Comedians in Court as U.K. Trial Kicks Off Over Sitcom ‘Copied’ by Steve Coogan’s Production Company

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman London’s High Court could have been mistaken for the Comedy Store on Monday after a stellar line-up of entertainers took to the witness stand to testify in a case over a “copied” sitcom.

Comedian Harry Deansway, who filed the lawsuit under his legal name Joshua Rinkoff, has accused Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow of copying his 2013YouTube series “Shambles,” which blended sitcom and stand-up.

Coogan, who co-founded Baby Cow alongside producer Henry Normal in 1998 before selling the majority shareholding to BBC Studios, is not named in the suit and there is no suggestion he was involved in the alleged copycat series, titled “Live at the Moth Club.” Day to day operations at the prodco are managed by CEO Sarah Monteith while Coogan remains a shareholder and creative director.

Deansway alleges that it is Baby Cow’s comedy chief Rupert Majendie, with whom he’d both worked and socialized over a number of years on the U.K.