Skit Ideas Revised

A selection of revised skit ideas. Now includes 3 Characters rather than five; Mike, Mel and Dim. Mike is a combination of Mike and Shake. Likewise, Mel is Mel plus Pop. Dim is... just Dim.

Skit lengths: ~10-20 seconds each

1, MEL & MIKE: ‘First aid’: Mike pretends to get a paper cut, and massively over acts. The narrator says ‘make sure to always have basic first aid supplies on hand for small injuries. Mel comes on stage holding a plaster and attempts to place it on Mike, who is falling all over the place. Mel gets frustrated and punches Mike, knocking him out. He then carelessly slaps the plaster on Mike’s head and walks off stage.

2, DIM & MIKE: ‘Keeping hallways clear’; Dim clears a hallway of trip hazards for Mike, but doesn’t know where to put the junk, so he chucks it off stage. Mike walks across the clear hallway and bows, and the narrator emphasises the importance of clearing walkways of debris before using them. As Mike leaves the stage down the stairs, he trips on the hazardous items, causing a crash and a slew of debris.

3, DIM & MEL: ‘Ladders’: Mel impatiently holds the bottom of a ladder steady so that Dim can climb up and clean a window. Mel leaves the stage as Dim is cleaning the window, causing the ladder to fall and leaving Dim dangling from the windowsill.

4, DIM: ‘Ear Protection’: The narrator asks Dim to put on some proper ear protection. The narrator then declares ‘now Dim’s ears are protected, he can operate loud machinery without fear of hearing damage’. However, Dim stands there staring blankly waiting for his que, since he cannot hear anything.

5, MEL & MIKE: ‘Appropriate clothing’: Mike appears on stage in comically baggy clothes and approaches a prop machine. Mel, dressed as a safety inspector, puts a hand up to stop him. The narrator declares ‘never wear baggy clothing around operating machinery’ The two head off-stage, but as the curtain falls  we briefly see the pulley-rope catch the bottom of Mike’s baggy shirt and yank him skywards with a shriek as the curtain meets the floor.

7, DIM & MIKE: ‘Scissor lift’: A scissor/piston lift is centre stage. Dim is on the lift, and Mike is stood at the base. Dim has the control remote, which is on a cord. ‘Lifts must always be operated from safe ground level by a supporting crew-member’ warns the narrator. Dim leans down and gives the remote to Dim, unintentionally tangling the cord around the railing. Mike presses the button to activate the lift, however the remote is yanked out of his hands as the cord is pulled up with the platform. Without the remote, Mike can’t stop the lift, and the curtain falls as Dim ascends helplessly towards the ceiling.

6, MEL: ‘Lunch’: The curtain opens to a job-site set but with no actors. The announcer declares ‘In any physical profession, it’s important to take regular 10 minute breaks…’. The narrator pauses and speaks quietly. “uh… que Mel, ‘In any physical profession…’ ”. Mel leans in backwards from behind the left curtain with a sandwich in one hand. He taps his watch and disappears behind the curtain again. ‘…oh... ok, fair enough’, says the narrator, and the curtain closes.

8, DIM & MEL: ‘Heavy lifting’: Dim is on stage next to a heavy fridge. The narrator comments ‘Never attempt to lift heavy objects alone, always find a helpful buddy’. Mel comes on stage and helps Dim lift the fridge, walking backwards off stage. However, as soon as Mel reaches the edge of the stage, he lets go and walks off. Dim struggles with the heavy fridge before it falls backwards on top of him.

9, DIM & MIKE: ‘Hard Hats’: Dim is up on a high ladder, with a pallet of bricks balanced precariously next to him on the top step. Mike is at the foot of the ladder, holding a hard hat. The narrator announces the importance of wearing head-protection in an active work-site. Mike puts on his hard hat, and strikes a dramatic pose, queuing Dim to drop a brick on his head. Dim bends down and takes a brick from the back end of the pallet and holds it out ready to drop. This tips the balance of the pallet, causing the whole pile, rather than one brick to fall on Mike’s head, crushing him into the stage. Dim is unsure how to react, and drops his brick as well for good measure.

10, MEL: ‘Waste Disposal’: Mel is standing in front of some waste disposal units with a bag of junk. He starts disinterestedly taking out items, looking at them, and chucking them in one of the bins. The narrator announces that it’s important to think carefully about which bin rubbish belongs in. Mel pulls out a glowing green lab-vial, and hesitates as he looks at it, unsure where it goes. He shrugs and tosses it in the incinerator unit. A jet of green flame shoots out the mouth and scotches Mel’s face.

11, MIKE: ‘Trailing Wires’: An office set is strewn with electrical wiring from an extension reel on the right hand side of the stage.  Mike is standing to the left. “Never leave wires trailing across the workspace” says the narrator. Mike performs a series of over-dramatic action movie style moves as if navigating a laser maze to reach the reel. “Always store cabling neatly to prevent accidents” continues the narrator. Mike gleefully and violently reels in the wire, which starts pulling computers off desks, and generally creating chaos throughout the office behind him. (perhaps the end of the wire comes in slowly from the left off stage, dragging a confused Dim with it by the leg.)

12, DIM: ‘Safety in the dark’: Dim is on stage in a high-vis jacket. The main lights go out, and a small spotlight shines on Dim, and we can just see his jacket illuminated in the dark. The narrator comments ‘when working outside at night, always wear high-visibility clothing so that colleagues can see you.’ We see Dim’s jacket start moving left off stage, before it clearly bumps into something. It hesitates and turns around a few times seemingly confused. The jacket starts moving again towards the camera until it suddenly falls off the front of the stage with a scream and a crash. The lights come back on and the curtain falls.

13, MEL: ‘Fire Fighting’: Mel is brought on stage to show how to use a fire extinguisher. A very small but real fire is lit and Mel is told to extinguish it. Just as he lifts up his extinguisher, his phone vibrates in his pocket. He picks it up and starts texting, while the narrator gives more and more nervous ques for him to fight the fire, which is slowly growing. Suddenly, one of the stage props catches and bursts into flames while Mel is still busy texting, and the curtain falls quickly. (Potential end skit; fire destroys stage, Mel is still texting amongst the chaos)