Has Indie Sketch Gone Away?
Make your own team
How about a short, truly under-researched but salty take?
Indie sketch has gone away in Los Angeles.
Okay, I have to admit I’m not sure. But it FEELS like — while there is a healthy indie improv scene — the same is not true of sketch.
I’m remembering the early 2000s NYC, you’d see sketch groups that had put themselves together doing shows. I’m thinking of Pangea 3000, Casey and June, Whitest Kids U Know, etc. Even Nick Kroll and John Mullaney doing their “Oh Hello” characters at Rififi before they became huge. Or Stella doing shows.
Right before the pandemic in LA, you had Whitmer Thomas’ show at The Satellite. And Brad and Nick doing Atlantic City at UCB.
Maybe it’s been replaced by people focusing on their TikTok videos, Instagrammable character vids? Solo stuff.
Or everyone’s doing one-person clown shows now?
Maybe the rise of house sketch teams like Maude Night at UCB sucks up all the good sketch talent? A word on this: I love Maude Night. It gives lots of talented people a place to practice acting and writing sketch. But it requires lots of compromise. It’s not a great place for new unsure people to try out their weird ideas. That’s what indie sketch is for. In my perfect world, people would do Maude for a year or two and then break off and form sketch ensembles on their own with the people they met.
The Pack has a big vibrant sketch scene. Though I am not involved, the teams there seem happy and energized. That feels the closest to what I’m talking about. But still, these are house teams. I can’t believe it has the same wild energy of a small group of friends making stuff.
My wish: for a handful of 2-5 person sketch teams —- where everyone is a writer and actor — to be putting up their own shows. I wish they’d find their own venue and work out a deal where they host alt stand-ups and other sketch as they do a new sketch each week.
I suppose there’s not the same reward for sketch as there is for (pick one): doing social media videos, joining the existing improv scene, writing a sitcom pilot, starting a substack. I know UCB has tried to reward indie sketch shows with slots.
It is also truly possible that I am just WRONG. Please sound off in the comments if there’s indie sketch in LA and this old man just doesn’t know about it.
Plugs, Fresh
The Sober Show - TONIGHT, 7pm at the UCB Theater. Sober improviser including myself do scenes off of stories from the audience about their drunken nights.
Plugs, Ongoing
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Comics - Comic book podcast, hosted by my brother Kevin and I. We are preparing to do a series on legendary comics writer Keith Giffen!
Clubhouse Fridays - WGIS’ weekly improv show. Fridays 7pm at The Clubhouse. Free!
The World’s Greatest Improv School: The improv school I run with Jim Woods and Sarah Claspell. We’ve got classes online, in LA and even a few in NYC!
How to Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth - My improv book, available at Amazon. Kindle or print. It’s a hodge-podge of advice I wrote in 2016 about doing improv. If you’re broke and want a free PDF version just email me and I’ll send it over.
I think the skill of improv performers have evolved so much that often improvised scenes could almost simply be recorded and transcribed without significant edits. In 2018 and 19 I saw a few improv scenes at UCB that were so tight I forgot I was watching an improv show. I also think that we really haven’t fully recovered from the upheaval of COVID or the guild strikes. People’s work schedules haven’t stabilized enough that people can dedicate time to writing/producing sketch. I hopeful to get back to it sometime soon. You’re awesome!
It's the same here in Pittsburgh. My sketch troupe is the only active sketch team I know of here. It's all improv otherwise. Not gonna lie, it's nice to stand out a bit.