Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusingscenes orvignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular inmusic hall in Britain andvaudeville in North America, today it is used widely invariety shows, as well as in late nighttalk shows and even somesitcoms. While sketch comedy is now associated mostly with adult entertainment, certainchildren's television series such have used it, too. The sketches may beimprovised live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play.
Sketch comedy has its origins inmusic hall andvaudeville, where many brief humorous acts were strung together to form a larger programme. In the 1890s, music hall impresarioFred Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue, and in 1904 he produced a sketch calledMumming Birds for theHackney Empire in London, which included thepie in the face gag among other innovations.[1][2] His troupe, advertised as "Fred Karno's London Comedians", includedCharlie Chaplin andStan Laurel.[2]
In Britain, it moved to stage performances byCambridge Footlights, such asBeyond the Fringe andA Clump of Plinths (which evolved intoCambridge Circus), to radio, with such shows asIt's That Man Again andI'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, then to television, with such shows asThe Benny Hill Show,Not Only... But Also,Monty Python's Flying Circus,The Two Ronnies,Not the Nine O'Clock News (and its successorAlas Smith and Jones), andA Bit of Fry and Laurie. Making his television debut in 1949,Benny Hill, who developed his parodic sketches on BBC variety shows before having his own show in 1955, was described as "a comic genius steeped in the British music hall tradition".[3]Charles Isherwood writes that Monty Python, like Benny Hill, "derived their sketch formats in part from the rowdy tradition of the music hall."[4]
An early, perhaps the first, televised example of a sketch comedy show isTexaco Star Theater akaThe Milton Berle Show 1948–1967, hosted byMilton Berle.[5] In Mexico, the seriesLos Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada, created by Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños under the stage nameChespirito, was broadcast between 1968 and 1973, creating such famous characters asEl Chavo del Ocho andEl Chapulín Colorado.
While separate sketches historically have tended to be unrelated, more recent groups have introduced overarching themes that connect the sketches within a particular show with recurring characters that return for more than one appearance. Examples of recurring characters includeMr. Gumby fromMonty Python's Flying Circus; Ted and Ralph fromThe Fast Show;The Family fromThe Carol Burnett Show; theHead Crusher fromThe Kids in the Hall;Martin Short'sEd Grimley, a recurring character from bothSCTV andSaturday Night Live; The Nerd fromRobot Chicken; and Kevin and Perry fromHarry Enfield and Chums. Recurring characters fromSaturday Night Live have notably been featured in a number of spinoff films, includingThe Blues Brothers (1980),Wayne's World (1992) andSuperstar (1999).
The idea of running characters was taken a step further with shows likeThe Red Green Show andThe League of Gentlemen, where sketches centered on the various inhabitants of the fictional towns ofPossum Lake andRoyston Vasey, respectively. InLittle Britain, sketches focused on a cast of recurring characters.
In North America, contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of theimprovisational comedy scene that flourished during the 1970s, largely growing out ofThe Second City inChicago andToronto, which was built upon the success in Minneapolis ofThe Brave New Workshop andDudley Riggs.
Notable contemporary American stage sketch comedy groups include The Second City, theUpright Citizens Brigade, andThe Groundlings. InSouth Bend, Indiana, area high school students produced a sketch comedy series calledBeyond Our Control that aired on the local NBC affiliateWNDU-TV from 1967 to 1986.Warner Bros. Animation made two sketch comedy shows,Mad andRight Now Kapow.
Australian television of the 1980s and 1990s featured several successful sketch comedy shows, notablyThe Comedy Company, whose recurring characters includedCol'n Carpenter,Kylie Mole andCon the Fruiterer.
An early British example is the influentialThe Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959).Sketch films made during the 1970s and 1980s includeIf You Don't Stop It... You'll Go Blind and the sequelCan I Do It... 'Til I Need Glasses?,The Groove Tube,Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask),The Kentucky Fried Movie and its sequelAmazon Women on the Moon, andMonty Python'sAnd Now for Something Completely Different andThe Meaning of Life.
More recent sketch films includeThe Underground Comedy Movie,InAPPropriate Comedy,Movie 43 andLivrés chez vous sans contact.
Many of the sketch comedyrevues in Britain included seasons at theEdinburgh Fringe Festival.
Since 1999, the growing sketch comedy scene has precipitated the development of sketch comedy festivals in cities all around North America. Noted festivals include:
