Columbia University's General Studies valedictorian Brian Corman copied a Patton Oswalt joke verbatim in his valedictory speech. Between this and Ann Curry's inability to identify which college she was addressing, this year's is one bum commencement crop. 
 
 Here's Corman's version… 
 
 …which is a direct knock-off of this Patton Oswalt joke, which was last knocked off barely a month ago, in a different high-profile joke-stealing snafu. Both times, Patton blew the whistle on his plagiarists. 
 
 Moral of the story: Don't steal Patton Oswalt's jokes. He will catch you, and he will tell everyone, and you will be ashamed. Both Columbia and Corman have since apologized for stealing Oswalt's schtick. [Spectrum, ArtsBeat] 
 
 Update: A communications director from Columbia reached out to send us the School of General Studies' full apology. Here it is: 
 
 It has come to our attention that a portion of our Valedictorian's remarks at this year's School of General Studies Class Day was taken from a comedy routine by Patton Oswalt. As an institution of higher learning that places a core value on respect for the works of others, we were surprised and disappointed to have learned of this matter today. Columbia University and the School of General Studies do not condone or permit the use of someone else's work without proper citation. The student speaker has appropriately issued an apology to his classmates and to Mr. Oswalt for failing to provide such attribution. Peter J. Awn 
 
 Dean 
 
 Columbia University School of General Studies 
 
 Previously: Ann Curry Has No Clue What College She Is Addressing ||||| The congratulations offered by the comedian Patton Oswalt to Brian Corman, the Columbia University 2010 School of General Studies valedictorian, in a Twitter message on Tuesday were hardly heartfelt: the online video linked to in that tweet showed that Mr. Corman had appropriated material from Mr. Oswalt’s standup routine in his valedictory speech, drawing an apology from the student and an admission by the university that it was “deeply distressed” by the incident. 
 
 On his Twitter account Mr. Oswalt, the “King of Queens” and “Ratatouille” star, wrote: “Congrats to Columbia University valedictorian Brian Corman! Great speech.” The tweet included a link to a YouTube video of Mr. Corman’s speech, given May 16 at the Class Day ceremony for the university’s School of General Studies. 
 
 In the speech, Mr. Corman, a political science major, shared a story that seemed to come from his firsthand experience about attending a “Physics for Poets” class and a student who challenged a “Star Trek”-theme question on an exam. 
 
 Mr. Oswalt has told a similar anecdote in his standup comedy. The Web site TrueSlant.com posted video of Mr. Oswalt performing his “Physics for Poets” routine in 2006. 
 
 In a telephone interview on Tuesday Mr. Oswalt said the actions of Mr. Corman – who cited the authors of other quotations in his speech – reflected people’s lack of respect for comedians. 
 
 “In people’s heads they think that comedians can’t possibly make up their own material,” Mr. Oswalt said. “They must get it out of joke books.” 
 
 These same people, Mr. Oswalt said, “just can’t imagine that a comedian can make up original stuff.” He added: “They’re like, ‘I can just take it. He didn’t make it up.’” 
 
 Mr. Corman did not immediately respond to an e-mail message sent to an account listed in his name. 
 
 Mr. Oswalt’s Twitter posting on Tuesday apparently drew enough attention to the YouTube video of Mr. Corman’s speech that the video was temporarily made private, meaning that its access was restricted to certain users. 
 
 The video was later restored for public viewing, with a message from the School of General Studies that read: 
 
 
 
 It has come to our attention that a portion of our Valedictorian’s address at this year’s Columbia University School of General Studies Class Day was taken from a comedy routine by Patton Oswalt. Until today we were unaware of this conflict, and as an institution of higher learning that upholds the highest standards of respect for the works of others, we are deeply distressed that this has occurred. Columbia University and the School of General Studies do not condone the use of someone else’s work without proper attribution. Mr. Corman has issued an apology to Patton Oswalt. 
 
 In a separate statement, Peter J. Awn, the dean of the Columbia University School of General Studies, wrote: “As an institution of higher learning that places a core value on respect for the works of others, we were surprised and disappointed to have learned of this matter today. Columbia University and the School of General Studies do not condone or permit the use of someone else’s work without proper citation.” 
 
 Mr. Oswalt said he was sent a note of apology by Mr. Corman. “He didn’t try to squirm out of it, unlike other people,” Mr. Oswalt said. “He said I stole it, should not have done it, it was wrong. Well, boom, there you go. Nice. That apology is an exception to a lot of other people.” 
 
 But Mr. Oswalt said that the note, which was sent to his managers, misspelled their names, and that Columbia’s statement on YouTube misspelled his name as “Patton Oswald.” 
 
 The comedian has previously used his Twitter account, as well as his MySpace page and personal blog, to confront performers who he believes have plagiarized his material. 
 
 While the Web has made Mr. Oswalt and other comedians better able to protect their material, he said he did not relish having to act like a secret police force. 
 
 Using a line that he was careful to attribute to Janeane Garofalo, Mr. Oswalt said: “We’ve become our own Stasi.”
– Another day, another commencement gaffe. Columbia's valedictorian has apologized for lifting part of his speech—a jokey riff on attending a class called Physics for Poets—from comedian Patton Oswalt, probably best known for his King of Queens supporting role. (See videos for comparisons.) Oswalt called out Brian Corman on Twitter for plagiarism, and both the student and the school subsequently apologized, notes Gawker. “In people’s heads they think that comedians can’t possibly make up their own material,” Oswalt tells the New York Times. “They're like, 'I can just take it. He didn't make it up.'"