Early on when I started posting under the Category "Skit Happens" I was posting stuff that that been submitted somewhere but didn't get chosen. Post-pandemic (if we are, in fact, post-it) I've been writing sketches and have had few, if any, places to submit them to. I don't know why I'm still writing them. It's like the idea pops into my head and I get such a rush from the act of creating, I want to get it down on paper, I need to. There are a lot of "short play festivals" out there these days that accept "plays" that are under 10 minutes, so it seems like I might have an outlet for the sketches, but sometimes I get very insecure about my material. Are they really plays? They're comedy skits. I feel like I'm setting myself up for rejection, you know? But it's something I have to try. It's not like I haven't submitted to festivals like that before.
In the mean time, these things are burning holes in my thumb drive and I have to put them out there somewhere and I have a blog. So, we'll be playing around on here, I suppose.
In the mean time, these things are burning holes in my thumb drive and I have to put them out there somewhere and I have a blog. So, we'll be playing around on here, I suppose.
I noticed something in the last few years on SNL; topical isn't always topical. Yes, they have the political cold openings and Weekend Update, but when SNL started, they would do movie parodies of then newly-released movies and then a lot of Boomer-related things (and guests) from early TV. The latest generation of writers, thanks to cable TV and streaming, have a much broader and deeper field to harvest. I think I first realized it with Bill Hader and his various Vincent Price holiday shows. I can't believe for a minute that the audience would know who Vincent Price, Liberace, James Mason and others were, but maybe they did, thanks to Nick-at-Night or TVland. They do parodies now of decades-old Disney cartoons. They set up movie send-ups from the 1940s and 1950s. They can do a sketch about anything (as long as it is funny).
The Wizarding World movies (formerly know as "Harry Potter movies") are still in the public mind thanks to the books, movie prequels, Broadway shows, cable TV showings and theme-park rides. And if in the presence of any of these things, a sketch idea can pop up still. We still watch the movies whenever they play on TV (usually once a month on one cable station or another) and, if I'm paying attention, something new will appear to me: An odd piece of logic, a plot gap, a continuity issue or a background character I hadn't noticed. Or the various characters names. How did no one figure out Professor Lupin was a a werewolf? How do you name your kid Malfoy and not know he'll be evil? Or why would any kid WANT to be placed in a school called "Slytherin?" Well, this seems like something the Sorting Hat would have a hand in...
The Wizarding World movies (formerly know as "Harry Potter movies") are still in the public mind thanks to the books, movie prequels, Broadway shows, cable TV showings and theme-park rides. And if in the presence of any of these things, a sketch idea can pop up still. We still watch the movies whenever they play on TV (usually once a month on one cable station or another) and, if I'm paying attention, something new will appear to me: An odd piece of logic, a plot gap, a continuity issue or a background character I hadn't noticed. Or the various characters names. How did no one figure out Professor Lupin was a a werewolf? How do you name your kid Malfoy and not know he'll be evil? Or why would any kid WANT to be placed in a school called "Slytherin?" Well, this seems like something the Sorting Hat would have a hand in...
