Write and Perform a Comedy Skit

Funny Jokes Comedy Skit

Have a chat with the children in your class about what makes a joke funny. The answers will probably not be what you expect.

Go on to discuss the conventions of Riddle, Pun, Knock-Knock jokes, appropriateness for audience, etc.

Comedy Skit Task:

With a partner, you must write and perform a comedy skit script for our class. The skit must be done in the convention of the ‘straight guy/funny guy’ and have a variety of joke types in it. You must submit your script to the teacher before your performance. The skit must have a duration of between 3 and 5 minutes.

Discuss:

• No racism. Why? No sexism. Why? No ‘toilet humor’… Yes farts are funny but… (pun not intended, butt enjoyed hehehe), No slapstick falling down (we’ve seen it before). No fights (… yep, we’ve seen that before too) or language that may offend our principal/ parent body, etc.

This is your opportunity to be creative and produce a unique piece of comedy gold!

Polishing the Performance:

• Have a writing conference with a friend or teacher to ‘improve’ the script.
• Do the skit with a parent or loved one before the school performance to gain feedback.

Pre-Performance Discuss:

• ‘Your voice needs to be loud enough so the little old deaf lady at the back of the room can hear.
• You may like to consider wearing a costume for your performance.
• Remember to wait for the laughing to settle before you begin your next joke. (What is ‘comedic timing?)

Peer Review:

Jointly compose a rubric tool be used as a reflective tool on the performance.

Extension:

– upload your script to your blog for the world to enjoy.
– turn your script into a podcast
– video your performance and burn it to DVD for your parents to enjoy
– do your performance using puppets and film it. Upload the video to your blog.