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how to write a comedy sketch show
HOW TO WRITE A SCRIPT FOR YOUR OWN COMEDY SKETCH WRITTEN BY JON HOLMES
09/07/2020
the skill of writing a sketch
I’ve talked a lot on Screamwriter about sketches, both as examples and as a means of imploring you to try your hand at writing them. It’s such a perfect place to start for any writer, and as I’ve said before on here; a good sketch on the face of it is something that will seem so very simple and easy, but delving deeper into the muck will only reveal a true skill and talent; which encompasses timing, a finesse and manipulation of language - and a strong edit. And in shooting one of these yourself you can come away proud that you have managed to create a self contained story, and, looking at it from the outside, your own short film.
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS, KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE
While the term “sketch comedy” is rather broad these days with the advent of Youtube, Vine and (sigh) TikTok, sketches can range from that of the professionally filmed and produced by major broadcasters (seen recently through BBC2’s fantastic “Famalam”) to the most effort vapid “reaction videos”. Production and intuity levels aside, the market is proven to be there: In May of this year entrepreneur website Oberlo quoted TikTok as having a whopping 800 million users worldwide, with the US audience consisting of 25.8% aged between 18 and 24. And a further 24.5% aged 25-34. At its best this shows that the main target audience for sketch content (at least in the case of apps and online anyway) is certainly there, and hungry for updates.
Rather like short films, sketches can, and at least at the start of creating, be shot with next to nothing. Again, I will encourage you to use what you have to hand, and really make your dialog its go factor. With no real locations or money here is where your words will shine, and if you make the back and forth strong enough between you characters then there’s very little that even the worst actor can get wrong.
CRAFTING A CLASSIC SKETCH
Have a look at this classic sketch from Abbott and Costello below. With only two actors and baseball bat (and stunning airtight dialog) - they create a two way system, a dynamic and a relationship between two characters; one in the know, and the other simply not getting it, and simultaneously manage to even birth a whole sports team. It’s extraordinary and why sketch comedy shouldn’t be overlooked as a medium to create worlds in. This is a skit that simply uses language, manipulating it and misdirecting it. Both characters are correct in what they’re saying but simply can’t grasp what their partner is telling them.
STRUCTURE
All sketches are different and will fluctuate so take this next part with a pinch of salt, but rather like most creative outings a sketch really should have a start (intro of characters and set up), a middle (how are they coping with this?) and an end (punchline, reveal)
Here, I have included a sketch that I wrote during lockdown. Whilst constant news updates, climbing death rates and an inability to leave my house whenever I wanted I decided that I would finally write that whole sketch show that I had been meaning to pen for the last few years. Below is a screenshot of the last sketch of the first episode:
In a sketch that only lasts a minute, we have the Prime Minister addressing the nation - your setup, where we are, what the scenario is and where the scene will go from there.
Within that time, the character leads on to tell us just how important these rules are. How imperative it is that you do what he says.
And the reveal hits hard when we realise that he isn’t actually sticking to these rules himself at all and that they are all actually in a foreign country on the beach. We have a reveal and a misdirect and a style of writing that I like to call “the rug pull” as the audience is then shown the foreign thing that had been there the whole time. Within a minute here is a great example of storytelling through the power of sketch comedy (from a logistics point of view this wouldn’t cost any money to make either!).
SELF EDITING
As writer you are constantly re-assessing your own work and self-editing. I knew that in writing a whole sketch show episode that this was integral. For a reader, they don’t want to have to be inundated with two sketches in a row commenting on The Prime Minister, say - instead one should split that up with a pie sketch in between. As a work of satire and parody, you will be spoofing lots of things. It’s deadly important that you space that out for an audience so they don’t get bored. Ie a gameshow skit does not follow another equally bright and enthusiastic skit, but rather should be sandwiched in between, say, a political skit, and a joke set on a ranch… for example.
a helpful example
Seen here, I colour coded my set up and then wrangled it in my edit. I purposely made sure to lay out my varied sketches as broadly as I could/alternatively placing certain sketches next to others as it seemed like a good fit and allowed it to flow properly.
So as you can see from this picture, the sketches in green are (fictional) ad breaks. I used these commercials like a broadcaster would to split up the heavier skits with shorter “BAM!” straight to the point silly 30 seconders. These particular “ads” were prone to repeating themselves with a new update on the fictional advert character with each new addition (example; one advert had a boy stuck inside, bored that he cannot leave - by the next time we saw him a monster was outside his window savaging someone and the boy was unable to help out from forcibly being inside).
Finally, and this is just a throwaway piece of advice, but as my sketch show was seen through the guise of a television and its channels, I also structured mine to try and operate as time was passing - so each episode started with a Phil and Holly esque This Morning type show, and as the runtime progressed so did the passing of the scheduled programming. Gradually we moved into daytime television, before evening football and in to adult programming and timezone awry US updates. I felt like it gave the piece another level of reality and would subconsciously timestamp each sketch for the viewer.
FORMATTING
Having never written a whole sketch show myself before this year I approached it in the same way as any film or TV show that I had taken on before. Don’t worry too much about your formatting and transitions between sketches, etc as everyone has their own particular kinks in between the lines of industry standards. I however used standard screenplay formatting, and then split up new sketches with an ellipses.
CHARACTERS
Gradually over time, you’ll discover whether or not you have characters that have the legs for returning episodes. The BBC is a big fan of character comedy and there’s certainly a level of staying power to a character that has, say, a catchphrase. Although heavily mocked in Gervais/Merchant’s “Extras”, Youtube on the other hand - arguably the most go to source for content these days - proves that character comedy is alive and well with literally millions of fans hanging on to see the latest video from their favourite creator. Take for example, Colleen Ballinger’s Miranda Sings - a hapless egomaniac with delusions of grandeur so large that it would even translate into its own Netflix show. Character comedy is something that should come naturally to your vehicle and not be forced, otherwise will be felt on-screen.
FINALE
As a final side note, I’d recommend sketch writing not only as a great writing exercise on its own, but as a recommended means of being able to express oneself. I found that when I was very depressed late last year that sketch writing presented a means of being able to write, and create a contained story without having to commit multiple hours in the way that a whole screenplay would. I pushed myself to write a sketch a day (even if that was a one liner setup/only thirty seconds overall). It gave me a routine, whilst allowing me to be creative. Writing is certainly good for one’s mental health, and so I don’t see why a daily exercise like this wouldn’t be too... and if nothing else it does at least give you another option than going for a fucking jog...
Lastly, I’d simply say just try and make your sketch show unique. Don’t rehash what has already been done, even similarly - come up with entirely new skits and fresh takes on things that people are talking about (or not, and just do it because it’s funny like this Gremlins 2 bit). A sketch show can certainly appear dated these days, but with recent big hitters like Famalam, The Tracey Ullman Show and Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave proving that there is still very much a call for them.
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