Is the sketch show dead? No, it’s better off live | Daniel Henry Kaes offers an alternative view

Is the sketch show dead? No, it’s better off live

Daniel Henry Kaes offers an alternative view

David Bussell’s Chortle correspondence piece yesterday contended that the sketch show is in trouble. Experimentation is dying out, the format is unfashionable; the ‘hit-and-miss’ nature of the art-form never more apparent than when presented on TV. The disingenuity of the article stems from the paradox of berating flimsy gimmicks (later euphemistically branded ‘unique selling points’) of these shows, while crying ‘dissatisfaction’ as he surfs from disjointed skit to disjointed skit on his laptop (we all know what you’re really looking at, David, and we think you’re disgusting.)

Luckily, we needn’t choose between overarching narrative threads or randomness, because there is a middle way. Never mind the merits of three-minutes skits online versus a fully commissioned six-part comedy series, this elusive uniting factor can be found in the purest form of comedy: the live experience.

No other artform is as exciting as live comedy: the way it unfolds and twists and takes shape in front of your eyes, the sensation that you may be watching something entirely unique to that occasion (step forward ad-lib maestros O Briain and Noble), the ability of live comedy not just to make you laugh, but to speak emotional truths to you, and you alone. Of course, it’s subjective, it affects us all differently but that’s my point. Nothing is an adequate substitute for experiencing live comedy that touches you in places other than your funny bone.

The experience of live comedy is irreplaceable and invaluable in the creation process because it affords the comedian the freedom to experiment and to try new and different things every night. And yes, I call it a ‘process’, because some people see it as a step on the way to producing successful TV and radio versions of their show (if only Horne and Corden had thought of doing it…); others see it as the end-point in itself.

Mitchell and Webb – just one example of a great modern-day sketch-show that the original piece neglected to mention – performed for years together live before deciding on the material for their subsequent eponymous radio and TV shows. The live experience is the most important part of creating comedy: obviously you think what you’ve written is good, but how will you know unless you roadtest it?

It is within this live climate that comedians live, thrive and die. It’s irreplaceable. We experiment, we learn, we improve. Through experimentation, hard work and a little luck, we learn our own USPs. Some of my favourite live sketch-shows in recent years (namely The Pin and Pick Me Up) create a credible emotional narrative or throughline and the thrill of discovering this, live, on your own, is something I wish everybody could experience.

Would it work on TV? I’m not so sure. If you bemoan the lack of experimentation within the genre, leave your bedsit and go and see some live comedy. That’s it; that’s my conclusion. DHK out.

• Daniël Henry Kaes is a comedy writer and performer and member of the sketch group Fans of Comedy. He will be performing in Way Back (Underbelly) and Guido! (C Venues) at the Edinburgh Fringe. Twitter: @danielhkaes.Published: 11 Jul 2013

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