The Inventor [comedy blackout]

The Inventor - comedy blackout sketch with Red Skelton and Wally Cox
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The Inventor – a comedy blackout. A comedy blackout is a short comedy sketch. The concept goes back to the days of vaudeville — at least. This one I first saw on The Red Skelton Hour episode, “The Bear was a Bare-Faced Lawyer“. it goes like this:

Props: A table, and an old-style gramophone. It could be made of cardboard, etc. and the music provided by a phone, etc. At least one foam hammer, bat, etc.

Two clowns are on stage, standing behind a table. On the table is an old-style gramophone. One of the clowns is impersonating Tom Edison.

Tom Edison: I’ve done it! I’ve created a device to record sound, and play it back!

Clown 2: That’s incredible!

Tom Edison: Let me demonstrate … [he starts the gramophone, and it begins playing “On the Good Ship Lollipop]

The two look at each other, and pull out hammers and start to destroy the gramophone!

[Editor’s note: You can play any annoying music for this. For me, it would be “It’s a small world, after all …”. To each their own. Of course, if this is part of a larger set, or following a theme, you could use music that would be appropriate.]

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Professional clown for over 25 years - happily married, with 5 children and 1 grandson