In the final session of our virtual comedy scriptwriting workshops this week, teachers and students demonstrated how much they have learnt about comedy in such a short time. 

Run in collaboration with ACMI, our series of three workshops aims to develop students’ understanding of the sketch comedy genre. The workshops are structured to encourage collaboration, enabling students to share their thoughts with their own classmates and with other students around the country. 

This week’s session began with some corny jokes from Churchlands Primary School and Samaritan College students. Groups of students then presented their original scripts, demonstrating new understandings about the features of character comedy, surreal comedy, fish out of water comedy, and parody.

The sketches included the surreal comedy A Duck’s Life by Mount Eliza North Primary School, a fish out of water comedy titled Villain High School by St Martin’s Primary School, and a parody titled The Fart Mystery by Richmond Primary School. These scripts were presented to the audience in three different ways: a pre-recorded sketch, a live performance, and a read through. 

Students also practised giving and receiving constructive criticism. Richmond Primary students Jules, Zac, Paddy and Sonny received indisputable feedback for their sketch about a mystery smell in Mr. Antidisestablishmentarianism’s spelling class: “Anything about farts is funny.”

Good luck to the students who are filming their sketches or performing live for their school communities, and thank you to everyone who participated in our virtual workshops this year!

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