Has Raunchy Sketch Comedy Made A Comeback?

In the wake of a global pandemic, most people are looking for any reason not to think about current events. An increase in popular streaming services has shown a variety of interests that have captivated audiences with anything from The Crown to rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender. But with reality as chaotic as ours, some people have been turning to the tried and true comfort of raunchy sketch comedy. The genre of dirty sketch comedy has been around for decades, spanning back as early as the late 1800s when Charlie Chaplin’s black and white silent sketch comedy first became popular.

Through the twentieth century, suggestive sketch comedy took many names. When considering what raunchy sketch comedy is, most millennials and post-millennial gen-z populations might think of Comedy Central’s MadTV, NBC’s Saturday Night Live, or even late-night sketch shows on Adult Swim like Tim & Eric. A dip in popularity for the genre in the mid-2000s saw a minimal output of comedy sketch shows. Still, the recent production of Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House Of Fun on Netflix seems to pose the question: has raunchy sketch comedy made a comeback?

What Is Raunchy Sketch Comedy?

Raunchy, in its most basic definition, is something that is sexual, vulgar, or explicit. Often, comedy that relies on dirty jokes can be uncomfortable to watch with your parents, so to speak. It is typically composed of jokes that can be categorized as “bathroom jokes,” often including blasphemous or absurd comments about anything from bodily functions to an exclusive fixation on sex.

This genre of comedy was first seen in modern times in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974). This movie is a great example by today’s standards because it would not be politically correct or even funny for any other reason than how politically incorrect it is. Raunchy comedy persisted through the years in the form of throwaway comedy movies like the Caddy Shack films or really any movie that Adam Sandler had a hand in producing.

Sketch comedy was popularized long before the raunchy comedy genre. Charlie Chaplin’s sketch-based comedy became popular in the 1800s, and Saturday Night Live‘s almost exclusively political comedy sketches became popular in the 1970s. These shows did not rely on dirty humor to be funny but rather focused on the physical comedy element or satire of political events. Sketch shows and racy comedy didn’t become today’s definition of sketch comedy until the rise in popularity of comedy groups like The Lonely Island or Tim & Eric, which integrated dirty and nearly juvenile comedy into the form of a primarily sketch-based show.

On some levels, raunchy comedy has always existed in the privacy of our own homes. Most people don’t want to admit that cheap jokes make them laugh. Still, the rise in popularity of this comedy style normalized it for many people, opening the door to a variety of comedy acts to come into the limelight.

Staples Of The Genre

Over the last several decades, a few acts performing raunchy sketch comedy as their main focus have impacted the comedic community. The following acts are the biggest acts with the longest-lasting impressions on what we know to be racy sketch comedy.

The Lonely Island

The Lonely Island is probably the group that comes to mind when thinking about raunchy sketch comedy. The Lonely Island was founded by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone back in the 1990s but didn’t rise to large popularity until the comedy group started producing sketches for the popular sketch and television series, Saturday Night Live. The Lonely Island’s comedy heavily relies on unexpected and elicit jokes. One of their most popular musical sketches is aptly named “I Just Had Sex” — a song that essentially features the three bandmates and pop icon Akon singing about having very, very lackluster sex with beautiful women.

The group popularized their approach to humor with the integration of musical groups and suggestive comedy, which produced a variety of iconic songs. The featured artists on many of their songs are a huge part of what makes The Lonely Island special. A sampling of their songs includes features from T-Pain, Rihanna, and even singer Michael Bolton. However, The Lonely Island never had a television show, making them an outlier from some of the most popular racy sketch comedy groups that have come and gone through the years. They are still an important starting point to contextualize the rise of raunchy comedy, which validates the genre’s existence.

The truth is, this kind of comedy sells, and The Lonely Island is a perfect example of this. After he left SNL, Andy Samberg went on to produce and star in a variety of movies, as well as occasionally host Saturday Night Live.

Key & Peele

The next duo originated from MadTV, which was Comedy Central’s sketch-based show back in the early 2000s. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele make up the comedy duo Key & Peele, who write and act in the sketch show Key & Peele. The show heavily relies on racy comedy to hit punchlines, and the popularity of the show supports its writers’ methods.

The show’s format is slightly different than the other groups included here. Each show opens with a cold opening — similar to the beginning of Saturday Night Live — and what follows is a series of sketches starring the duo, which follow a central theme. Some episodes revolve around the relevant presidential campaigns, while other shows approach issues of racism and sexuality. The variety of each show delivers hard-hitting topics in a light-hearted manner; it then opens conversations in an approachable way.

Since the show’s airing in 2012, the duo has done a variety of different and equally successful projects. Keegan Michael Key went on to help write and star in the sitcom Friends From College, while Jordan Peele has since made his premiere as a talented horror film director and writer. The show concluded airing in 2015, but the sketches, which approach both race and political topics, remain relevant today.

Flight Of The Conchords

Flight Of The Conchords is a comedy sketch and musical group composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Many people may not recognize these names, but Jemaine Clement could be more popularly recognized as Tamatoa in Moana or Bret McKenzie as Figwit the elf in The Lord Of The Rings. The New Zealand-born comedy group started featuring on BBC Radio before signing on for two seasons of their comedy television series on HBO called Flight Of The Conchords. The television series was composed of a reasonably consistent storyline with Jemaine and Bret as roommates in the states trying to make it as a musical duo, but the basis of the show is sketch comedy with a musical spin.

The comedy duo relies mainly on deadpan, dry humor for their bits. One of their most popular sketches is about the distant future in “the year 2000” when robots take over the world. Their humor bleeds into raunchy comedy in songs like “Business Time” or “If You’re Into It,” where the jokes revolve around the two men trying to sleep with women. While the show no longer airs, a cult following for the group is still alive and well — and never really went away between their initial rise in popularity to now, making the case that edgy comedy never really went away in the first place.

Tim & Eric

Tim & Eric is a duo composed of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim: two middle-aged men who write and compose raunchy sketches on their show Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! The duo also produces other shows for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, like Tom Goes To The Mayor and Check It Out.

Similar to The Lonely Island and Flight Of The Conchords, Tim & Eric rely mainly on deadpan humor with a few musical elements to bring their show to life. The show has a variety of reoccurring guest stars as characters on the show. It can be compared to a small scale and much more juvenile Saturday Night Live in the way that it is composed mainly of sketches but does not approach most political topics and revolves mostly around how absurd a sketch can become in a two-minute segment.

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is hard to explain — in fact, I’m not sure I can explain it — but that is the show’s appeal. Because of its strange and dirty humor, the show manages to pull a large audience and following. Tim & Eric rely mainly on raunchy jokes and lines that leave audiences going “huh?” making them a special brand of absurd and dirty comedy.

The Return Of Raunchy Comedy

As previously mentioned, raunchy sketch comedy never really left — however, it has not been in mainstream popular culture in many years. The Lonely Island has persisted in some movies streaming on Hulu. Tim & Eric continue to stream on Adult Swim and maintain a large and faithful following.

Flight Of The Conchords continue touring their musical acts globally, and Key & Peele continues to air on popular comedy television channels. While these popular groups are still followed, sketch comedy saw a dry-spell in the production of new comedy groups after 2015 when the last episode of Key & Peele was produced. In the last year, two comedy groups have pushed to the forefront, making a case for a new wave of comedy sketch shows rising in the public eye.

A Black Lady Sketch Show

Although male comedy groups in raunchy sketch-comedy have dominated the last few decades, A Black Lady Sketch Show aims to break this stereotype and produce a quality and hilarious sketch show on HBO. The show was created by Robin Thede and premiered in 2019 with its first season. Producers on the show consist of Issa Rae and Robin Thede, providing for diverse characters and creators.

The show’s creators have spoken about the show’s complexity and how it aims to be more than easily consumable comedy. The writers hope to create a world that is as complex and interesting as its characters within the show, making for a longer-lasting presence among comedic sketch shows. After the premiere of the first season, the show received critical acclaim. It also received a TCA award for outstanding achievement in a sketch-based comedy show. It has been widely acclaimed to be not only funny but consistently interesting and witty. In 2019, the show was renewed for a second season; however, production has been put on hold due to the pandemic.

Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House Of Fun

Aunty Donna has been around since 2011. It is an Australian comedy group that made its way through Australian comedy festivals and toured Europe for years before hitting it big with a comedy show on Netflix called Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House Of Fun.

Like its raunchy sketch comedy counterparts, Aunty Donna produces a show that comprises silly sketches. Each episode is organized similarly to a children’s show featuring a “word of the day,” dips its toes into musical bits, and still relies heavily on explicit comedy to get laughs across to the audience. The show has received high ratings and reviews as a Netflix original television series and is regarded as sketch comedy bliss. Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House Of Fun begs the question — has raunchy sketch comedy made a comeback?

The “Comeback”

The answer to the question of a genre-comeback is no; it has not made a comeback because it never left. Raunchy sketch comedy is abundant, and as long as people fine juvenile and absurd comedy entertaining, it will exist. Notable mentions include Tim Robinsons’ I Think You Should Leave on Netflix or even the classic Comedy Central MadTV. This genre of comedy persists on all streaming services and will continue to do well — as long as there is an audience for it.