Did The Daily Show Steal a Joke From Another Comedian?

On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart lampooned the weekend's Tea Party Convention and Sarah Palin's handwritten note. One of his jokes concerned Palin's use of the "High-School-Chem-Test" method of reminders. It was a great joke, but was it original?

The joke made by Stewart:

You really need to remind yourself to 'lift American spirits?' Unless 'lift American spirits' is a note to steal a carton of cigarettes.

It was a solid joke, the only problem being that James Urbaniak (TV's Dr. Venture of The Venture Bros.) made the same joke over the weekend on Twitter:

After the joke was made, Urbaniak (and concerned fans) were almost beside themselves that Stewart copied Urbaniak's tweet almost word-for-word. Thus launching an extensive Twitter investigation:

Clearly, Urbaniak is not actually upset with this development. The world of comedy is filled with comedians stealing and buying material from each other. It is well documented that Dennis Leary ripped-off Bill Hicks wholesale and that Carlos Mencia hasn't made an original joke in his entire career.

So what should we make of all this? Was it just a coincidence because it was an obvious joke? Or will there be hell to pay in The Daily Show's writer's room?

UPDATE

Looks like our thorough investigation into the dark bowels of the comedic world turned out to be nothing more than a coincidence, where two comedic minds think of the same joke. Scandal averted... for now.

[The Daily Show]