Monkey Toast is offering a 6 week sketch writing class taught by Phil Whelans.

Sketch Writing
Dates: Wednesdays, beginning April 1st, 6 classes over 6 weeks.
Time: 7-9:30pm
Location: Theatre Delicatessen, 119 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3DA*
Tube: Farringdon
Cost: £120
Class Size: 12
Instructor: Phil Whelans
*Please note that the first class will be at The Cockpit Theatre

Course Description:

“I've got nothing against your right leg. The trouble is – neither have you.”

“The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.”

“Wookin po nub in all der wong paces.”

“Wild? I was absolutely livid.”

“I'm afraid I was very, very drunk.”

“More Cowbell!”

When the inevitable Martian takeover happens, now we’ve landed a space probe on that comet, our visitors will pause, momentarily, before crushing us beneath their feet, or castors, or whatever they’ve got, perplexed at the fact that these strange incantations still elicit laughter from those who hear them. And it is perhaps this that will prove to be mankind’s salvation.


While a really good sketch might seem to have sprung into life fully formed – and occasionally, they do – more often than not, they’re standing on the shoulders of countless fallen comrades. Sketch writing is hard – or easy, depending on how good you want them to be.

Surreal sketches, naturalistic sketches, observational sketches, character sketches, satirical sketches: We’ll talk about them all. And we’ll write them. Lots of them. Let’s try and identify some of the ingredients that that give the germ of an idea the best chance to grow into a magnificently plumed parrot. Let’s give ourselves the best chance of writing the sketches that could save the planet. Bring a pen.

About Phil Whelans:

Phil Whelans is a Comedy writer performer. He does both in his BBC Radio 4 sitcom, My First Planet and with Pros from Dover, who were resident sketch team for two series of The Infinite Monkey Cage and were in 28 Acts in 28 Minutes (both Radio 4.) He script edited BBC Scotland’s sketch show Velvet Soup and Radio 2’s Jason Byrne Show and he’s written and performed with an unsettlingly broad spectrum of people on TV and Radio, from Chris Morris to Basil Brush via Joan Rivers, Kevin Eldon, Chris Tarrant and Brian Conley.

Phil wrote and performed sketches for BBC1’s Stupid, punched up three series of BBC1’s Life of Riley and helped out on Cartoon Network’s The Amazing World of Gumball. He’s written topical mirth for, among others, the 11 o’clock Show, The Big Breakfast and The Now Show, he wrote the animation scripts for BAFTA-nominated KNTV (“Channel 4 at its best” The Guardian) and co-wrote a whole show for Spitting Image. He’s done impro all over the world, appearing in numerous failed TV and radio impro pilots and he accidentally saved the planet when he wrote the script for Big Al Gore’s Live Earth show at Wembley Stadium. He improvises in two groups – Grand Theft Impro and Monkey Toast - he directed Phil Nichol’s Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, The Naked Racist and he plays bass in punk covers band Beergut 100 with Kevin Eldon and Bill Bailey.