Chapter 3 - Write Your Own Skits And Stunts

Probably the most successful skits and stunts you use in your Pep Rallies will be those that you create right in your own school. The writer therefore urges you to use the skits and stunts in this book as a guide and change them to your own situations, and also make up some original skits and stunts of your own.

As a partial guide to help you in creating your own skits and stunts, the following elements are suggested.

1. Your Mascot: Every school should select an appropriate nickname or mascot. Such as "Indians," "Scots," "Trojans" and there are thousands of others. Be sure the name that you select fits your school's "atmosphere." It should not conflict with other teams in your league. Use this slogan wherever possible in your stunts and skits. You can also make up skits which are built around your school slogan. Keep trying to figure new angles as to how your nickname can be used to make laughs and entertainment as well as interest to your student body.

2. Your Local Newspaper and Current Events: Look over the local happenings in your daily paper. Very often you will get a hint on a subject that interests everyone in your locale and you can build a skit from this very thought.

3. History: Famous people, real and fictitious, such as Paul Revere; Capt. John Smith; Rip Van Winkle; Geo. Washington; have been used over and over successfully in stunts and skits.

4. Television and Radio Shows: Watch the comedians on the television, sometimes they will give you a simple skit or lead that you can adapt to your own school. The programs such as "Dragnet," "What's My Line", "I've Got a Secret", "To Tell the Truth", "This Is Your Life", make excellent foundations for skits that you can easily adapt to your own situation. Then the idea of setting up a typical television or radio station on your stage always makes a good skit or stunt.

5. Your Faculty: Very often you can select a popular famous poem and with the help of your English Teacher change the words so they mention your mascot, coach, team members, opponent's mascot, etc. Also the use of some faculty members in the skits, where appropriate, tend to liven things up.

6. Narrator and Pantomime: By having a narrator do all the speaking and then having the cheerleading squad act out what the narrator relates, you can create amusing and excellent skits and stunts.

7. Timing: Make up skits to use for the particular season. If it is Halloween week, your skit could be about ghosts and goblins. If Christmas is the approaching holiday your theme could be Santa Claus, and so on.

8. Jokes: Current jokes can be reworked into good stunts. Be sure to use jokes with interesting punch lines. Look for good current jokes in the magazines, newspapers, or on radio.

9. Stunt Fest: Try dividing your squad into sections, depending on its size, and have each group work out a skit for a particular occasion. Then have a squad meeting and by changing and discussing the various ideas a good skit can usually be obtained.

10. "Panel Discussion": It is also possible for you to have what is known in business as a "PaneJ Discussion." You possibly have seen some examples of this on the T.V. Many large business houses, when faced with a difficult problem, use this method in an attempt to solve the problem to the best advantage. You can use the idea by having a group meeting of your squad, possibly a few of the faculty or members of the Pep Squad, etc. Be sure you have someone with pencil and paper to jot down every idea that is mentioned. If a tape recorder is available, use it. The Captain could then start the program by stating the reasons for it and explaining the necessity of having a good peppy program. It should be remarked that the facilities to stage the skit are limited and mention the props, scenery, etc. that are available. Then by asking a few questions and requesting each participant to raise his hand when he has an idea the discussion could be started. Be sure to encourage everyone to participate regardless of how wild, ridiculous or silly their individual ideas may be, for a thought could be derived by someone in the group that would start an excellent idea on its way. Should difficulty arise getting the discussion started, the Captain by just mentioning one word or two could possibly begin by saying, "dagger," "murder," "green eyes" or just scream.

11. The Narrator: When a narrator is used to read the skit while the various cheerleaders and other actors pantomime what is said, only a limited amount of practice is necessary before the skit is ready for presentation. In this way no memorizing of lines is necessary and everyone concerned can play his part with a minimum of preparation.

12. Use associations "to start from scratch": Example of creating a skit by linking one idea with another would be as shown below in outline. The occasion approaching is Halloween and our team mascot is an "Indian."

Step 1
Write down every idea you can associate with the word "halloween."

Step 2
Our slogan being "Indians" we should draw comparisons with the words in Step 1.

Examples:
halloween                     pumpkins                            broomstick
witches                         jack-o-lanterns
ghosts                           dead warrior
                                    (ex football player returns to boost warrior)
ghouls                           black cats                           apples
pop corn                      "Indians" taught how to raise corn
spooks                         horns
noisemakers                 whoop and holler of cheering squad
painted faces                Brightly painted faces scare foes
goblins
cobwebs                      used to represent a shroud for enemies
dark night                     dark night best for "Indians"
fear                              "Indians always inspire fear in hearts of enemies."

Step 3
From the above comparisons we now proceed to write the skit in the following manner: (Note: it is not always necessary to use all the comparisons). Scene: Boy brings a card in front of audience reading:

Dark Night Halloween Approaches Beware!!!

A dead warrior appears as though he just returned from the grave. Have him painted up to look ghoulish.

Dead Warrior: "Me dead Chief Halloween. Me once leader of team. Team must fight enemies (Bobcats or Blackcats, etc.) Hard fight, but if tribe behind warriors . . . Indians win! Me not rest easy . . . want to know if tribe loyal!" Exits.

Scene: Cheerleaders immediately enter. "Let's show Chief Halloween how loyal we are, gang." Lead with loyalty yell. Exit.

Warriors then enter (U or 5 football or basketball players dressed in their uniforms, faces painted and carrying jack-o-lanterns). They sit in semi circle facing audience as though in front of a campfire. 1st Warrior: "We have pow-wow!"

2nd Warrior: "Me worried. Tribe not show much spirit. Warriors not fight hard if tribe not show spirit."

3rd Warrior: "Me want to see big pow-wow at battle, all tribe there!" 4th Warrior: "Blackcats big tribe; always have spirit." 2nd Warrior: "Me want show all team that tribe behind them."

1st Warrior: "We get team leaders to help us." (exit warriors).

Scene: Enter Cheerleaders 1st Cheerleader: "Warriors are worried. They say the tribe not behind them." 2nd Cheerleader: "It's our job to show them we are."

3rd Cheerleader: "If we don't back the "Indians" with all our might, Big Chief Halloween will be disappointed."

4th Cheerleader: "Let's have a pow-wow!" Head Cheerleader: "Come on, tribe . . . show Chief Halloween and the Indians how strong we are behind them."

Scene: Cheerleaders lead with two fast and peppy yells. While yells are going on the pep squad can have a snake dance around stage or gym.

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