Comedy Skit
What is a Comedy Skit?
First, let's break it down
What is comedy?
What is a skit?
A comedy skit can also be known as sketch comedy because it consists of a series of short comedy scenes usually between 1-10 minutes long. Comedy skits are performed by comedic actors/actresses on stage or through visual and/or audio broadcasting. The purpose of a comedy skit is to entertain an audience by portraying real life situations, dilemmas, or instances. The main thing to focus on is being funny. Good comedy starts with writing.
This site will show ways on how to create your own comedy skit, tips on how to make it funny, as well as some links and videos to some comedy skits.
How to write a comedy skit
When writing your own comedy skit to present to others you have to have a funny and humorous sense of humor that can make people react with laughter. You must also know how to compose a comedy skit and this goes beyond just being funny. There is more to it. The process of writing out a scene and everything in it is the hard part and the reactions you get from your skit is the result.
Composition of a comedy skit
Choose your Audience
- This has to be the most important choice you make.
- While creating your own comedy skit you must decide who you are writing for.
- Do not write for an adult audience if your intentions were for a child.
- Make sure your audience can engage and relate to what you are performing to them.
Find Your Style
- The style that you choose expresses the true comedian in you.
- Choose a style that you are familiar with in order to develop a scene that you can laugh at.
- Styles include: funny situations, seeing people get hurt, characteristics of people, stand up comedy, etc…
Pick a location
- Location plays a key role with regards to your comedy skit.
- The location is the scene that the audience can see and from that can relate to what is going on.
- Location enables the audience to easily understand what is happening.
Characters
- To avoid the risk of losing your audience limit your skit to no more than 5 characters.
- Extras do not matter.
Questions that you mite ask yourself while figuring out your characters:
- Who would you like to interact within your location?
- Do your characters have characteristics that are important to the scene?
- Who would fit the scene best?
Create Conflict
- Conflict=Drama…Drama can bring the comedy!!
- Characters can be in conflict with: other characters, surroundings, props, situations that are put upon them
- Conflict is like the climax of your skit and should result with the end of your skit.
Make it Funny
- This is where your imagination and comedic skills come in.
- Give the audience a Punch line that will conclude your scene.
Tips
"What makes a good comedy skit? It’s pretty simple… laughs. The more laughs a comedy skit gets, the better everyone involved feels." -comedy-skits.com
- The timing of jokes should correspond to a boom, Boom, BOOM effect. Give the little joke, then the bigger joke, then hit your audience with that knee-slapper.
- Make sure your audience can relate to your skit at all times. For example: everyday routines, instances, situations.
- BE CLEAR by making sure that your jokes and characters support the main idea.
- Ending your skit is just as important, if not, more important than the beginning and middle.
Links
Here are some common television broadcastings that present comedy skits
Click this link and you can access real scripts/skits from Saturday Night Live :)
[http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://snltranscripts.jt.org/index.phtml]
The Chappelle Show
In Living Color
Mad TV
SNL
This is a link to a comedy skit from Saturday Night Live
Penelope- Traffic School (SNL)
An example of a comedy skit script:
The Bush Twins
President George W. Bush…..Will Forte
Jenna Bush…..Amy Poehler
Barbara Bush…..Tina Fey
Dick Cheney…..Darrell Hammond
[ open on exterior, White House, night ]
[ SUPER: "Thursday Night After the Inaugural Ball" ]
[ dissolve to exterior, window ]
[ SUPER: "Jenna and Barbara's Room" ]
[ dissolve to interior, room, Jenna and Barbara kissing their daddy, President George W. Bush, good night ]
Jenna Bush: Good night, Daddy!
Barbara Bush: Congratulations!
President George W. Bush: Sleep tight, you two. Dream about freedom!
Jenna Bush: Daddy, I always knew you were gonna be a two-term precedent. Whoo-oo!!
President George W. Bush: Right back, atcha, J-Bird! [ exits room ]
Jenna Bush: Oh, my God, Barbara! I'm so wasted! Do you think he could tell?
Barbara Bush: Probably. You were line-dancing, and your shoe totally flew off!
Jenna Bush: Oh, my God, Barbara. I've got the spins.
[ they sit on their beds ]
Barbara Bush: Jenna, I told you not to drink straight Tequila.
Jenna Bush: I didn't. I mixed it - with Captain Morgan.
Barbara Bush: I can't believe you threw your gum at those protestors!
Jenna Bush: [ chuckles ] I was exercising my God-given right, to protect my liberty from evil-doers!
Barbara Bush: I was so bored by the end, I started playing this game that, any time anyone said the word "freedom", I stuffed a little piece of Oriental Chex mix up my nose.
Jenna Bush: I was so drunk, I made out with Dick Cheney's daughter.
Barbara Bush: Jenna!
Jenna Bush: What? Not the gay one - duh!
Barbara Bush: I can't believe we've gotta sleep in this room for four more years.
Jenna Bush: Not me. I'm getting my own place. I'm gonna get a cool job - designing fashion, or teaching deaf kids to read, or something.. And I'm gonna buy a totally bad ass condo in downtown Houston, and I'm gonna be, like, "Suck it, Vanessa Kerry! I'm livin' large!" Ohh.. I'm so drunk..
Barbara Bush: Jenna, do you think Daddy's a good president?
Jenna Bush: [ gasps ] Oh, my God, Barbara! How can you even ask that?!
Barbara Bush: I don't know. I see all those people holding up signs that say, "Worst President Ever" and "Dumbest President Ever", and "Biggest Liar Ever", and.. it makes you wonder.
Jenna Bush: Well, don't wonder out loud!
Barbara Bush: Jenna, we're twins! We have to share our msot secret thoughts about everything.
Jenna Bush: Well, it's disrespectable!
Barbara Bush: Just answer me in our secret twin language.
Jenna Bush: Barbara, we haven't used that language since we were, like, 19.
Barbara Bush: Do-ba you-ba think-ba Dad's-ba a-ba good-ba candidate?
Jenna Bush: [ exasperated ] Ba-yes. I-ba think-ba he's-ba really -ba good.
Barbara Bush: But what-ba about-ba the-ba weapons-ba of-ba mass-ba destruction? They-ba weren't-ba there!
Jenna Bush: But, Barbara. You heard-ba Dad's-ba speech. We're spreading-ba freedom! Saddam Hussein-ba was-ba a-ba bad-ba, bad-ba man!
Barbara Bush: I-ba know! But the-ba war-ba in-ba Iraq-ba is-ba a-ba big-ba shi-ba storm! What about-ba Social-ba Security? I read-ba it-ba isn't-ba really-ba going-ba bankrupt!
Jenna Bush: But-ba.. allowing-ba people-ba to.. invest-ba.. their-ba.. retirement-ba money-ba.. in-ba the private-ba.. sector-ba.. isn't-ba smart-ba because-ba, um.. Dang, I don't know! This is giving me a headache! You think you know everything because you went to Yale, and I went to UT!
Barbara Bush: Oh, Jenna, don't say that. Yale's not so great, and UT has a real pretty fitness center.
[ President Bush re-enters ]
President George W. Bush: Hey. Y'all still up? Your mother asked the chef for some more of that Crème Broule, or as I like to call it: Freedom Puddin’.
Barbara Bush: No thanks, Dad. I'm tired, and Jenna's got the spins.
Jenna Bush: [ alarmed ] Don't-ba tell-ba him-ba I'm-ba blasted!
Barbara Bush: But it's-ba so-ba bobvious.
President George W. Bush: [ confused ] What are y'all talking about?
Jenna Bush: Tell-ba him-ba it's-ba food-ba poisoning!
President George W. Bush: I never could understand this crazy twin talk. It's hard!
Jenna Bush: Daddy? Did you see Arnold Schwarzenegger tonight? Wasn't he so awesome?
President George W. Bush: [ sits on the edge of Barbara's bed ] You missed it. I went up to him, and I said, "Hey, Terminator! Hasta la vista! I'll be back!"
Barbara Bush: That's funny, Daddy! Do it again!
President George W. Bush: "Hey, Terminator! Hasta la vista! I'll be back!"
[ they all share a heart laugh, as a tuxedo-clad Dick Cheney enters ]
Dick Cheney: Alright, lights out. Big day tomorrow. Fun was had. Let's not push it.
President George W. Bush: Alright, girls. I'll see you tomorrow. [ exits room ]
Jenna Bush: Good night, Daddy.
Barbara Bush: Good night, Dick Cheney.
Dick Cheney: [ before exiting the room ] By the way: I-ba heard-ba everything-ba that-ba you-ba were-ba saying! [ chuckles maliciously to himself ] Go to bed. [ exits room ]
Barbara & Jenna Bush: Oh, my God! "Live-ba, from-ba New-ba York-ba, it's Saturday Niiiiiiight!!"
References
http://www.ehow.com/how_2227289_write-killer-comedy-skit.html
http://writing-comedy-scripts.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_write_a_comedy_skit
http://comedy-skits.com/
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://snltranscripts.jt.org/index.phtml
http://youtube.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aktPK28QFi8&feature=PlayList&p=BBBF69A1A51175D3&playnext=1&index=39
http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://snltranscripts.jt.org/index.phtml
