Some kinds of thievery cause not only material loss but outrage--Great Aunt Annie's cameo brooch, for instance. Or a stand-up comic's routine. So when Bill Kincaid, standing in at the last minute for a friend who unexpectedly cancels his gig, finds that another comic working there that night has taped his act, he is mad!
Turns out there's a lot more involved than the theft of a clutch of hilarious one-liners, no matter how important that can be to a good stand-up. A lot of shenanigans are going on on the comedy club circuit. The very bad comedian who stole Bill's material had paid the club owner to put him on the bill. Art Wescott, the friend who cancelled so suddenly, is found to have had a very good reason --he'd had a gun at his head while he was making the call, one that went off after he hung up. Bill figures he's involved in something that's not funny at all, and he'd better find out what it is before the last laugh is on him.
