A cartoonist sits down at his desk to create a new Webcomic. But what exactly will it be about? Who will the characters be? Will it be a simple gag-a-day strip or a greater dramatic work that speaks deeply to the human condition? And is Jackson Ferrell really qualified to handle an entire fictional world?
Sketch Comedy
is a metafictional, No Fourth Wall webcomic about a cartoonist's interactions with his characters and the comic world he creates. Said characters include:
- The strip's creator, prone to deranged abuses of power and bouts of self-consciousness about his comic.
- Howard, the comic's resident wizard, called into being to provide it with a central character. Promptly wandered off in search of a sandwich.
- Karen, a carryover from Jackson's previous strip Pungirls. Straight Man and a bit of a worrywart.
- Becky, Karen's carefree, enthusiastic roommate, and also a carryover from Pungirls!.
- Independent Music James: He's not a hipster, he's an elitist. James is the critical voice the world needs—if only he could get the world to listen.
- Teri, James' snarky friend who enjoys teasing him about everything he takes seriously (which is everything). Prone to flights of Cloudcuckoolandishness.
- 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes
Generally absurdist in tone, whether it's running on Rule of Funny and playing with discontinuity or getting serious with ongoing plotlines and Character Development. Just what the heck the author is trying to do here is an ongoing question for all of the characters.
Oh no, trope examples:
- Author Appeal:
- Webcomics: Just look at the Webcomics section of the strip's Shout Outs page.
- TV Tropes: Specific tropes get name-dropped on a regular basis.
- Minecraft
- Beat Panel: Beaten to absolute death.
- Captain Ersatz: Independent Music James began as a quasi-parody of Indie Rock Pete, but developed into more of an angry critic than hipster. They're both music snobs, but for different reasons.
- Centipede's Dilemma / Writer's Block: When faced with the boundless potential of creating a new webcomic, Jackson Ferrell can't decide what strip to draw.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Played with. Relentlessly.
- Genius Bruiser: professional wide receiver Ubiquitus Moss.
- Medium Awareness: Fricking everyone.
- No Fourth Wall
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Parodied with organ cuts.
- Rage Against the Author: Howard and the cartoonist refuse to play nice.
- Sketch Comedy: Well, duh.
- Stylistic Suck: Rene Descartes' comic strip "School of Thought."
- Tropes Are Tools: invoked by Becky here.
- Wall of Text: parodied (getting in a jab at Cerebus the Aardvark in the same breath, no less).
- Who Writes This Crap?!: Karen predominantly, but at one point or another pretty much every member of the cast gets in on the complaining.
