The Sketch Cull

The problem could be worse.  We could be in a situation where we don’t have enough material to create a good Sketch22 show.  But we do.  In fact, we have about 25 minutes more material than we need. 
I think we all knew weeks ago that we had too much material scheduled into our summer show.  But we were, I think, denying that reality until such a time that we got fairly consistent run times for all the sketches, hoping beyond hope that somehow we could slow time (or would it be speed time up) in order to get everything into the show.
Last night, we finally got those run times and sure enough, we’re about 25 minutes too long.
And that’s 25 minutes too long for a show that will end up about 15 minutes longer than we’d like it to be.  It’s always a delicate balance, trying to cram as much material into a show, and balance that with the audience’s ability to continue laughing.  I think comedy shows (good comedy shows) run the risk of tiring the audience out by laughing if the show is too long.  We always want to make our show end at that perfect, magic time when the audience is just starting to exhaust their laughter, but still happy enough to think they got major value for their dollars.

So, now, tonight, we have to get together and try to cut 25 minutes of material out of the show.  That means feelings are likely to be hurt as sketches are (unfairly) ranked against each others in terms of how funny we think they are, or how well they fit in with the rest of the show.  There will likely be some huffing and puffing and raised voices as the evening undoubtedly turns into a discussion of what exactly is comedy, and how certain sketches don’t blah blah blah.

Not looking forward to it.  All of the sketches are great in their own way, in my opinion, and it’s going to be like killing babies when we decide some have to be cut.

But, some have to be cut.

Here we go…