "joke" (that was popularized after Hick's death) and Tim McIntire's own comments, that Tim McIntire did not invent that joke. Therefore there must be other people within the comedy industry who felt the same way (two of which are mentioned further down in the same article, for example). With this in mind, please do not limit the statement to being attributing to just two people (ie "these two comedians believe x and y") when there's a wealth of evidence that they are not the only two people in professional comedy circuit with this view, (hence they are only being used as an example).

Finally, you must understand that the allegations of plagiarism stemmed from Leary's change in on-stage persona, not just the actual material that he allegedly stole. In fact, the alleged verbatim material theft occured after Leary had already reinvented his on-stage character, and only cemented many people's view that he had stolen Hick's act. (You have to remember that a stage persona/act and who you are in real life are very different things!) Please do some research on the timeline and nature of the actual allegations. Thanks a lot. Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker 01:29, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

You need to read the box at the top of this page. The one that starts "This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons." AlistairMcMillan 06:01, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Please stop altering the original document back and forth! If you disagree with the edits then please let's discuss them here. I've already explained that Tim McIntire and Joe Rogan are not the only comedians/industry insiders who felt the same way (two more are mentioned further down in the same article, for example!). Plus since Tim McIntire admits to not inventing the industry joke, there must be at least one additional person who told it to Tim in the first place. That makes a grand total of at the very least, five people, meaning that your edits to change it to say "only x and y believe z" is misleading and factually inaccurate.

I'm not saying that further edits are not necessary to bring this part of the article up to scratch, but I feel your edits are coming from a personal angle, rather than a detached editorial point of view.

If you feel like something can be done to improve the quality of this part of the article, then please let's discuss it here, as I agree it's not perfect. Thanks. Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker 13:15, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Can somebody please leave Joe Rogan's statements on the wikipedia page, I just saw them and they were removed but 30 seconds later when I hit the back button. That kind of revisionism is ridiculous. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.162.107.88 (talk) 19:02, 16 February 2007 (UTC).

Hicks, contd.

Max Overload today removed sourced material. The justification for this was non-neutral point of view. However, the material he removed was a community effort that recognized this issue and in fact, the Boston Globe reference was included to show that even friends of Denis Leary acknowledged Bill Hicks. The discussion page should be used before deletion of content that has been vetted by the community. Shall we discuss the deletion of this content? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.27.15.81 (talk) 08:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

The Sourced material was multiple friends of Bill Hicks repeating the same accusation that Leary stole material. No comparisons of actual routines (which are easily available in audio and video). The use of the Boston Globe article, which was referring to a joke told during a Roast, to support accusations of material theft is disenginious at best. No actual evidence has been cited. The material on the accusations of plagiarism had been given undue weight. Max Overload 04:52, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Wow. I'm not sure how to respond. You deleted the entire section without any community discussion? Let me start that no one was using the joke that was censored from the roast as evidence to support accusations of material theft. It is unclear how you drew that conclusion. Indeed, the reference to the Boston Globe article was for people like yourself who claim that this issues is a result of "multiple friends of Bill Hicks repeating the same accusation that Leary stole material." It shows that even a friend of Leary can make a joke about it. We need look no further than this week's events to see how a popular standup comedian can be dropped by his agent for bringing light on plagiarism in the stand-up comedy world. (Joe Rogan was dropped by his agent this week for the incident with Carlos Mencia). Plagiarism happens in the stand-up world. We can have an open community discussion about this as has been the practice until your arrival or we can attempt to unilaterally suppress this information. I think the response to your deletions are going to be severe. I'll sit back and watch the circus unfold. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.27.15.81 (talk) 00:44, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Wait a minute! The section is called "Accusations of plagiarism". It means just that. "Accusations". If someone is accused of a crime, it is perfectly acceptable to write about what they are being accused of in an article as long as no judgment is made by author. The section is about the accusations themselves and does not have to prove whether they are true. Just that the accusations occurred. Even Leary himself commented about them in Playboy (he denies it) and Hicks also commented on it in one of his final interviews (he sarcastically denied it). Since the parties involved commented on it themselves, this is noteworthy and should be included as long as the section itself does not accuse Leary of plagiarism but only states the accusations against him. Deleting the entire section is wrong. MrBlondNYC 06:25, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

This so-called Max Overload has a reported history of consistent vandalism and was almost once banned from wikipedia. see the bottom of his page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Max_Overload — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.27.15.81 (talk) 08:27, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

The preceeding personal attack was brought to you, of course, by an unregistered user. The "accusations" are given far too much weight in the sub-section, and overall, when compared with the otherwise sparse and incomplete information offered on Leary. His entire filmography isn't even copied in. The information could be formatted much better if the intent was only to make sure the information was out there. Using sources like a plain text file linked off the back of someone's blog doesn't strike me as neutral POV. A much smaller and cleaner section could be written with a much more neutral POV. Max Overload 11:51, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

You can't write about accusations without writing about the people doing the accusing. If someone is accused of wrongdoing, of course you have to include the POV of the accusers themselves. That is NOT the POV of the writer of the article. The only blog linked is of Joe Rogan who is all over the internet recently for making similar accusations about Carlos Mencia. The "plain text file" you may be referring to is of a comedian that knew Hicks personally. I added the rebuttal by Leary himself. But honestly, that is the only rebuttal out there. The fact of the matter is there are more articles and links available from the accusers than there are of anyone denying it. If five people accuse someone of theft, is it non-neutral POV to write about it? No. What is non-neutral POV is if the writer were report the accusations as fact. The fact being reported is that the accusations are out there. MrBlondNYC 00:25, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Joe Rogan's lied enough about his past that I wouldn't include any info from him. His recent grandstanding all over the internet doesn't help his credibility in my opinion. He "connected" a rant about Leary to his crusade against Mencia to give it a little more punch. The only person he's really gone after is Mencia, and only *gasp* after Mencia made fun of him on a radio show. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.117.33.238 (talk) 07:55, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about Rogan's past lying but that's not what this is about. Again, accusations don't necessarily have to be credible. They are accusations. The section is not about whether the accusations are true. It is about the accusations occurring. Whether they are true is still up for debate. Even ignoring Joe Rogan - and this is the one thing that cannot be ignored - Leary himself commented on it. That means the accusations are widespread enough that the interviewer knew about it and Leary himself knows about it. He answers the question as if he's heard it many times before. MrBlondNYC 03:02, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Looks to me like the allegations are laid out there with witness testimony, so to speak.

Would people stop baaaaawing if we tacked a "these allegations were never formally pursued by Hicks, nor is there conclusive proof" on the end? Does Leary have a response or rebuttal to any of this? Why not add that in? For balance, y'know. - and you will know know me by the trail of dead. (talk) 03:24, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Bill Scheft weighs in

Hello, it's me, Bill Scheft. Yes, I was one of the emcees at Catch a Rising Star in the early-mid 80s. Let me tell you everything I remember.

My girlfriend/wife to be, Adrianne Tolsch (also an emcee at Catch), was working in Houston, saw Hicks and told him if he ever got to New York, she would get him an audition for Letterman at the club. He came, she did, he was booked (I'm thinking 83/84), and that's how that started.

Denis Leary I met at Emerson College during a Catch-sponsored audition for an HBO special, "Campus Comedy," in 1983. He didn't get the show, but I remember him because he was older than the other students. I think he was a graduate teacher.

Hicks moved to NYC ca.85-86-87. I would bring him up at Catch when he was in town, and remember working with him a lot at Carolines and the Improv. Great guy who loved other comics. He asked me to open for him at the Bottom Line when he recorded his first album, "Relentless" (?), which was a great night. I think you hear my introduction on the album.

Leary I don't remember seeing again until after he was on MTV. Maybe 88. We did a few shows at Carolines, and then I opened for him at Rascals on the Jersey shore in February, 1990. That I remember because it was the weekend Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson. Denis and I also got along well. We had the Boston sports connection.

I vaguely remember those shows when they co-headlined at Carolines and I may very well have introduced them to each other. I remember they both had bits about smoking, but, as I recall, they were different enough that they could do them one after the other. There was another topic that was similar. Maybe Catholicism.

Which,at long last, brings me to my point. And again, this is not a discussion or argument. This is just my experience with these two guys. I was primarily an emcee for years, which meant you saw and knew everyone's act. And sometimes, you had to be the comedy police. You had to take a guy aside after a set and say, "Hey, that's Glenn Hirsch's bit. You can't do that here." Frankly, I never saw it. To me, there was no comparison between the two. Hicks was a prolific writer, get out of the business funny, with a unique presentation. His act was material-driven. Denis was good-looking, familiar-funny like a neighbor or cousin and his act was character-driven. That's why when other comics started talking about Denis stealing shit from Bill, I was surprised. I used to think, "What did I miss? Sure, they trod over some of the same ground, but you can't compare the two." As I said, I never saw it.

(Shameless self-promotion: I gave Denis the line "I smoke, I eat red meat, and I only eat red meat from fucking cows who smoke...." I would never have thought to give Hicks a line. I couldn't pretend to write in his voice, and what did Bill Hicks need with more material?)

Lastly, and I think this bears mentioning, comics love to bring up and point out guys who copped their material ("Hey Bobby, how's my act doing?")to other comics. For whatever reason, Bill Hicks never brought up the Leary thing to me. Never. Enough. I'm happy for Denis and I miss Bill. This either clears everything or nothing up. You're right. Nothing.

70.18.221.92 02:26, 2 July 2007 (UTC)Bill Scheft

Hi Bill, thanks for your input! There's two possible contradictions/misunderstandings here. Firstly, Denis apparently changed his whole persona, ie. the character that he played on stage, which you've got to admit, is pretty similar to Hicks's personality. It's the same angry guy with similar politics. That's nothing, of course, if Leary had always had that character... Secondly, Hicks himself was very upset about what he saw as the theft of his act, as many of his closest friends have attested and even he mentioned in occasional interviews. I don't think Hicks was a bitter or vindictive man, though, and it seems he didn't want to make a fuss of the situation himself.Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker 22:58, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

At the end of the day anyone who has been lucky enough to hear Hick's material knows one thing: Leary ain't as good regardless who wrote his material. That's one thing Denis' success can't change. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.70.8.13 (talk) 16:01, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Conclusive proof

I may be an unregistered user here but there is conclusive proof of Leary's thievery. He has released DVD's that are almost verbatim Bill Hicks jokes. Almost verbatim because his comedic timing and delivery in no way match that of the original joke teller. You can argue all you want about it but its out there and no ammount of saying "thats not evidence" will stop that. Also, your stupid book when you made the comment that if there is anything you dont like "Bill Hicks wrote that", i feel like pointing out that Leary's comedy is drivel and stupid anger and that Bill Hicks material...i liked. Shove your book up your ass Leary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.192.34.46 (talk) 11:55, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

There is not conclusive proof of thievery. There are DVDs of Leary's material, but where is the DVDs or CDs of Hicks making the same jokes first? Leary having a similar persona, smoking and being caustic, is not proof. Telling jokes about the same subjects that were in the news, like Jim Fixx and Judas Priest fans' suicides, is not proof. There needs to be citations of the wording, the punchlines, the material itself. It seems like there's a bit of a crusade here by Hicks' fans who see him as a kind of a saint because he died young, and Leary as crude because he became famous on MTV and playing obnoxious characters. I've listened to all of Hicks and Leary's albums, and I consider Hicks to be more sophisticated but both were funny albums that I enjoyed. Unless there is real evidence of blatant theft, then it's pointless to attack Leary just because he lived to be successful. He has talent of his own and did his material in a style that is distinct from Hicks. Saying they sound the same does Hicks a disservice, because whereas Leary had an over-the-top character voice, screaming and ranting in an exaggerated tone, Hicks spoke more in his own voice and had a more thoughtful, pessimistic tone. They don't sound the same to me at all. That's one subtle way in which Hicks is better, and if you think Leary is copying Hicks then you don't get Hicks. If you're saying Leary is ripping off Hicks material then quote them with sources. Walterego (talk) 23:18, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Alcoholism: vandalism?

Is there a reason this says he's an alcoholic? It's unsourced - possibly vandalism? It seems strange to use "alcoholic" in the line that defines him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.40.26.124 (talk) 03:20, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

I've taken it out as unsourced. Good catch, the blank edit a couple hours later probably threw off people's watchlists. -- Jonel | Speak 03:29, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

old posts

6/12/07 NYTimes mentions....

"...the recent pickup by Fox of “Canterbury’s Law,” a drama about a troubled criminal defense lawyer shepherded by Mr. Leary’s production company," — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.192.34.8 (talk) 07:32, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Removed POV edit

In Bill Hicks section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.38.180.204 (talk) 21:11, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Did he ever use the name O'Leary.

Did Denis Leary ever use the name O'Leary, which would have been the original name of his father. Leary is uncommon in Ireland, but many Irish immigrants removed the O on arrival in the USA.--Dmol (talk) 20:10, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Final Film

I am new to wikipedia, so please excuse any faux pas. I saw that there was no article for his film "Final", so I made one. Since then the entire article and any mention of it in the Denis Leary wiki has been deleted. This film is incredible and deserves exposure. If my article was not up to wiki standards, I am sorry. Can someone please make a suitable article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.76.98.151 (talk) 08:04, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

family guy episode ?

there is no mention of denis leary here. Machete97 (talk) 15:44, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Ford Commercial

Just saw this on TV and it sounded a lot like him. Noticed it's not yet on his page, I do a YouTube search so I could source for you guys on here and what do you know. He's even in the tags for the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnfE5zODgak mcnichoj (talk) 04:47, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

plagiarism Concerns from the Indian mystic Osho

Leary plagiarized most of the lyrics from his song, "usage of the word f*ck" from a humorous speech given by the Indian mystic, Osho, in 1984. Most of the lyrics in the song are taken from Osho's speech, verbatim, which was delivered before Leary's career had even started.

Here are a couple links for proof.

the lyrics to Leary's song:

http://www.actionext.com/names_d/dennis_leary_lyrics/usage_of_the_word_fuck.html

and the original speech by Osho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D7rWLzloOI

I'm utterly shocked that no one has noticed this as of yet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.131.68.184 (talk) 02:57, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

9/11

I would like to comment on this article: http://www.911blogger.com/node/18702

Specifically the link on that article to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCsISjkXvKI

What is Leary thinking? He is an intelligent guy but the comments he makes on this issue are so easily proved to be false that the comedian has become the joke. I mean, it is almost as if he is trying to make himself look stupid. If he is going to defend the original conspiracy theory, fine. But Denis, please, do it more intelligently and stop making yourself look like a fool. I enjoy your comedy and Rescue me - please stop making yourself look like an idiot.

Should not his outspoken co-star and friend on 'Rescue Me', Daniel Sunjata, point out the obvious floors in Leary's child-like commentry on the reason WTC7 collapsed?

I do not knock Leary for having his opinion, but I have seen kids state what he has stated and far better. Leary appears like he doesn't care about sounding like a fool in his explaining. Blatent mistake sin his reasoning and descriptions.

See Talk:Rescue_Me_(TV_series)#Season_5_.26_9.2F11_Conspiracy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.96.24.33 (talk) 08:25, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Daily Show

Denis Leary was a guest on the Daily Show in May 2009. Sincerally, C6541 (T↔C) at 01:13, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Accusations of Plagiarism: Louis C.K.

Someone needs to write about Denis allegedly stealing his "I'm an Asshole" song/routine from Louis C.K.

Here are a couple of YouTube links to provide you with a better understanding of this alleged event:

Louis C.K.'s allegation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwhxqnCyoGo

Denis Leary's response to said allegation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g81LCwrU-7k

Anyway, I would write about this subject myself but I am far too lazy and inarticulate. In short, I would just screw it up, but this definitely deserves to be addressed under the "Accusations of Plagiarism" heading on the main page. Thanks. -- Sovryn 21:45, 31 Oct, 2009 (UTC)

Material

Who did Denis Leary get his material from? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.197.240.90 (talk) 10:06, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Bill Hicks evidently.--Senor Freebie (talk) 01:22, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Parents

Today Denis Leary (again) said his parents were "Illegal Immigrants" -- Proud of it, as most Bay Staters are of all productive working-class people of the united states, legal or not. [quote] I was raised by illegal-alien Irish immigrants who taught me that anything worth having is worth suffering for so the desire to clear up a heavy bout of back pain by ingesting a handful of Vitamin A (known as Advil to the occasional user) is well-worth whatever possible future damage it may do to my liver, brain or eyeballs (I'm not exactly sure of what side effects Advil may produce because I've never bothered to read the warnings on the label -- the print is too small and I can never find my glasses). [/quote] [2] Beerdiver (talk) 23:48, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Irish-American?

I'm not sure if there is a policy on this, but is it necessary to identify him as Irish-American in the opening paragraph? He was born in the U.S., so that's only his ethnicity, not his nationality. Trektosaturday (talk) 19:00, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

WP:OPENPARA states "Ethnicity or sexuality should not generally be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability." GoingBatty (talk) 03:09, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

OK, thanks! :D Trektosaturday (talk) 03:57, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Trim TV shows section

I think listing every talk show Leary has appeared on overshadows the acting work he's done. I suggest that we trim the TV shows section to only include those shows where he's appeared as an actor or performed standup. Thoughts? GoingBatty (talk) 21:58, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for trimming this section. Should The Rosie O'Donnell Show also be removed, or was his appearance more than just a regular talk show appearance? GoingBatty (talk) 04:55, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Invited vandalism

A few minutes ago I was flipping through a TV lineup and stopped when I saw a show where someone was vandalizing this entry. It was "adult swim" on the Cartoon Network. I see there are a lot of IP vandalism edits lately; this is presumably the reason... and sho'nuff, it just happened again. Wnt (talk) 01:10, 25 May 2015 (UTC)