Stephen Colbert a Joke Thiefycat?

Stephen Colbert offers up "The Word" for free every night. Meanwhile, another purveyor of truthiness has people wondering (and probably doubting) whether his words are worth $65 million.

Air America Radio personality Cenk Uygur has mock-threatened to sue the host of The Colbert Report for exactly that much, claiming that the faux-conservative anchorman pilfered one of his jokes during a riff on—what else?—the Republican party.

The quip in question aired on the Sept. 11 episode of The Colbert Report, when the bespectacled host compared the current crop of Republican presidential candidates to Klingons because they had practically elbowed each other out of the way to be the first to vow that it was more honorable to win the Iraq war than the presidency.

Uyger said that the Klingon remark originally aired on the Sept. 7 installment of The Young Turks, the weekly pop culture-politics-news show hybrid that the attorney and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School hosts from California.

"Today's word is: Lawsuit," read a press release posted on The Young Turks Website, which also features a video Uyger posted on YouTube in which he compares his use of the joke to Colbert's.

"As O.J. would say, ‘Think you can steal my s--t? Up against the wall motherf--ker.’ I couldn’t have said it better myself, that’s why I didn’t; I just quoted him instead," he said.

What's not deathly serious about that?

"Look, he's messing with my livelihood," Uyger continued. "That's how I put food on my kids' table. If I had kids, If I had kids, that’s definitely where I would put the food. Plus, my girlfriend won’t have sex with me anymore because she says I’ve lost my sense of humor. I told her I didn’t lose it, it was stolen. I looked it up, they have a legal word for it: It’s called loss of consortium. That means no more hanky-panky, and it costs big time in lawsuit world."

And because the joke was "transmitted across state lines," Colbert, Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, MTV Networks, Viacom, Bus Boy Productions and anyone who had anything to do with the joke thievery could also be facing federal charges and should "lawyer up," Uyger warns.

"If a pair of lost pants is worth $65 million, then my jokes are worth a hell of a lot more," he said, referring to the widely publicized and much ridiculed civil lawsuit brought by a Washington D.C. judge against a mom-and-pop drycleaner that had misplaced a pair of his pants. The media and most legal experts surmised that the plaintiff's robe was on a little too tight.

While Comedy Central hasn't yet commented on Uyger's outburst, Colbert is willing to make a deal, although he doesn't think much of his fellow newsman's underhanded tactics.

"Why would you want to impress upon the world your inability to deliver entertainment? Is what you really want a small cameo on the show?" the funnyman (or, at least, a user by the name of stephencolbert) wrote Thursday on the Young Turks site.

"This is all you will hear from me, please call our board to request your spot. I don't think , however, that I will have more than 15 seconds for you. As for your joke, please don't flatter yourself—nobody at this show or anybody I know spends their time with you. --Stephen"

On The Colbert Report Thursday, Colbert briefly addressed the hype when the repentant "Rabbi Fish" called the show's toll-free atonement hotline to apologize for using one of Colbert's jokes in a speech to his congregation.

"Rabbi Fish, thank you for your call," Colbert said. "But you know, I'm reminded of a tale of the wise men of...But I'm not going to tell it because I didn't write it. Now, I'm going to forgive you, Rabbi, but only if you continue to impart my wisdom to your congregation—and give me credit."