For today’s Friday Script I’m delighted to present to you “Good Boy or Naughty Boy,” by Luke Burns for UCBNY! Starring Sebastian Conelli, Corin Wells, Hallie Haas, Dara Katz, Matt Gehring, and directed by Juan Nicolón! 

I love this sketch for many reasons — and not just because my husband wrote it. The performances are amazing. (There isn’t a single actor on stage who doesn’t have something fun to do!) The specifics are so good. It’s a GREAT example of a sketch without a voice of reason character. 

Another reason I wanted to showcase this particular sketch is that I think it makes great use of a game show set-up / format. And for any writer, using a familiar set-up can be a huge asset for a sketch — OR it can backfire.

Let me explain what I mean by that!

Ideally, when you’re using a familiar format, it frees you up as a writer to play with your specific unusual thing MORE. But sometimes, writers feel beholden to the pacing of a format — and that forces them to slow down their fun, either by taking too long to get there or expanding the time between beats. (I happen to see this in particular in sketches that are set in yoga classes, of which I have read and seen many!)

So if you’re using a familiar format, ask yourself — what are the ways this set-up is letting me do MORE of the fun thing, rather than less?

In this sketch, the game show format allows Luke to get the base reality, the unusual thing, AND the points of view of all the characters basically within… the first line? And Milton is onstage within seconds! From there on out, the sketch is jam-packed with super fun specifics, without compromising space for fun performance choices. Basically, it’s taking the USEFUL parts of a game show — different rounds, host banter, category board, etc. — and leaving out the stuff that might slow things down. (For example, since the contestants are peas in a pod, it wouldn’t really give us much to meet them one by one.)

Watch the full sketch at the link in bio, and see how jam-packed the 4-page script is! (And because the specifics are so good, I’ve included a slide with the game show categories.)

Enjoy! And, as always, share what you learn!