How to Write a Comedy Sketch

Video Transcript

"The Blues Brothers, the Spartan cheerleaders, the church lady. Great comic sketches. How do you write comedy sketches. Well, my name is Joe Pauly. I've been in the entertainment TV world for about twenty years. I write some sketches, hopefully, I can help you out with that task of writing a comedy sketch. Alright. First rule, it's a sketch, not a skit. A skit is watching Uncle Charlie at the lodge put on a dress with coconut brazier, singing a song. That's a skit. A sketch is what you'll see on Saturday night live, MadTV, the Daily Show, and some of the better ones you'll see on YouTube, OK. Topical versus timeless. If you're going to write a sketch, and you want to make it topical, just remember, the shelf life for it, it's not going to be very long. You zero in on the two thousand four elections, after about a year or so, people are going to be scratching their head going, oh, that's not very funny. Timeless is something you can watch over and over, the comedy is genuine, it's from the character. OK. Once you know the talent of the group you're working for, focus on that. You've got a guy who can do a great impression of a certain person, use it. Get into the sketch quickly. Remember, this isn't a five hundred page book here. Get into it quickly. If it's not funny in the first five to ten seconds, maybe you should start on a different sketch. Great if you can end it with a punch or button. You watch the parrot sketch on the old Monty Python show, it ends with a button. Those are tough to do, but if you can do it, it's a home run right there. Keep it short. Three to five minutes, no longer than that. And it better be funny. If you're writing for YouTube, remember you can keep it short, like thirty, twenty, forty seconds and it's a quick bit. Alright? Don't forget, you can also get it on the web, put a funny bit on YouTube. Good luck in your writing for a sketch humor. I'm Joe Pauly, have fun."