Sketch 4 was designed to use comedy as a mode, not a genre. In Layman’s terms, the skit is meant to be funny in a genre that isn’t usually or always comic. I realised this is actually one of my favourite attributes of comedy: finding comedy in shows, movies or pieces that aren’t necessarily designed originally to be funny (or vice-versa, funny things that become serious/emotional). An important part of this in the context of parody, is making sure “most people have seen it” (Toplyn, 2014). To elaborate further, making sure your topic is something that’s within the public zeitgeist, that means the likelihood of people knowing what you are spoofing is high (and hence, what your joking about likely being funnier).
That is the primary reason we parodied shows like A Current Affair and Today Tonight. They often over-sensationalize fairly mundane topics to begin with, but also dramatise the characteristics of the people within the story. As a result, we tried to exaggerate the frat-boy nature of the deaf character, Kent, and the gentle, mild-mannered and nice nature of the blind character, Lily.
I think also it was good to try and analyse the stereotypes of these formats and attempt to subvert them in a manner that was in some way original. I think it was vital for the sketch to ensure we found the line of making the show’s format part of the bit, along with the extreme persona of Kent, to try generate jokes from there. It was important not to punch down and that became extra obvious in the context of parody, as we needed to ensure we didn’t leave anyone feeling like they were the target of the piece. Small touches, like actually learning the (American) signs for what I was saying, really brought out an authenticity that honestly made it a lot funnier also. I think doing this in a standalone comedy maybe wouldn’t have been as noticeable, as the expectation of a gag or joke is higher in comedy than in other forms of media.
References:
- Toplyn, J. (2014), “Parody Sketches” in Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV, New York: Twenty Lane Media, pp. 239–261.