Yes, Monty Python was a weekly half-hour tv prog that had a devoted following for years. With good reason, imo because they had a team of excellent comedy actors and a lot of innovative ideas.
A problem with some comedy sketches is that they start with a funny premise, but immediately become pedestrian or predictable as they work through the idea. From what I`ve seen of SNL, it`s a criticism that applies to a lot of their material - but hey, I`m British, and humour is notorious for not crossing national boundaries.
As someone hinted earlier, I think the ratio of funny/not funny is absolutely cruxial; too much not funny starts to erode or negate the bits that are funny. If you`re laughing already, then you`re more disposed to laugh some more, but if you laugh-stop-wait, laugh-stop-wait then in the end you might not bother rising to the next laugh.
So the trick about good comedy is maintaining a momentum of surprises. Comedy is like a shark - it`s got to keep moving, got to stay funny, or it dies. That`s why I prefered Rowan and Martin`s Laugh In to SNL. Even when their jokes were corny, R&MLI just kept piling them on, punch-line after punchline, until you found yourself laughing at the silliest things. On a regular basis, Monty Python used to get it right too, with the help of some very clever scripts which kept notching up the humour. Here, for instance, is a personal fave:-
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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
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