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Sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes, or 'sketches', commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comedic actors, either on stage or through an audio or/and visual medium such as broadcasting. Often sketches are first improvised by the actors and written down based on the outcome of these improv sessions, however improvisation is not necessarily involved in all sketch comedy.

Sketch comedy has its origins in vaudeville and music hall, where a large number of brief but humorous acts were strung together to form a larger program. In England, it moved to stage performances by Cambridge Footlights, such as Beyond the Fringe and A Clump of Plinths (which evolved into Cambridge Circus), to radio with such shows as It's That Man Again and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and then to television with such shows as Monty Python's Flying Circus and Not the Nine O'clock News.

Historically the sketches tended to be unrelated, but more recent groups have introduced overarching themes that connect the sketches within a particular show, and recurring characters that return for more than one appearance. Examples of recurring characters include "Ted & Ralph" from The Fast Show; the "Head Crusher" from The Kids in the Hall; Martin Short's "Ed Grimley", a recurring character from both SCTV and Saturday Night Live; "Miss Swan" from Mad TV; and "Kevin & Perry" from Harry Enfield and Chums. The idea of running characters was taken a stage further in The League of Gentlemen where sketches all centre around the various inhabitants of the fictional town of Royston Vasey.

In America, contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during the 1970s, largely growing out of Chicago's Second City. British ensembles, in contrast, have more usually been built on writing talent - with writers often working in pairs.

Notable contemporary stage sketch comedy groups include The Second City, the Upright Citizens Brigade, and The Groundlings.

Notable television sketch comedy shows include Monty Python's Flying Circus, Saturday Night Live, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Alas Smith and Jones, All That, The Amanda Show, SCTV, the Upright Citizens Brigade, The Red Skelton Show, The Kids in the Hall, CODCO, Mad TV, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, In Living Color, Mr. Show, The D-Generation, Goodness Gracious Me, Chappelle's Show, Whitest Kids U'Know, Little Britain, The Sketch Show, Fridays, Almost Live!, The Catherine Tate Show, The Red Green Show, and The State.

The latest wave of sketch comedy is being distributed online, from amateurs to organized groups. Millions currently watch sketch comedy on such video sites as Meta Cafe, YouTube, and iFilm.

Many of the sketch comedy revues in Britain included seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Since 1999, the growing sketch comedy scene has precipitated the development of sketch comedy festivals in cities all around North America, including festivals in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Vancouver and Portland, Oregon.

Besides such more professional, properly theatrical performers, there is also a tradition of amateur fun. As the whole concept of sketch comedy is meant to be silly anyway it is an ideal form of theater, like pantomime, for simply ridiculous attempts (often involving cross-dressing). There are many purposes: to entertain crowds or troops when no professional entertainment is available, sometimes with a mild hope of fund-raising. It is not uncommon as a task for pledges during hazing.

• List of sketch comedy groups