Radio

The new book “The History of Sketch Comedy,” based on Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key’s award-winning podcast of the same name, explains how sketch comedy works and how we arrived at the sketch comedy landscape we enjoy on our phone, laptop and TV screens today. Weaving in the authors’ own history — from watching sketches to scripting jokes themselves — the book analyzes why we love the Monty Python and late-night sketches we do, where the greats drew inspiration and why unexpected escalations can make us laugh so hard we need to leave the room. We’ll talk about the sketches that make us giggle days, months, years and decades after watching them — and why and how they work.