Sketch - Tourette's Chef

HELLO. I HOPE YOU ENJOY MY SKETCH, TRUTHFUL and helpful COMMENTS PLEASE THANK YOU..

"TOURETTE'S CHEF"
alphabet spaghetti

INT. cafe - DAY

A very well dressed mum - dad - and boy sit down at a table in a cafe.A very smiley waitress walks over and talks to the family.

"waitress"
hello. the chef special today is
chips peas and steak and ale pie.

DAD is the first to speak up.

"DAD"
that's just what the doctor
ordered.

"MUM"

yeah I'll have the same please.

The waitress looks down at the young boy.

"waitress"
and what can I get for you young
man?

"boy"
urm! can I have alphabet spaghetti
on toast.

the waitress looks bemused.

"waitress"
are you sure you don't want the same
as your mum and dad?

"boy"
no!i want that! oh and cola aswell.

the waitress writes the boys order down.

"waitress"
it shouldn't be too long.

the waitress taps her note pad and walks away.

INT. CAFE - DAY

The waitress walks back over to the family holding the three plates one of which has a silver lid over it. she puts the dads down she puts the mums down. the waitress takes a deep breath and puts the boys plate down and lifts the silver lid off. the waitress makes a hasty escape.

"boy"
daaad!

The young boy starts to cry, his dad leans over to him.

"DAD"
come on son it can't be that
bad.

The boys DAD looks at his son's plate. The boys dad sees that it is alphabet spaghetti on toast but the chef has arranged the alphabet spaghetti in to words across the toast..BOLLOCKS - WANKER - FUCKER - SPOILT SHIT - GROW UP!

"DAD"
is this a bloody joke!?

The boys mum and dad turn around and see the "TOUREETE'S CHEF" standing at the bar grinning, he throws the t-towel he's holding over his shoulder and walk's away whistling zippady doo darr..

THE END

The scene was set well and the dialogue was easy to follow, but the title gave the punchline away.
Making a joke on an issue that you're not sure will offend is the cornerstone of funny!
If it is funny people see that regardless of the subject matter, however if its not funny it looks nasty .
This was fine and explaining about the Tourettes after the lid is lifted makes the punch better.

The only thing wrong with the sketch was the explanation beforehand, drop it and prosper from it.

Good idea.

Does it have to be a kid?
Could it be some smart arse (Michael Winner?) who thinks he's clever by ordering what he wants "it's my money - I'll have what I bloody well want!" despite the fact this chef is famous for something or other...?

if it's a kid, I think it should end with "Dad, what's a wanker?"
Then just the chef grinning through the little porthole to the kitchen.

I like it (but I'm a bit fascinated with torette syndrom anyway).
Do you plan it as some sort of running gag, a recurring character in a sketch show? I think this has the potential to remain funny even if you already knew that the guy has tourette...at least I'd enjoy it every single time. You'd have to come up with several different situations.

hello.. I have around 20 different sketches for this character he is now part of my sketch show I am hoping to get going called "the legs akimbo show" which includes a whole world of crazy characters! I usually write film screenplays and I am hoping to get one off soon. this is the first thing I have ever posted or sent out.. being self taught with writing I am not even sure its right.

Just well a bit obvious and too foreshadowed.

Quote: nigel @ September 11 2012, 2:28 PM BST

being self taught with writing I am not even sure its right.

View original

All writers are self-taught.
The good ones, anyway.

How would the family, or the audience, know the chef had Tourette's...?

An apology from the waitress would do the trick.

But, as it stands this sketch isn't about Tourette's - it's about a snotty kid getting their comeuppance.
And I think quite a funny one.
The general understanding of the condition (and this is what you have to play to because it's what your audience will 'get') is that outbursts of swearing etc are uncontrolled, rather than pre-meditated.
Which this surely is - because he's doing it, on purpose, to get one over the snotty kid.

The kid didn't come across as snotty to me...

I have to be honest I saw it as a Tourettes caper.

to teddy. yes mate when the waitress takes the lid off she give's an apology in the form off.

WAITRESS
I'm sorry!
Then she walks away..

And to Z... I see the "TOURETTE'S CHEF character as a ANNE (little Britain).. you know he's going to do something but you just don't quite know what. I was hoping the fact of the kid not saying his P's and Qs was enough for the kid to come over snotty and arrogant hence the TOURETTE'S CHEF'S ACTIONS..

In which case you need to make sure the kid comes across all sweetness and light to avoid the confusion - albeit only in my head.

I didn't really get it. I could see what was happening, but it didn't strike me as funny. However, this may have been because I was thrown by character names in inverted commas (I wondered if it was the real dad talking, or if it was some doppelganger).