How to Write a Comedy Sketch
You should treat these like short films. You're going to use screenwriting software to type them eventually. And you may want to start with an outline.
Right up top, I'll say all sketches start with the concept.
You type or write what the sketch is going to be about. then brainstorm about all the things you can add to it.
Once you are confident in your brainstorming session, you can jump into a hard or even writing the sketch.
When I was learning to write these, we had a little outline on the board that we tried to follow. It read like this:
- Who, What, When Where, Why
- This is worldbuilding. Who is in the sketch, what are they doing, when are we, and why are we here?
- For example: We're in a recording studio with Blue Oyster Cult in the 70s and their new producer, trying to make Don't Fear the Reaper sound good.
- The First Weird Thing
- No matter what, a weird thing has to happen to produce the comedy. The first weird thing should happen as soon as your worldbuilding is done.
- For example: After playing the song once, the producer comes in and pushes for more cowbell.
- Go Big
- Again, comedy is about going big into the laughs, so you want to start leaning into the weird here and go big with it.
- For example: them going insane with the cowbell and having the band fight over it.
- Get Out
- There's an old joke about how no one knows how to end a sketch, so just get out as quick as you can while still going big.
- For example: let the band play the song with a crazy amount of cowbell and everyone jamming and just end it there.
Classical Comedy Sketch Structure
One of the hardest things I see new writers struggle with is how FAST you need to get into the story.
You do not have pages to get into the Who, What, When Where, Why, you have maybe one page.
SNL sketches are maybe five minutes long, tops. That means around five screenplay pages, seven if there's a lot of dialogue. To hit that, you need to set up your world right away.
In the biz, people call the general concept for the sketch the "game." That game is a pattern you can repeat. Like "More cowbell," you can always return to it.
Or even in the Kate McKinnon "Alien Abduction" sketch, you can always go back to Kate's zany experience with the aliens for laughs.
The game is going back to her again and again.
If you get caught outside this game and have no idea where to go, you just go back to the concept and build again from there.
For these sketches, I like to use the rule of three. that means you go back three times for laughs, then wrap it up.
Refine and Rewrite Your Sketches
After you get everything on paper, most shows have a table read, where you go over the sketches. In those reads, you want to listen to notes.
People will help you get into your ideas quicker; they may have ideas you can add or replace ones that aren't as good, and they may have a way out.
You'll take all these notes back and find out whether or not they work. Once you get the refined draft done, it's ready for rehearsal. There, you'll work it with actors on the set, and you may find other bits or jokes you didn't see before being in the environment.
You'll refine it again, rewrite, reprint the scripts, and hand them out.
And then you're ready to shoot or for the live show!
Summing Up How to Write Sketch Comedy Like SNL
That was a pretty in-depth look at what it's like to write sketch comedy and how you can work on refining and shooting some of your ideas.
Take that outline to heart, get in quick, and make us laugh.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
