ortrayed in Television and Film. This is becoming more and more apparent in recent years because the comedy art form is sort of in fashion. There are some interesting topics that we can gain from these ways they are displayed so every so often we are going to look at different scenes from different shows and films.

Victoria Wood As Seen On TV

I love it when you come across a show you have never watched before and you end up finding inspiration in it for improv. Victoria Wood is a comedian that I was always very much aware of – I grew up in a household where Dinner Ladies was always being played but just couldn’t connect with it. I knew that she was an iconic comedian and always respected that but never made an effort to see anything else that she did. I knew she was talented as one of my friends in my old improv group was a huge fan of hers.

A couple of months ago (Christmas) there was nothing on television and fancied watching something different and ending up turning to Britbox and discovering that she had a sketch show and sat down and watched it and instantly fell in love with how talented her and her team were. There was so many great scenes and skits and some of these we will cover this year in this article but today we are going to look at a very small skit that I thought was a fantastic one to refer to for improv and really gives out a great example of what unique things you can do with comedy.

In the penultimate episode of season one, there is a really tiny skit which is short simple and also very clever. It is a woman stating to the camera that there is a stain on her jumper. The man on the voice over tells her to zoom in and you automatically think that she is going to bring the stain closer to the screen for the audience to see – instead she moves really close to the screen and shouts that there is a stain on her jumper. It is so unpredictable that it is absolutely hilarious.

I felt that this really short skit is a perfect one to show something I love about audiences and I am sure that also the normal public audiences enjoy as well – unpredictability. When you are in a scene in improv, going the predictable route doesn’t mean that it will create the most laughter instead the alternative and completely different angle will – even if it is something as simple as moving closer to a camera.

Simplicity is key with any audience and one tiny thing can create a huge amount of humour – so don’t always think that you have to over-complicate a scene when actually simplicity can be the best answer.