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YouTube is changing the face of sketch comedy
Want to set yourself up as a comedy superstar? Sure, you could do the rounds of
open mic nights, work your way up in the scene, get yourself some writing gigs on
pay TV and maybe, one day, attract enough attention to land your own sketch show.
Or you could create a YouTube channel, get some friends together and be totally
awesome.
This is the lesson that's been taught to us by groups like “College Humor”, “Smosh”
and “Rooster Teeth”. These guys have not only created sketch that's promoted
them to TV stardom, some of them have become so big that they don't need TV any
more. They've transcended the medium. In short, they're a comedy geek's wet
dream.
All over the world, people see this and think, 'You know what? I can do that.' Then
they get a bunch of their buddies together and muck around in front of a camera,
then post it and wonder why they aren't attracting many views. Even in countries
where monkeys are readily available, you can't just turn on the camera and expect to
be funny.
Traditional sketch gets shrinkage
Sketch collectives on YouTube operate pretty much like traditional sketch groups.
Some, like “Potter Puppet Pals”, take advantage of current trends to tap into the
public consciousness. Others do what sketch comedians have always done, which is
a bunch of absurd stuff in front of a camera.
So what's the difference? Mainly size. Like all internet content, YouTube sketch has
had to shrink. Anything the length of a traditional sketch is simply too long to hold a
?ckle internet user's attention.
For example, the “Parrot Sketch”, running at ?ve and a half minutes, just wouldn't
work on YouTube. Most Tube sketches last two and a half minutes, or three and a
half at most. If they were starting their careers on the internet like so many of today's
comedians, “Monty Python” wouldn't have a chance. YouTube is like the Twitter of
sketch.
Manipulative bastards
For a bunch of sketches that appeal to the weird and juvenile in everyone, you
wouldn't think that their creators had put a whole lot of planning in. However, one
thing all survivors of the internet sketch scrum have in common is meticulous, careful