The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey through the Art and Craft of Humor

by Keegan-Michael Key

A sketch, in its most basic form, is a short scene that has characters, a premise, and some sort of comedic escalation or heightening.

When you tap into something that you’re not supposed to talk about, there’s an exultation that comes with it. There’s an explosion of pent-up energy and pent-up expression that has just been bounding around inside of you. And that is the essence of why comedy and art … and fart, is important. Funny and art and fart are the three smells of comedy.

the core of most humor comes from us relating to each other and the awkwardness of the human experience.

Mike Myers once shared with me, Save the best for last and save the second best for first.

You know the difference between a comic and comic actor? Well, a comic says funny things (like Bob Hope) and a comedic actor says things funny (like Jack Benny).

if it’s a good sketch, should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it should have tremendous references that the audience really knows, so that you don’t have to work hard getting the laughs. You just have to have fun with the clichés that are already there.

“Radio is the theater of the mind. TV is the theater of the mindless.”

Aristotle, in his book Poetics, writes about storytelling and the importance of things being both unexpected and inevitable. The next time you’re watching a sketch you love, or hear a joke that takes you by surprise and sticks with you, see if one of the reasons you love them is because the game, the turn, and/or the punch line is something that is unexpected and inevitable.

There are no mistakes, only gifts. No matter what is thrown at you, you can make it work.