PORTLANDIA - Creating Good Sketch Comedy 101

I still remember when Nick at Nite (which used to show classic shows like MR. ED and THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS instead of FAMILY MATTERS reruns) started showing THE BEST OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.  My family taped every episode and I watched them religiously.  I devoured every skit.  I couldn't believe how funny they were.  Every skit was a classic.

Imagine my shock when I finally bought the first season of SNL on DVD and realized that the "great" skits were a veeery minor part of each episode.  In fact THE BEST OF had been culled from the entire first five year run, so each episode had maybe one or two of those sketches at most.  The rest?  Well, let's just say that there is a reason they weren't part of THE BEST OF.

As the years went on, I have kept up with SNL regularly.  I would say that I am still a huge fan of SNL, but I believe that their niche is also their downfall. Because so much of their schtick is commenting on current events and not character driven, the skits become irrelevant almost immediately.  For example, I love THE MILEY CYRUS SHOW....but it doesn't hold up.  It was a product of that brief moment in time when Cyrus was famous for something besides side-boob.  And, in ten years, the skit won't make sense at all.  Believe me, my kids will not get who Miley Cyrus is, nor will they probably care.  In contrast, we can still watch The Coneheads or Debbie Downer sketches because they are character driven, and therefore more universally understood.

In contrast, shows like KIDS IN THE HALL and (more recently) PORTLANDIA never become irrelevant or stale because their comedy is almost entirely character driven and based upon realistic scenarios and worlds that we are given glimpses into.  When Bruce McCulloch and Scott Thompson play the over the hill and bored husband and wife who mistake their son's drugs for meal capsules we laugh because we know these people.  They are archetypes of every middle-aged suburban married couple who have ever lived.  As a result, their trials and tribulations are not only relateable but universal.  They don't just happen in Ontario.

Since the fall of THE KIDS IN THE HALL there hasn't been a lot of character based sketch comedy.  I almost put TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB! into this category because of their fascination with cable access culture and the weirdos that make up that subgroup....but so much of their humor keeps you at arm's length that I have a hard time categorizing them as "universal."  PORTLANDIA really is the first skit that I truly feel creates a world that feels real....while maintaining the more absurdist elements of KIDS IN THE HALL or TIM AND ERIC.

The "Put a Bird on it" Sketch is a perfect example of what I am talking about.  Odd but relatable.  Everyone knows someone crafty who thinks that adding birds or some other small animal to a cloth bag or vase makes it "art."  These things are all over Etsy.  The familiarity invites us into these odd character's world, so when things take a turn toward the strange when they encounter a real bird, we continue to laugh and stay invested.  Because we have bought into the premise, even when things get weird we do not feel like the sketch has gone off the rails because of the well established authenticity.

So, while I commend SNL for continuing to stay relevant in a time when the world of home entertainment is changing on a day to day basis, I also feel like it might be time for the writers of SNL to take a step back and look at how the world of humor is also changing.  The rise of KITH, PORTLANDIA, and (in film) Judd Apatow have shown us that humor can come from small day to day occurrences.  From the people around us.  Topical humor and pop culture references have their place in comedy.....but they certainly don't age well.  Sorry Miley Cyrus.