The Comedy Craziness Continues

You know how I mentioned SNL UK...?

Last time… on “Two Television Things”…. I found myself writing and performing in a live sketch show in Edinburgh called Story Platform.

What did I learn from my crazy week in comedy

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From the first time I heard about Story Platform, it was likened to a local Edinburgh version of Saturday Night Live. It was on a Friday, and it was in a theatre, but it was live and written from scratch in the week of performance.

During the initial Monday meeting, the producer Jemma asked if we were aware that there is a UK version of Saturday Night Live in the offing. I nodded politely as I was still in the “who are all these people, and who the hell am I?” phase of my venture into the group, but of course I was very aware. I wrote about it here and have read many articles pontificating on the prospect.

Once the murmurs of “Oh yes” and “No…” and “What’s SNL?”¹ subsided, Jemma mentioned that she knows the producer who is working on it, and was planning to send clips and details of Story Platform to them to say “hey look, we’re already doing this here”. My head almost exploded. One day into a return to comedy, I was one Kevin Bacon away from Saturday Night Live UK. That first night I had a tiny bit of industry excitement to share with my nearest and dearest, and as the week wore on, it drifted from my mind.

Then, last Friday at 4.30pm, as I was playing Disney Infinity Inside Out with my daughter on the Playstation after work and before travelling to my parents house for the weekend, an email arrived.

It was Jemma.

To everyone involved in the April show.

With details of the submission process for SNL UK.

Obviously I can’t share an awful lot of detail but I think the above screenshot is OK. It’s the most exciting screenshot I’ve ever taken.

I spent the weekend coming up with three sketches, and honed them as much as other life commitments would allow. Thank the lord for the May Bank Holiday and my ever supportive wife.

I can now count all the time I’ve spent watching SNL on YouTube, listening to the Seth Meyers and Lonely Island Podcast, and reading Live from New York, as official research. It feels odd that I’ve been on such a deep dive into SNL in the last year or so and then this comes along. But we all know our good friend confirmation bias. More important is our better friend, grab life by whatever you can, with whatever you can.

Another useful friend is realistic expectations, which I’m feeling more confident in this week. I’ve just submitted to SNL UK, and I’m entirely comfortable with that being the end of the journey. It’s not the end of the journey for the sketches I wrote, because they will at least find a life in my upcoming Fancy Falls Sketch Podcast².

One sketch that I worked up but ended up not including in the submission is what I’m going to share a snippet of now, and the notes for below.

The Sleepwatcher (excerpt)

THE SLEEPWATCHER

INT. PARENT’S BEDROOM, NIGHT

LORRAINE and her husband MARTY are in bed, ready for sleep.

MARTY: Lorraine, I have to thank you such a wonderful 50th birthday party with all of my friends and family.

LORRAINE: (cheery but exhausted) Well, you can thank me by shutting up. I’ve been up since 5am.

MARTY: No chance of a goodnight kiss?

LORRAINE: That’s what your hand is for.

LORRAINE reaches to switch off the bedside light.

MARTY: Oh hand, you’ll never leave me.

In the darkness, a figure appears beside the bed. MARTY screams and LORRAINE turns on the light, to reveal their young son TEDDY.

LORRAINE: Teddy, what we have told you about sneaking in here once we’re in bed?

TEDDY: Sorry, mum. I just wanted to say happy birthday to dad, one more time before it was too late.

MARTY: Oh, don’t worry, it’s still my birthday for an hour and a bit yet.

TEDDY: That’s not what I meant.

TEDDY walks backwards out of their bedroom, staring at them the whole time.

LORRAINE: He can’t have sugar after 8pm any more, he goes full creep-out.

MARTY: Agreed. Night.

LORRAINE: Goodnight.

LORRAINE switches out the light. There is a crash.

THE SLEEPWATCHER: Aww, shoot.

LORRAINE turns her light on, and she and MARTY scream at the sight of THE SLEEPWATCHER, a man in a cloak like a carpet of leaves, a bowler hat with stars bouncing on springs, and holding a large staff shaped like a crescent moon.

THE SLEEPWATCHER: You can’t see me, right?

LORRAINE: Who the hell are you? Get out of our house!

THE SLEEPWATCHER: I get the feeling you can see me.

LORRAINE: Marty, can you beat this weirdo out of our house please?

MARTY: Uhh, Lorraine. I think he might be one of my birthday presents.

LORRAINE: What??

THE SLEEPWATCHER: Happy birthday from Uncle Orson.

THE SLEEPWATCHER smiles weakly.

TO BE CONTINUED…

This Week’s Notebook

I tried to do a lot of ideas generation for the SNL submission, and the brief was more specific about two of the sketches, but the third was open to be “one other piece to best showcase your POV”

So the above was a weird little sketch that needs more work, and an ending.

I definitely pictured Andy Samberg as The Sleepwatcher, and the parents names are obviously inspired by Back to the Future, but that is irrelevant³.

1. The SleepWatcher

   1. It’s strange to watch someone sleep knowing they’re in another world, explore this

   2. A magical being who can capture and remember your dream, if he’s there the moment you wake up - would you do it?

If you have anything you’d like the Sleepwatcher to get up to, let me know!

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Televigion Update

Watching

• Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 4 - Lucky Day (iPlayer) This episode was much less engaging than the first three, almost certainly due to a lack of the Doctor and Belinda. I was very glad of the reveal partway through that actually gave it somewhere to go, and I liked RTDs attempt at a bit of timey-wimey fun, filling in a quick extra Ruby Sunday adventure⁴. But it didn’t quite hang together as a takedown of fake news, because it seemed to be asking us to trust shady government agencies that are genuinely hiding information from the public (in the reality of the show). A middling episode with enough fun to see it through.

• The Last of Us S2 Ep 2 Through the Valley and Ep 3 The Path - We’re up to date with the show now, and for some reason I’m not finding it as engaging as season 1. The second episode is a huge action-horror spectacle, with some devastating events, but I was left a little cold. Episode 3 is quieter and more engaging, but I’m not as into it as I had hoped.

• Taskmaster S19 Ep 1: Sometimes Spit - I love Taskmaster, as I have discussed before, but sometimes I just don’t click with a cast (last season remains unwatched, despite my admiration of at least three of the cast). Fully on board with this cohort though, I think because it is full of all silly-billies, and no arrogant prinks⁵.

• SNL Season 50 Episode 19 - Quinta Brunson - Oh dear. I mean it probably doesn’t help that I watched this to wind down after sending my SNL UK submission in, but it felt quite uninspired and I didn’t laugh much. Exceptions for the concept⁶ of “Will and Todd’s Radical Experience”, but not the writing or performance, and the insane fun of “Jerry ‘Jackrabbit’ Tulane” and his myriad boxing injuries. I think workaday is the best description.

• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Netflix) - I started rewatching one of my favourite recent sketch shows now that I’m so focussed on sketches again, and it really holds up. It’s got a clear worldview and tone, and even when you know that tone, it can surprise you with phrasing and images. I hope and pray that the eventual Fancy Falls podcast can be this clear in intent and voice! It does peter out a little as it goes on, and I only realised on this rewatch that the final sketch is about a man who has no ideas for his next piece of content. Tim Robinson does not play him.

Intending to Consume

• Man Like Mobeen Season 5 - Here’s another comedy with the clearest of voices. It’s one of the few BBC “comedy-drama” shows that I genuinely love. Guz Khan is effervescently hilarious in person and in the show, with a great line in silliness, yet he is not afraid of reality and darkness too.

• Louis Theroux, The Settlers: (iPlayer) - This was on the list last week too, but I haven’t had a chance to watch. The positive word about it is only increasing.

Questions/Prompts

What the hell is going to pop up for next week?

Or alternatively, how will I find something interesting to talk about?

And is The Sleepwatcher too creepy?

Footnotes

1. I think that’s just a joke, but it is just about feasible in a room full of UK comedians and writers.

2. Keep the timeline vague, James, keep it vague.

3. Unless that’s the extra work and ending I’ve needed all along! It isn’t.

4. Did the Doctor leave The Shreek free to roam around and mark others with the pheromones after saving Ruby… That seems a little lax…

5. To steal a hilarious non-swear from Shaun of the Dead No Swearing version.

6. I’ve put this in a footnote for anyone wanting to go in cold, but it’s a Bill and Ted spoof where the black historical figures are happy not to go back to their hardship and oppression. Great idea, but it didn’t go anywhere very funny.