The last week has been very interesting for me. A sketch I wrote for on Â鶹ԼÅÄ One has been viewed and has had an article written about it in the .
Here is that sketch:
It was an idea I’d had for quite a while. I’m a writer-performer so I’d considered including it in one of my live shows or writing it up for but when the opportunity came along to submit sketches to , I knew that would be the right medium for it: a prime time slot on Â鶹ԼÅÄ One and an internationally famous comedy performer to deliver the lines. Perfect.
The opportunity to write for Tracey Ullman didn’t happen overnight, however. I’ve been writing sketches since I was at drama school.
After graduating, my first professional job was in Newsrevue at the and I suppose it was there I started writing topical sketches. I met so many fantastic performers at Newsrevue; , , , , . It’s a great place to start if you want to work in sketch comedy. It was there I met (now in ) and the two of us teamed up and took three sketch shows to the . Edinburgh is a great place to cut your teeth as a writer-performer. It can be a tiring and expensive experience but you learn so much from getting your material in front of audiences every day for a month. There are other festivals I would recommend if you want to try out your material with a smaller financial outlay. is excellent and in London is a brilliant breeding ground for new comedy.
I took my first solo show to Edinburgh in 2012 and my second in 2015. It was then I was spotted by the team and they brought me on board as a performer for their next series. I had submitted sketches to Newsjack before and had been successful a few times - and after performing on the show, I was asked to join their in-house writers' room for a few shows. Subsequently I performed on Radio 4's and was then asked to try out in their writers’ room.
has been a great resource, as well. I entered the a few years ago, the aim of which was to write a studio sitcom. I was one of the finalists. As part of the process, I got to spend a week with noted Â鶹ԼÅÄ comedy writers and producers - and learn how to pitch a show. It was a really useful experience. I'm still in touch with some of the producers and they've given me great advice and guidance.
I’ve found that, throughout my career, my performing has benefited my writing and vice versa. I don’t really consider them separate jobs, to be quite honest. Acting work seems to lead to writing work and writing work to acting work.
So, we come to . When I heard the news that she was making a return to the Â鶹ԼÅÄ, I was instantly excited. I love sketch comedy. It’s my number one passion. I love sitcom and I love character comedy but my first love will always be sketch comedy. Particularly sketch comedy that packs a real punch.
I submitted a bunch of sketches for via email. Some that followed the writers’ brief to the letter - and some that were a bit more satirical and more like my regular writing “voice". And it was these more satirical sketches they seemed to like! For series two, I was invited into the writers’ room. The way it worked was this: you emailed sketches in, those the production team felt had potential were printed off and read out in the writers’ room. You were then given notes and sent away to do rewrites. was script editor and gave me very clear instructions about what was needed for draft two and three of my sketches.
I was very pleased with . It had something to say (I can’t seem to get going with a sketch unless I have something I want to say) and was pretty lean and economical with the dialogue. (It comes in at 1 min 51 seconds.) It’s been an interesting experience watching it go viral. I’ve had sketches on my YouTube and Facebook channels do well before - - but never millions like this. It’s deeply gratifying after writing and performing for so many years.
My advice to anyone starting out is to just get your stuff out there. Send sketches to Newsjack, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s open door sketch show. Get involved with if you’re within reach of the capital. If you’re a writer-performer, get yourself up to EdFringe or VAULT Festival. Writing courses are great; I’m a big believer in training but I do feel you learn best by doing. And failing. Failing is a big part of it. Keep failing. Get comfortable with rejection - because there will most likely be rather a lot of it - and then one day you might fail slightly less. Like I did.