History
Sketch comedy has its origins in vaudeville and music hall, where a large number of brief, but humorous, acts were strung together to form a larger programme.
In the UK, it moved to stage performances by Cambridge Footlights, such as Beyond the Fringe and A Clump of Plinths (which evolved into Cambridge Circus), to radio, with such shows as It's That Man Again and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, then to television, with such shows as Monty Python's Flying Circus and Not the Nine O'Clock News.
There is also the Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada created by Mexican comedian Chespirito transmitted in Mexico between 1968 and 1973 that created famous characters like El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado and other character like Los Caquitos, Dr. Chapatín and Los Chifladitos.
Historically, the sketches tended to be unrelated, but more recent groups have introduced overarching themes that connect the sketches within a particular show, with recurring characters that return for more than one appearance. Examples of recurring characters include Mr. Gumby from Monty Python's Flying Circus; Ted and Ralph from The Fast Show; the Head Crusher from The Kids in the Hall; Martin Short's Ed Grimley, a recurring character from both SCTV and Saturday Night Live; and Kevin and Perry from Harry Enfield and Chums. The idea of running characters was taken a stage further with shows like The Red Green Show and The League of Gentlemen, where sketches centered around the various inhabitants of the fictional towns of Possum Lake and Royston Vasey, respectively.
In North America, contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during the 1970s, largely growing out of Chicago's The Second City.
Notable contemporary American stage sketch comedy groups include The Second City, the Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings.
Other notable television sketch comedy shows include:
- 2DTV
- A Bit of Fry and Laurie
- Air Farce Live
- Alas Smith and Jones
- Alexei Sayle's Stuff
- All That
- Almost Live!
- Animaniacs
- Armstrong & Miller
- At Last The 1948 Show
- Banana Split (TV series)
- Big Bite
- Big Train
- Blue Collar TV
- Bo' Selecta!
- Bubble Gang
- Burnistoun
- Cedric the Entertainer Presents
- Cha Cha Cha
- Chappelle's Show
- Chewin' the Fat
- Chocolate News
- CODCO
- Comedy Inc.
- Dave Allen at Large
- Dead Ringers
- The Dick Emery Show
- Double Take
- Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!
- Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji
- Dtmevolved
- Exit 57
- Fast Forward
- Fifty Fifty (comedy show)
- French and Saunders
- Fridays
- Full Frontal
- Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan
- Gag Concert
- Goodness Gracious Me
- Goin' Bulilit
- Haromoni@
- Harry Enfield and Chums
- Harry and Paul
- House of Venus Show
- Horne and Corden
- Hum Sub Umeed Se Hain
- Human Giant
- Important Things with Demetri Martin
- In De Gloria
- In Living Color
- In the Flow with Affion Crockett
- Ispup
- Jam
- KaBlam!
- Key & Peele
- Little Britain
- Little Britain USA
- Little Miss Jocelyn
- Lokomoko U
- Loiter Squad
- Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada (Chespirito)
- Lunch with Soupy Sales
- MAD (TV series)
- MADtv
- Michael and Michael Have Issues
- Mickey Mouse Works
- Mind of Mencia
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Moron Life
- Mr. Show
- Muppets Tonight
- Newman and Baddiel in Pieces
- Nick Swardson's Pretend Time
- Not the Nine O'Clock News
- Nuts Entertainment
- Olde English
- Paul Merton: The Series
- Planet Sketch
- Portlandia
- Q
- Robot Chicken
- The Ronnie Johns Half Hour
- Roundhouse
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
- Sam and Friends
- Saturday Night Live
- School of Comedy
- SCTV
- SkitHOUSE
- Smack the Pony
- SMTV Live
- Snuff Box
- So Random!
- Spitting Image
- SuperNews!
- Talkshow with Spike Feresten
- That Mitchell and Webb Look
- That's So Weird
- The ABC Comedy Hour
- The Amanda Show
- The Benny Hill Show
- The Ben Stiller Show
- The Big Gay Sketch Show
- The Carol Burnett Show
- The Catherine Tate Show
- The Colgate Comedy Hour
- The D-Generation
- The Dana Carvey Show
- The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour
- The Electric Company
- The Fast Show
- The Idiot Box
- The Kevin Bishop Show
- The Kids in the Hall
- The Mary Whitehouse Experience
- The Micallef Programme
- The Mighty Boosh
- The Mr. Men Show
- The Muppet Show
- The New Show
- The Nighttime Clap
- The Peter Serafinowicz Show
- The Red Skelton Show
- The Rerun Show
- The Sketch Show
- The State
- The Tracey Ullman Show
- The Wayne Brady Show
- The Whitest Kids U' Know
- The Wrong Door
- Turkey Television
- The Vacant Lot
- This Hour Has 22 Minutes
- Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
- TV Offal
- Upright Citizens Brigade
- Vermillion Pleasure Night
- Wayne and Shuster
- Wonder Showzen
- You Can't Do That on Television
- Your Show of Shows
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