Look here for samples of fine sketch writing:
1) Choose a setting. Avoid common set-ups. Think original. Only set the sketch in one location.
2) If you're trying to sell your material [or enter a contest], don't put in anything expensive like a helicopter [or car]. Most TV shows [or theaters] are on a tight budget.
3) Three [or four] characters is more than enough for a short sketch. Don't write for a big cast. Avoid crowd scenes where the actors do not speak.
4) Think about what is happening visually as well as the words you use to communicate an idea. Be specific! A speckled trout wearing a fake mustache is funnier or more vivid in the audience's mind than a fish.
Types of Sketches
To help you get going, here's a few tried and tested comedy formats for sketches.
1) Escalation: Funny idea starts small and gets bigger and bigger, ending in chaos of ridiculous proportions.
2) Lists: Sketches in which the bulk of the dialogue is a long list of funny items. The best example of this is "Cheese Shop" in Monty Python. (You can find all the Python sketches at www.planetcomedy.force9.co.uk/bookstore.html.)
3) Mad Man, Sane Man (opposites): This format speaks for itself, but don't go for obvious settings.
4) Dangerous Situations: For example, sketch set on a flight deck of aircraft.
5) Funny Words: Sketches which use the sound of language itself to be funny. For example, use of the words "blobby" or "wobble"; Names can be funny if you want people to think of your work as comedy or humorous. Some names are just funny: Aloysious Butterbean is a funnier name than Tom Johnson or man.
6) Old and New: Getting a laugh from putting something modern in an historical setting (Or, vice versa) Example: Abraham Lincoln using a cigarette lighter shaped like a handgun. Benjamin Franklin inventing the fidget spinner, Alexander the Great using a cell phone, Jesus dining at the Cheesecake Factory, etc.
7) Big and Small. Getting humor from large differences in scale. For example, a pig trying to make love to an elephant (South Park).
All plays and sketches start with characters in a setting. Once you have an idea for these, try one of the types of sketches. Go ahead and try. Use the format you find in "The Zoo Story".
Write your sketch.
HOMEWORK: Continue writing your short sketch.
- Marty Feldman: The Bookseller Sketch
- The Cheese Shop Sketch: Monty Python's Flying Circus
- The Dead Parrot Sketch: Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Self Defense Against Fruit Sketch: Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Italian Lesson: Monty Python's Flying Circus
- The Headmaster Sketch: Rowan Atkinson
1) Choose a setting. Avoid common set-ups. Think original. Only set the sketch in one location.
2) If you're trying to sell your material [or enter a contest], don't put in anything expensive like a helicopter [or car]. Most TV shows [or theaters] are on a tight budget.
3) Three [or four] characters is more than enough for a short sketch. Don't write for a big cast. Avoid crowd scenes where the actors do not speak.
4) Think about what is happening visually as well as the words you use to communicate an idea. Be specific! A speckled trout wearing a fake mustache is funnier or more vivid in the audience's mind than a fish.
Types of Sketches
To help you get going, here's a few tried and tested comedy formats for sketches.
1) Escalation: Funny idea starts small and gets bigger and bigger, ending in chaos of ridiculous proportions.
2) Lists: Sketches in which the bulk of the dialogue is a long list of funny items. The best example of this is "Cheese Shop" in Monty Python. (You can find all the Python sketches at www.planetcomedy.force9.co.uk/bookstore.html.)
3) Mad Man, Sane Man (opposites): This format speaks for itself, but don't go for obvious settings.
4) Dangerous Situations: For example, sketch set on a flight deck of aircraft.
5) Funny Words: Sketches which use the sound of language itself to be funny. For example, use of the words "blobby" or "wobble"; Names can be funny if you want people to think of your work as comedy or humorous. Some names are just funny: Aloysious Butterbean is a funnier name than Tom Johnson or man.
6) Old and New: Getting a laugh from putting something modern in an historical setting (Or, vice versa) Example: Abraham Lincoln using a cigarette lighter shaped like a handgun. Benjamin Franklin inventing the fidget spinner, Alexander the Great using a cell phone, Jesus dining at the Cheesecake Factory, etc.
7) Big and Small. Getting humor from large differences in scale. For example, a pig trying to make love to an elephant (South Park).
All plays and sketches start with characters in a setting. Once you have an idea for these, try one of the types of sketches. Go ahead and try. Use the format you find in "The Zoo Story".
Write your sketch.
HOMEWORK: Continue writing your short sketch.
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