Live, Laugh, Live Comedy: An Exploration of Sketch Comedy's Form and Function

Written comedy is a method of expression that has existed since cultures penned language. Widely recognized as the ‘oldest written joke’, Reuters identifies a Sumerian tablet from 1900 BC that holds one of the first written expressions of comedy: “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." From this joke, almost 4,000 years of comedic material has been processed. In a relatively recent phenomenon in the comedic landscape, sketch comedy serves as a tool of reflexive representation, showcasing vignettes of chaos, rooted in the mundane. This Honors Thesis looks to identify not only the core traits of sketch comedy, as its form demands rigorous structure, as well as the core function of sketch comedy as a cultural lens. The expression ‘rules are meant to be broken’ is one of the great boons of sketch comedy’s appeal; a pattern of ‘rule-breaking’ will be explored through a live performance of my own sketch comedy pieces. The written framework of this piece explores form and function as fundamental requirements for effective sketch comedy, and illustrates the innate understanding of the audience to accept chaos, deception, or the perversion of truth as a tool to express comedy. Sketch comedy exists only as a subset of a wider spectrum of comedy, drawing on historical certainties and established foundations that maintain today. The added creative project serves as a proof of concept; a demonstration of the forces of form and function as they exist on stage. Through careful analysis of my own written work, the outlined focus on the ‘true definition’ of sketch comedy will align carefully with my own practiced works.