Talk:List of sketch comedy groups

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[edit] Purpose of this page?

What is the actual purpose of this page? Currently the title is 'list of sketch comedy groups by country'. Recently there has been a spate of deletions. Some giving the reason as 'non-notable', others giving the reason 'removing redlink'.

The first case is fine, as it is a standard Wikipedia guideline, although the level of notability is debatable in this context. For example, given that the breakdown is by country, should only internationally famous sketch groups be listed? If not, what is the criteria in this instance? Do they have to have had a radio/TV show? You will probably find that sketch groups that have not had a radio/tv show will not be terribly well known outside of the performance circuit, but acts who have been performing consistently for 10 years may still be noteworthy enough to warrant an article. Noteworthy != Famous.

The second issue is a little more worrying. Removing redlinked items turns this into a 'list of sketch comedy groups with a Wikipedia article', which is putting the cart before the horse, I think. Fair enough if they fail on the first criteria, but not a sufficient reason to remove them on its own.

Can someone clarify the criteria for inclusion please?

--HappyDog 20:00, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

I believe that anything listed on Wikipedia as to have some notability to subject at hand. So the lists need to include groups that have some notability, presumably enough to have it's own wikipedia page. Sketch groups that are notable enough to have wikipedia pages need to have some sort of established reputation and signifigance (i.e. notable members, awards received, audiences, etc.) I wouldn't be opposed to changing the name of this list to "List of notable sketch comedy groups" or something similiar. There really doesn't seem to be a point to just have a list of groups that have or continue to exist. That's like having a list of rock bands and every garage band that was together for two weeks while someone was in high school or college gets put on there. That is just my take from the wikipedia guidelines. --Twintone 16:47, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
Twintone is right. If you don't require an article for each entry that establishes sufficient notability, list articles such as this can pretty quickly deteriorate into a useless spam-fest. Even more importantly, separate articles for each entry also provide the required verifiability. -- Satori Son 06:06, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
OK - I have amended the intro to make it even clearer. I am happy that there is now no ambiguity about what should and should not be included. I will leave it for someone else to argue the 'having a WP article is not a measure of notability' corner as I don't feel that strongly about it, and the linkspam issue is a good one. --HappyDog 01:25, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Can Mr Bean (United Kingdom) really be classified as a sketch comedy group? There's only one of him, and he doesn't do sketch comedy. Remove? --Brendan D 11:44, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comedy TV

We need to remove the TV shows that do not have an actual group of the same name, such as You Can't Do that on Television. --Future Fun Jumper (TIC) 19:22, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

You're probably right. Should there be a different list of sketch comedy TV shows?--Twintone 20:36, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
Absolutely. --Future Fun Jumper (TIC) 22:30, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
Absolutely not. Sketch comedies do not necessarilly need groups or troupes. You can have sketch shows with random actors/comedians.
That's missing the point - this page is not 'sketch comedies' but 'Sketch Comedy Groups'. Many in the list are TV shows without a group of the same name - they should not be here. Brendan D 15:48, 3 October 2007 (UTC)