Follow the fear...

My 3-week Sketch Comedy Intensive class has begun-and they weren’t kidding with their use of the word “intensive.” Level 1 consists of three hours of rules, formulas and structure for five days before we pass on to Level II and a new teacher. This week’s teacher is a fast talker and I believe he was hired for just this reason. There is an amazing amount of information to get out and into our heads in one week.

I am surprised by our little United Nations of aspiring sketch comedy writers. We have a student from as far away as Austria; Canada is represented, and various cities over the United States contribute to our writing group of twelve. I am also happy to see a range of ages from early twenties to yours truly.

A banner with the motto, “Follow the Fear” hangs across the back wall of the small theater. For an artist, playing it safe is counterproductive to creativity, but oh how much more comfortable it feels than risking looking foolish. I know this; my students know this. Accordingly, my first objective in teaching sketch comedy writing to my students will be to help them push through the negative voices inside their heads and guide them toward the light of creative courage...

I noticed over these past two days that the negative voices in my own head will do anything to stop me from writing. Telling these voices to shut up is part of the writing process. Dan, our teacher, could not stress this enough. I get it. Something mediocre can ONLY blossom into something special if you push through the muck and the fear. I know that for highly gifted learners, finding themselves in areas of the unknown and open to criticism from teachers and peers is as threatening as swimming in shark-infested waters... worse. Convincing my students to work through this fear is the greatest challenge I will face.

I wish I were a cleverer writer. A few of the students in my comedy writing class are unbelievably “out there” and it is such fun hearing their ideas. My 2e students are the same...far cleverer than I when coming up with ideas for sketches...but fall flat when breaking their ideas down into outline form and expanding on them within a structured form of written expression...especially, essay writing. Beats are the smallest form of information in comedy writing and can translate easily into other forms of structured written expression. 

The professional vocabulary used by sketch comedy writers is as vital to their discourse as pedagogical vocabulary is to the discourse of educators. Here is a list of some important words in sketch writing:

Formula, structure, heighten, twist, rule of threes, set up, punch, crazy man, straight man, beats, reiteration, destruction and most importantly, the game.

I will start with the game. It is best described as the sketch’s succinct plotline, the main concept or idea of the sketch. Playing the game means constantly adding new information to the plotline, no side trips, just like in improvisation. The difference between the two mediums of communicating story is: in improvisation “yes, and” is used to build a story as an ensemble, while in sketch comedy the humor comes from the writer building the game with “No, but.”  Negation is allowed in comedy sketch writing because the game is controlled by writers who are planning, not performers working in the moment. Yet, both are strategies for storybuilding.

We were given a few formulas over these two days and then asked to write a sketch using each formula structure. This was another intimidating moment for us; “Here’s the formula, now write something funny!” Talk about pressure. Oh, such sensitive egos we have, which is why it is critical for teachers to set down rules beforehand for supporting peers with applause and positive feedback FIRST,  and then they must learn how to give constructive criticism in a positive way. This feedback etiquette will take much practice before it becomes automatic in middle school 2e learners, who are out to protect their egos at all costs, even at the expense of their peers, and most certainly their teachers.

Tomorrow, I will give examples of a couple of formulas used in sketch comedy writing and try to find the correlation to formal written expression taught in the classroom.