skit is playlet, usually of a comic character, produced for theatre, cinema, radio or television. The English term with the same meaning is “sketch”.
Each skit is about 10 minutes long. Actors or comedians have a strong ability to improvise. The themes for the sketches are varied, but often include parodies about politics, culture and society.
In Brazil, Zorra Total, a series shown by a television channel, is an example of a sketch program. The old show “Os Trapalhões”, formed by comedians Didi, Dedé, Mussum and Zacarias, and which was very successful in the 1970s and 1990s, is another example of the format.
In the United States, the Saturday Night Live is one of the most representative sketch programs. The Brazilian version of the program premiered in 2012 on the RedeTV! channel.
Monty Python's Flying Circus is the name of a British comedy series created by the Monty Python group. The sketches they produced were characterized by a tendency towards the surreal and absurd character of their creations.
In the cinema, the film “The Meaning of Life” (The Sense of Life), directed in 1983 by the group Monty Python, is a production divided into comic sketches that portray aspects of human life.
