Peter's Commentary on the 'Horrible Family Holidays' Edition

[Catching up on blogposts, now that I've recovered from the Dance Weekend That Ate My Life.]

Just thought I'd put up some thoughts on the most recent Sketch War.

Ken Robertson's entry: laughed aloud at "No 'Christians and Heathens', okay?" / "Awwww.". I liked the payoff at the end -- possibly could have trimmed the number of awkward moments leading up to it, though Priscilla's drunken pass at Massotihan was a great über-embarrassing exchange.

R. A. Porter's entry: Ow! Ow ow ow ow! These aren't my memories, but it's like they are my memories! My painful, painful memories! Ow!

With regards to my own entry, I'm mostly just proud that I managed to pound *something* out on time. I spent Tuesday fishing for a topic, scribbled out some ideas on Wednesday, and carved out an hour or two from Friday night -- in the thick of ALX -- to lock myself in a little room until the pages were finished. Things I liked: simple sketch concept, wrote with clear characters in mind, invented a puppet troupe. Things I didn't like: random ending (why would Katie flee the scene?), should have pushed the jokes to be more surreal and out-there, and I put an emotional tilt into a comedy sketch, which is kind of wrong. (Sketch comedy isn't about emotional arcs -- the structure is more like "funny. Funny. FUNNY! done.")

Oh, and I screwed up on the topic: I mis-read it as "horrible family gatherings", came up with my sketch, and then realized it was "horrible family holidays". Then I shoehorned some Christmas decorations into the stage directions. (That's the magic of screenwriting, kids! Change the time of year just by typing a few extra words!)

Lord knows how I'll come up with a sketch on the topic of "Oprah".