Putting short and funny back in sketch
The show: Baroness von Sketch Show, Season 1, episodes 3, 4, 5 The moment: The short sketches Episode 3: The title card reads, “Moms Say Hello.”
One by one, various moms knock on back doors, pass each other walking, answer phones, tentatively open basement doors.
Each time, they trill “Helloooo” or “Hellew?” or “Heh-LO!”
Episode 4: Four office mates finish digging a grave, then roll in a wrapped corpse. “Stop crying,” one says to another. “We all agreed: F--- Tom, marry Jane, kill Todd. Now call Tom, he’s going to be so excited.”
Episode 5: A woman approaches her very pregnant friend. “May I touch?” she asks. “Go ahead,” the friend replies. The woman reaches out and squeezes her friend’s breasts.
“So beautiful, what a miracle,” she coos.
The CBC wisely renewed this series almost immediately after it began airing. Rejoicing abounds. The sketches are consistently fresh and funny, and here’s one big reason why: writer/performers Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen understand that some sketches are meant to be brief.
That may sound simple, but it eludes too many comedy shows, including the granddaddy, Saturday Night Live.
How many times have you laughed at an SNL sketch as it began, only to feel your smile fade as it drags on?
The Baronesses don’t belabour. This frees them up to cram the maximum amount of funny into 22 minutes.
And as a viewer, you get to relax, because you know that if a bit goes longer — unlike the trio in Episode 5 who do an intervention with a pal who can’t tell a story right — it’s worth it. Baroness von Sketch Show just wrapped its first season on CBC-TV, but you can watch episodes online at cbc.ca. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop-culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.