WRITING SKETCHES

BIG TIP 

Don't forget a sketch is a story. It's a kind of mini-play. Events occur. Things go wrong. Look at any famous sketch, from Monty Python's Parrot sketch, through Victoria Wood's "Two Soups", to any of the Little Britain Vicky Pollard sketches. There is an ongoing situation. A pet shop customer wants to return a dead parrot, the assistant won't believe it's dead. Two time-strapped restaurant customers are help up by an incredibly forgetful waitress. Vicky invariably has got into trouble and is up against a petty authority figure.

In these, and nearly all good sketches, there's conflict. Somebody wants something, and someone else stops them getting it. Or someone wants to stop someone else doing something they want to. Or two people want the same thing....

When writing your sketch, think how you can make it tell a story. Give it a situation in which there is an element of friction, and see how the story plays out. It will be a very simple, short one, with cartoonlike characters, there's no time for anything more. But it will become much more dramatic, interesting and therefore funnier. Nothing is more boring than the Talking Heads type of sketch where nothing happens.

Remember -

No Story - No Sketch

No Conflict - No Comedy

MINI TIP

 Set up your idea as quickly as you can. Try to have it so that the audience will "get" your sketch concept within the first two speeches or actions. Then go over it a few times to ensure that your setup contains a good laugh.

If you find it's hard to set up your sketch within a line or two, you probably have an over-complicated idea. Go back and see if you can simplify your concept.