UCB Sketch 201 Class Notes

Instructor: Michael Delaney
Date Taken: May 2009 

After about 9 months off from writing any sketch, I decided to take the 201 class at UCB. This class (and Delaney specifically) made me hate my workduring the class but also made me a much stronger writer after the class.

Below are the notes. Find out more about UCB’s training program here.

Class #1

Missed. No Notes.

Class #2

• Go beyond the simple misunderstanding.  It is not the unusual thing.
• The first beat should be funny (otherwise it takes longer to get to the funny and people have short attention spans).
• Del Close School of Comedy: Point of View
• The anger/upset/reject card is always there as a game.  Look past the easy games.
• Don’t repeat your references / jokes, it detracts from the first time you said it.
• Actors/characters in a play have wants and objectives (and it’s important).  In sketches the most important thing is what the actors/characters are doing, what action is happening.
• Scenes need variation, you can’t do the same thing the same way for too long.
• This class is about the process, not the product.
• Bring the shitty stuff.  No one will care or remember and that’s how you’ll get better.
• Be willing to let go of the vision of what you thought it would be.  Play everything to the idea that the sketch actually is.
• Keep to one point of absurdity per scene.
• Game will never limit you.  If you think it is, then it’s not the real game.
• For stage, remember the 3 Unities: unity of time, place, and characters.

Class #3

• “The connected tissue” – the stuff between the game moves that still needs to exist
• Sitcom general rule is 3 jokes per page.
• Weird is great.  Weird on weird is confusing.
• There’s a difference between references and jokes.  Make sure you get to the jokes.
• Anti / Passive games have to have a lot of action to compensate for the inactive game
• The best we can write is half a scene.  The actors (and other crew) will write the other half.
• We can all set up a weird situation or conundrum.  You have to go past that to the game.
• Your premise / game is the center of your sketch world.  It is your sun.
• Start your scenes in the middle.  The beginning sucks.
• Variation is so important because shit gets old quick.
• By end of page 1, ask yourself “is this funny?”  You have to answer yes by the end of the page.
• You don’t want to be predictable (you will hear the audience sigh)
• If your characters are interchangeable, you aren’t being specific enough.
• In one page you have to give us an idea/game and get our imaginations going with what’s possible
• In sketches, the middle is the most important (not the beginning or end)
• If you boil down to only beats, they just become reference.  Don’t forget the connected webs.
• A lot of sketch comedy isn’t surprising so you need excellent execution.

Class #4

• In your beats, always go from general to specific.
• The 3 unities of stage: place, time, and action
• See your ideas through completely.  If you have a great premise, you need to play it through completely, otherwise you will disappoint the audience.
• You want your scenes to have unity in 1 absurdity.  But you also want them to have as much variation as possible (a tough balancing act)
• Where you see humor in the scene is the same thing as where the game is.
• If bits are really strong, no one cares about anything else.
• Things you can say about any sketch:
• What’s the game?  Is it funny?
• Punch it up a little bit (more jokes).
• Don’t try to be clever with your sketches.  Audiences won’t “retroactively” get the humor or exposition.

Class #5

• The definition of premise is a world that exists with a set of rules.
• If you have a lego world and just keep referencing legos, you aren’t playing game, you’re just talking about the accepted world.
• “Logan’s Run” principle—the audience will warm up / accept the crazy world pretty quickly.  It’s not enough to sustain game.
• You have to speak to the unusual thing to make it/transform it to game.
• Go through the script, find the first joke or funny thing.  That’s probably your game and should be repeated and heightened.
• Game is unusual thing + justification/specificity
• You should be able to describe game in just a few short words, a sentence at most.
• It comes down to how creative are you.  Then “if this game is true, what else is true.”
• You have to ask, “is it worth it?”  Is the game funny enough to be worth all the work of writing, worth the audience watching it.
• “Dirty Little Secrets” —the stuff we decide to ignore because it would bog down the scene even though the tendency is to think it’s needed to explain the world.
• Be careful not to add a straight man just to add a straight man.  If the straight man just calls out differences without adding information or humor, they aren’t needed.
• “Crazy world” isn’t a game.  Neither is gay.

Class #6

• When things/sketches are weird, you want to ground in reality to start so people buy-in & care about your characters.  This will heighten the scene.
• A sketch isn’t written until it’s been in front of people.
• Blocking notes (for staged reading):
• Minor props (chairs, maybe table)
• Cut all but absolutely important stage directions
• As a writer, you are also a director

Class #7

• Play your game is the most specific of terms, but define it as broadest
• People don’t laugh at “the fact” of the scene—there has to be some game moves / bits
• People want to see you take your games as far as they can go, especially people who could hire you
• Have to follow our sense of humor, not our sense of comedy (eg not just going for laughs, but taking risks, etc)
• For sketches, the rule of 3 doesn’t apply in terms of # of beats.  Rule of 3 is about rhythm and is more for lines of dialog/jokes
• Not every sketch needs to be a Warhol (ie you dont have to follow an exactly structured/formalized pattern)
• Heightening doesn’t have to be perfectly linear (that’s a fallacy)
• Writer’s Packet:
• Strongest stuff
• It may vary if you are targeting a specific show
• Usually need an agent, they won’t take unsolicited submissions
• Tailor the packet to the place your submitting
• Shows will only pick things that work for their show (regardless of how funny)

Class #8

Missed – No notes.