Stealing jokes

It's always nice when you discover that your blog is being read by departed Jewish comedians.

A couple of years ago, writing about classical music's decline, I reported a joke my wife and I make about our concert series: "the average age of people at the concerts is deceased."

I discovered this week that Henny Youngman, who died in 1998, has stolen our joke: Mimi Sheraton "recounted schmoozing with Henny Youngman at the Carnegie Deli, where he quipped that the 'average age of the customer here is deceased.'"

Or maybe he stole it from Milton Berle, who stole it from us, after he died in 2002.