Lessons 47 - 49: Comedy Sketches

1. In Lesson 47 you explored some stand-up comedy.

Choose either “They Just Don’t Get It” or the first two paragraphs of “Fire and Bad Clothes” and perform your choice as a stand-up sketch. Record your performance and submit it with your assignments. Clearly label your recording with your name, course name, and assignment number.

(5 marks)

Assessment Criteria for Question 1
Presentation The student has spoken clearly, using appropriate emphasis and expression. Volume, pacing, and pitch are suitably controlled.	5 marks

2. Perform a short stand-up routine in which you string together three or four jokes. Make sure the jokes are clean and not offensive. Record your performance and submit it with your assignments. Remember to label your recording with your name, course name, and assignment number.

(7 marks)

Assessment Criteria for Question 2
Thought and Organization The jokes were chosen and organized in a logical way to create the maximum humour.	2 marks
Presentation The student has spoken clearly, using appropriate emphasis and expression. Volume, pacing, and pitch are suitably controlled.	5 marks

When you have completed question 2, continue where you left off in Lesson 47.

3. In Lesson 48 you explored comedy teams and read “Red’s Mail Call.” Explain how the concepts of the comic and the foil are used effectively in this sketch.

(2 marks)

4. In Lesson 48 you explored stereotypes.

“Red’s Mail Call” exposed Red’s stereotyped image of RCMP officers. Some of Red’s ideas may have come from the way that RCMP officers are portrayed on television and in the movies. The stereotypical image of RCMP officers is that they are good-looking men who work on exciting assignments and usually arrest criminals. In real life they may be average-looking men and women who often perform routine duties and who are not able to solve all their cases.

Choose two other professions, and then fill in the following chart.

(4 marks)

Profession	Stereotypical Image	Real Life

When you have completed question 4, continue where you left off in Lesson 48.

5. In Lesson 49 you explored improvisational comedy. In one of the exercises in this lesson you worked with a partner to improvise a visual, wordless sketch in which a driver and a passenger travel in a car over a rough and winding road. Explain your sketch by answering the following questions:

• How did the driver indicate the actions of steering, turning a corner, signalling, or slamming on the brakes? How did the driver add humour to the sketch?

• Were the passenger’s body movements synchronized with the driver’s during turns or sudden stops? How did the passenger add humour to the sketch?

(4 marks)

6. In Lesson 49 you improvised the conversation between two people in a particular situation. For example, you may have role-played a parent and teenager having a talk or two strangers stuck in an elevator. You interjected some humour into the situation.

Now use your improvised skit to write a short, scripted comedy sketch.

(5 marks)

Assessment Criteria for Question 6
Ideas and Impressions The ideas are imaginative and humorous. Supporting details are appropriate and relevant. Audience, format, and purpose have been considered.	5 marks

When you have completed question 6, submit the assignments for assessment. Then continue where you left off in Lesson 49.