Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is used widely in variety shows, comedy talk shows, and some sitcoms and children's television series. The sketches may be improvised live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play. Sketch comedians routinely differentiate their work from a “skit", maintaining that a skit is a (single) dramatized joke while a sketch is a comedic exploration of a concept, character, or situation. Sketch comedy is a genre within American television that includes a multitude of schemes and identities.
Jonathan Harshman Winters was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. He started performing as a stand up comedian before transitioning his career to acting in film and television. Winters received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, the American Academy of Achievement in 1973, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1999.
Kevin Elliot Pollak is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 90 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men, Jacob Goldman in Grumpy Old Men and its sequel Grumpier Old Men; Todd Hockney in The Usual Suspects, Phillip Green in Martin Scorsese's Casino, and Bobby Chicago in End of Days.
Steven John Carell is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom The Office, and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, and director. Carell has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for The Office. He was recognized as "America's Funniest Man" by Life.
Cobra Kai is an American martial arts comedy drama television series created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, and distributed by Sony Pictures Television. It serves as a sequel to the original The Karate Kid films created by Robert Mark Kamen. The series stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, reprising their respective roles as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence from the film series, alongside Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Gianni DeCenzo, Peyton List, Vanessa Rubio, and Dallas Dupree Young. Martin Kove and Thomas Ian Griffith also reprise their roles from the films as part of the main cast, with many others returning in guest or recurring roles.
Ashley Victoria Benson is an American actress and singer. Her accolades include four Teen Choice Awards, a Young Hollywood Award, as well as three People's Choice Award nominations.
Diora Lynn Baird is an American actress and former model for clothing brand Guess?.
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A Primetime Emmy Award winner, he is best known as a writer, executive producer, and supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the NBC sitcom The Office. He served as the series' showrunner from seasons five to eight.
Douglas Steven Benson is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television and podcast host, and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series Doug Loves Movies (2006–present), The Benson Interruption (2010-2013), Getting Doug with High (2013-2019) and The High Court with Doug Benson (2017). As a comedian, he has released 10 comedy albums, starting with Professional Humoredian in 2008, and has regularly appeared on TV shows including Comedy Central Presents, Best Week Ever and @midnight. In 2007, he was a contestant on the 5th season of the reality competition show Last Comic Standing.
Wayne Federman is an American comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian, producer, and musician. He is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book on The History of Stand-Up; and supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crashing, Silicon Valley, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Step Brothers. He was the head monologue writer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in its first season. He won a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for producing the HBO documentary George Carlin's American Dream.
Bobb'e Jacques Thompson is an American actor, rapper and comedian.
Joey Camen is an American voice actor, comedian and writer who has performed voice over work in various movies, TV shows and video games.
Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager is an American fan web sitcom created by Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan, who wrote, directed, and appeared in the series, which parodies Star Wars. The show's central character is Chad Vader, the day-shift manager at the fictional supermarket Empire Market, who clashes with his customers and employees.
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show is an internet comedy talk show parody starring a Japanese character called Kiko. The video series debuted on YouTube in 2007 and was created by husband-and-wife team Greg Benson and Kim Evey's production company, Mediocre Films. In spring 2008, a distribution deal with Sony Pictures resulted in 10 new episodes to premiere weekly on the company's C-Spot YouTube channel and its Crackle web video site. A second season premiered on C-Spot's channel on September 19, 2008.
Ryan Smith is an American screenwriter and actor. He wrote 19 episodes of television's MADtv in the 2006-2007 season. As an actor, he made guest appearances on the program "Yes, Dear" and in the Mediocre Films shorts "Mating Season" (2005) and "Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show" (2007). In June 2008, Smith appeared in the web series Comedy Gumbo on Crackle.
John Edmund Mulaney is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mulaney first rose to prominence for his work as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2013, where he contributed to numerous sketches and characters, including Stefon, a recurring character that he and Bill Hader co-created. Since his departure from SNL, Mulaney has hosted it six times, becoming a member of the SNL Five Timers Club in 2022.
Arnab Chanda is an English born actor, writer, and director.
Hannibal Amir Buress is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He started performing comedy in 2002 while attending Southern Illinois University. He starred on Adult Swim's The Eric Andre Show from 2012 to 2020, and was featured on Comedy Central's Broad City from 2014 to 2019. He is also known for his October 16, 2014 stand-up routine, which brought the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby to public attention and outcry, for which he was lauded.
Scott Gairdner is an American comedy writer, director, and podcaster, known for having created the viral YouTube video "Sex Offender Shuffle", the animated parody Tiny Fuppets, the Comedy Central animated series Moonbeam City, and Netflix's Saturday Morning All Star Hits!. He also co-created and has co-hosted the theme park podcast Podcast: The Ride since 2017.
Zakir Khan is an Indian comedian. He rose to popularity in 2012 after winning Comedy Central's comedy competition 'India's Best Stand Up'. Khan has also been a part of a news comedy show, On Air with AIB. He has released four hour-length standup specials: Haq Se Single (2017), Kaksha Gyarvi (2018), Tathastu (2022) and Mannpasand (2023) on Amazon Prime Video.
