What is the difference between comedy and sketches specifically?

Comedy is mainly performed by speaking

And sketches are small dramas, which have actions and scenes in addition to speaking

Comedy

Northern China's song genre. To language as the main means of performance of a comedic art. Literary form containing elements of the art of comedy, can be traced back to the pre-Qin haiku, and then after a complex and tortuous course of development, absorbed a lot of artistic nourishment, such as the Wei and Jin dynasties, laughter, Tang Dynasty, the military theater, as well as Song and Jin miscellaneous dramas in the comical ironic performances, etc., known as the "Elephant Sound" of the Ming Dynasty, the next-door theater and the popularity of the art of jokes, have bred the birth of comedy. The popularization of the next-door theater and the art of jokes in the Ming Dynasty all gave birth to the comedy. It is difficult to say for sure when the art form of xiangsheng (相声), which is a combination of storytelling, learning, teasing and singing, was formed, but it was not later than the middle of the 18th century (during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty). It was initially popular in Beijing and Tianjin, and then gradually spread to the north and south of the Yangtze River, becoming an art with a broad mass base.

Comic opera is characterized by the use of humor to express serious themes in a light-hearted and witty form. Its special means of expression, "baggage", is based on the psychological effect of prompting people to laugh and the art of organizing jokes. Satire is the main artistic function of comedy, which can not only expose and criticize corrupt things, but also satirize people's backwardness, as well as praise the truth, goodness and beauty. Therefore, intervening in life and commenting on current affairs are the fine traditions of xiangsheng. 1949 saw the establishment of the Beijing xiangsheng Reform Group, which eliminated the unhealthy elements of traditional xiangsheng and purified the language to give fuller play to its artistic strengths of humorous versatility, subtle sophistication, simplicity and nobility, and quickness and sharpness. There are three types of comic performance: monologue, counterpoint, and group work, and these art forms can be intersected from time to time when they are specifically used. A piece of comedy consists of several parts, namely, "pad words", "lady's handles", "live" and "bottom". Commonly, one person is a comic, one person is a comic performance. After the comedy on the stage, as not fixed improvisation "pad words" has not much use, so the "ladybird handle" became the introduction; "live" is the main content of a comedy; "Bottom" is used to end the whole performance of the "baggage".

There are more than 300 traditional comedies in existence, among which, monologues such as "three consecutive promotions", "confused county officials", etc., couplets such as "change of career", "crooked criticism of the Three Kingdoms", "drama", etc., and groups such as "horse hanging", "four words", etc., are all popular gems, which are still in full bloom today. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, a number of new segments were created, such as "Night Journey" and "Buying Monkeys", which have become more popular. In the development of the art of comedy, Zhu Shaowen, Li Dexi, Jiao Dehai, Zhang Shoushen, Ma Sanli, Hou Baolin, etc., have made outstanding contributions.

Skit

short and simple theatre creation

The shortest and smallest theatrical works. Also known as theater sketches. In type can be divided into drama sketches, theater sketches and television sketches. Originally a form used for basic training in acting and directing. For example, single sketches, communication sketches, group sketches, and life observation sketches in acting training, and event sketches, picture sketches, sound sketches, idiom sketches, and theme sketches in directing training. The purpose is to make students who start to learn acting or directing master the most basic elements of acting and directing through these different exercises. Later on, it gradually developed into a form of stage performance or performance utilizing television for broadcasting, and became a variety of art enjoyed by the general audience.

The sketch is characterized as small, but it should still have the main elements of a dramatic work . It should have a central event; there are conflicts, and in general there should be the beginning of the conflict, there is the development, there is the climax, there is the end; at the same time there are also for the characterization of the character portrayal. Because the length of the skit is small, the performance time is usually about 15 minutes, so it is required that the event is relatively simple, the theme is clear, the characters are distinctive, and the language is concise, vivid and humorous. Although the skit is short, but still can be from a particular point of view to explore the life of China's small farm equipment types and uses of trimming hedge walls, lawn connotations, real, deep to reflect and evaluate life, and reveal profound ideas and philosophical, to create a distinctive and vivid image of the characters. Sketches can also have different styles and genres. Such as comedy sketches, drama sketches, tragedy sketches, absurd sketches and so on. Most of the sketches on stage and television in China are comedy sketches.