THE MYSTERY OF THE BASKET is sketch by Australian comedian Troy Kinne. In this short, but effective sketch, Kinne is able to make the audience laugh while also conveying a quick message about social statuses between men and women in relationships. The sketch is short and starts off with a couple bickering about their contribution to their relationship. The woman asks her partner why he never takes any initiative to do anything to help around the house and himself, since she does everything for him and she has outside work as well, she complains about all the time she has come home to do more work around the house compared to him. The boyfriend reassures her that everything is going to be okay, because he starts pointing out supernatural phenomenons that happen in the house, such as put clothes in the laundry basket, the next day it becomes clean and neatly folded, the girlfriend is in disbelief, so the boyfriend points out another phenomenon with their coffee table how everything he puts on it, even going to the extent of trying to really mess the coffee table up everything on it just vanishes, quick cut to the next day and the boyfriend is trying to make a case that his girlfriend fell onto the coffee table and vanishes to the two police officers. The female police officer is baffled by how ridiculous his statement is, while the male police officer believes him, stating he has the same coffee table at home, and that is how the sketch ends. Obviously this is play on the fact that the girlfriend was the one who was doing all the cleaning, while the boyfriend thought if he threw things in a certain places, it will just magically disappear. And the policeman at the end shows another example of man being pampered.
Comedy is usually subjective, what humans usually find funny varies from person to person. Despite this sketch being made by Australian for Australian audience, the comedy is effective at appealing to the masses. The message the sketch conveys is very relatable and very truthful, which is reason why it makes it funny, “Principles are based upon primal understandings shared by every human being on the planet” (Ferguson, 2010). The sketch uses principles from Ferguson to create a scenario that is comedic, “It offers bare truths, not fanciful escapism” (Ferguson, 2010). Most relationships revolve around a guy lying around the house, while the woman in the relationship are normally the ones doing house work, this is a stereotype. Because this is such a truthful and relatable scenario many will laugh at this because it is likely a situation they are in or someone they know are in, and it gives people pleasure to know that there is someone out there who are aware of these problems and sending a message out, even though it maybe used for comedic purposes.
Troy Kinne’s character the boyfriend in this sketch, is one of the main driving forces in this sketch. The way he acts completely stupidfy by things that happen with logical explanations is what makes this comedy, “comedy flows from a character’s unique, quirky, offbeat way of looking at the world” (Vorhaus, 1994). Kinne’s character is overly the top idiotic and oblivious is the reason why this sketch works. He takes a situation that people have most likely been through or have someone they know been through and put a spin on a ridiculous perspective from the male point of view, “ability to take the ordinary of details of everyone’s life and see them in a new different light.” (Vorhaus, 1994). If one of the characters stand out in the sketch, it means they have a strong personality, to be able to bring the jokes and message of the sketch forward. Strong characters provide good support for a story, and the fact that Kinne’s character stands out so much compared to the straight man, girlfriend character, it creates a comedic situation people have been through in life, therefor they are able to relate to the characters.
The message the sketch is trying to relay to the audience is to create awareness of woman and men at home, especially towards couples. It shows how women at home are supposed to cook, clean and take care of the house, while the men just lay around lazily and expect everything to be done by women. The political message being conveyed plays among the themes of gender equality. The sketch does a really good job at showcasing this idea and portraying this message in a comedic light, where the audience will not only laugh, but also we start to become aware of the problems that could happen at home. Gender equality is real life issue that is happening in the world, and comedians can bring the raise awareness by sending a message through comedic sketches. Because some of the best comedy writing comes from real life, “If something is just a stupid idea…you’ve got to tie it to something real,” (Medd, 2012). This sketch is an example of making up an idiotic unrealistic character and tying him into a real life scenario.
Why I think this particular sketch is not only funny, but is very effective of sending out a political message is mostly because of Kinne’s character way of thinking and he’s idiotic non-nonchalant oblivious attitude. The fact that we the audience are fully aware and given the idea that the girlfriend was the one who was the reason for all his phenomenon makes us laugh, because if we were in that situation we probably wouldn’t be that stupid, but the fact we are seeing someone like that and knowing we could be that person is what makes us laugh. The scenario is relatable to many people and the political message has some truth to it. It conveys its message simple, quick and witty. It’s the kind of comedy I like, it’s ridiculous, but subtle at the same time.
References
Tim Ferguson, The Cheeky Monkey Writing Narrative Comedy, 2010
John Vorhaus, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even If You’re Not, 1994
James Medd, The Rules: Jason Hazeley & Joel Morris on Comedy-Sketch Writing, The Word, 2012