Sketch comedy Kevin and Perry from "Harry Enfield and Chums". The idea of running characters was taken a stage further with shows like "The Red Green Show" and "The League of Gentlemen", where sketches centered on the various inhabitants of the fictional towns of Possum Lake and Royston Vasey, respectively. In "Little Britain", sketches focused on a cast of recurring characters, including "Vicky Pollard", "Marjorie Dawes" and "Lou and Andy". In North America, contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during the 1970s, largely growing out of "The Second City" in Chicago and Toronto. Notable
Character sketch delve into the form was Joseph Hall in his book Characters of Virtues and Vices which was published in 1608. However, the character sketch didn’t become popular amongst the literate public until the late seventeenth century. The public appreciated sketches for their humor and readable style. As Pat Rogers notes, Henry Fielding, in book I, chapter 14 of "Joseph Andrews", invokes William Hogarth to create a character sketch of Mrs. Tow-wouse: "Indeed, if Mrs. Tow-wouse had given no Utterance to the Sweetness of her Temper, Nature had taken such Pains in her Countenance, that Hogarth himself never gave more Expression