Series of short comedy scenes or vignettes

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sketch comedy</span>

Sketch comedy

<p><b>Sketch comedy</b> comprises a series of short, amusing <a href="/en/Scene_(drama)" title="Scene (drama)" class="mw-redirect wl">scenes</a> or <a href="/en/Vignette_(literature)" title="Vignette (literature)" class="wl">vignettes</a>, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in <a href="/en/Vaudeville" title="Vaudeville" class="wl">vaudeville</a>, and is used widely in <a href="/en/Variety_show" title="Variety show" class="wl">variety shows</a>, comedy <a href="/en/Talk_show" title="Talk show" class="wl">talk shows</a>, and some <a href="/en/Sitcom" title="Sitcom" class="wl">sitcoms</a> and <a href="/en/Children's_television_series" title="Children's television series" class="wl">children's television series</a>. The sketches may be <a href="/en/Improvisational_theatre" title="Improvisational theatre" class="wl">improvised</a> live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play. Sketch comedians routinely differentiate their work from a "skit", maintaining that a skit is a (single) dramatized joke (or "bit")<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> while a sketch is a comedic exploration of a concept, character, or situation.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Series of short comedy scenes or vignettes</div>
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<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg/220px-Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="2100" data-file-height="1462" data-file-type="bitmap" height="153" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg/330px-Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg/440px-Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg 2x" alt="Nightmare_On_Overwhelmed_St_8-22-18_29.jpg"></a><figcaption>The actors of <i>Nightmare on Overwhelmed Street</i> performing in 2018.</figcaption></figure>



Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is used widely in variety shows, comedy talk shows, and some sitcoms and children's television series. The sketches may be improvised live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play. Sketch comedians routinely differentiate their work from a "skit", maintaining that a skit is a dramatized joke  