Fry And Laurie almost did that. There were only a couple of recuuring bits. And of course two of them wrote it. But it almost does what you say.
Can you think of a sketch show... Page 2
Quote: catskillz @ March 11 2009, 11:37 AM GMTThe reason I asked the original question, is that I was thinking how impressive it would be, not only for a sketch show to never repeat a sketch, but also, for it to be written by just one person. Now that would really raise the bar.
I think it would take one person years to write 6 episodes of non-repeating sketches.
I've written about 30 mins of sketches in the last 9 months and that's including a few short runners.
I reckon it could be done, but it would surely take ages - especially if they were to be good sketches.
Quote: catskillz @ March 11 2009, 11:37 AM GMTThe reason I asked the original question, is that I was thinking how impressive it would be, not only for a sketch show to never repeat a sketch, but also, for it to be written by just one person. Now that would really raise the bar.
It certainly would be impressive - if it was any good, which I sort of doubt. I'm working on a sketch show now and there're 18 of us!
Quote: Lee Henman @ March 11 2009, 11:49 AM GMTIt certainly would be impressive - if it was any good, which I sort of doubt. I'm working on a sketch show now and there're 18 of us!
Yes and no.
It's like saying could a musician do an album of 100 decent songs. Not in a normal album time scale, no, but over a long period of time, yes.
Personally, I reckon it'd take me . . . probably 3-4 years to produce 6 episodes of decent sketches.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ March 11 2009, 11:39 AM GMTFry And Laurie almost did that. There were only a couple of recuuring bits. And of course two of them wrote it. But it almost does what you say.
The recurring bits of Fry & Laurie were for me the weakest. The one where they were two businessmen who kept banging on about "Marjorie" and "Uttoxeter" never made me laugh then, or now.
The first 2 series of 'A Bit Of Fry And Laurie' were sublime (also find Radio 4's 'Saturday Night Fry')
Big Train series 1 was also genius.
The best sketch shows always have tonnes of writers competing for slots. Go look at the people who wrote for NTNN or 'Alas Smith and Jones'
The reason there are too many poor sketch shows is that the writer-performer mentality has taken over TV. Performers get famous and too readily assume they are great writers.
Simple as.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ March 11 2009, 11:47 PM GMTThe recurring bits of Fry & Laurie were for me the weakest. The one where they were two businessmen who kept banging on about "Marjorie" and "Uttoxeter" never made me laugh then, or now.
Oh, I loved those. And the other one, the Control ones; great stuff!
Quote: Tim Walker @ March 12 2009, 1:33 AM GMTThe first 2 series of 'A Bit Of Fry And Laurie' were sublime (also find Radio 4's 'Saturday Night Fry')
The best sketch shows always have tonnes of writers competing for slots.
Though Fry and Laurie was just Fry and Laurie writing.
I'm not sure such a show could ever truly exist TBH. Sketch shows are, by their very nature, hit-and-miss affairs. What tickles one viewer may comatose the next and I'd imagine there's research proving viewers who keep watching a series do so because they find several of the recurring bits a 'hit'.
You know that even if the rest isn't so funny, the recurring bits make you laugh so it'll be worth watching. Attaching to a single sketch is possible (I've heard 'once only' sketches I thought were fantastic) but it's much harder to mention them to friends or get them to watch based on it because they've already missed it.
Technically such a thing might be an impressive feat, but even if the above was discounted, I'd doubt such a thing could get made (for TV anyway) because repeating sketch character/locations is simply cheaper then always doing new things.
(Not to mention us writers are lazy - much easier to think of new places then new characters. And can anyone here say if they wrote a sketch which had a producer 'rolling in the aisles' they'd decline if asked for more of the same character?)
This thread is really interesting to me as this is exactly what I have tried to do.
I have a sketch show being considered by a production company atm which has no repeated sketches and was written solely by myself. If it is commissioned I plan for the series to have 100 sketches in total.
It stared off as a bit of challenge to myself to see whether I could come up with 100; I started planning it in Jan 2008 and to date have 71.
I don't recall 'Who Dares Wins' doing much in the way of repeat characters and so forth. There's a forgotten, under-rated show for you.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ March 13 2009, 11:13 AM GMTI don't recall 'Who Dares Wins' doing much in the way of repeat characters and so forth. There's a forgotten, under-rated show for you.
Don't think it's forgotten or underrated. Some very talented writers and performers in it.
Found it a slightly smug show though, even in my early teens.
Cleverer than it was funny. A bit. Still good though.
Mr Show with Bob and David, my personal favourite sketch show ever. No recurring sketches, completely new material every week and always top quality.
Monty Python rarely had recurring sketches, although a couple of characters did crop up again in minor roles.
I certainly don't think it is impossible to write six episodes of brand new sketches. The current podcast series I'm working on is new sketches every week and if I ever had the chance to make a sketch show for TV, it would be new sketches every week, not to try and be 'impressive' but just because I don't really like recurring sketches unless they are adding something to the joke and not simply repeating the same sketch but in a different location.
Quote: Martin H @ March 14 2009, 1:52 PM GMTbut just because I don't really like recurring sketches unless they are adding something to the joke and not simply repeating the same sketch but in a different location.
Yes, but you try sticking to that mantra when they're waving money at you.
Oldie, but can't think of much repitition in Milligan's Q.
Quote: Balf @ March 14 2009, 2:02 PM GMTOldie, but can't think of much repitition in Milligan's Q.
Although he repeated the title every time.
Talking of podcasts, who can recommend some comedy podcasts ? Self-promotion is no crime here.