Tommy Woodard and Eddie James make a living doing the same thing they’ve done since high school: making people laugh.

“Ed and I both wanted to go to ‘Saturday Night Live.’ We were going to load up in my red 1981 Chevette and head to New York after we graduated,” Woodard recalls. “In hindsight, we would’ve made it to Arkansas before that car broke down…If we couldn’t do that, maybe we could go to Disney World and be characters.”

Their penchant for comedy took a different turn when Woodard convinced James to attend church their senior year of high school. “Our youth minister started having us do skits, because we were the guys who always made fun of him when he was up there preaching,” says James. “So he was like, ‘Hey, why don’t you use your powers for good instead of evil and start doing skits every Wednesday night?'”

The two longtime friends began using their talents to write and perform skits. For the past 25 years, The Skit Guys have been conveying theological truths through the lens of comedy. “Humor breaks down walls for truth to enter,” James offers. “If you can make someone laugh in an audience, they’ll listen to you.”

“Humor relaxes you. You can’t really laugh a lot and be tense at the same time,” Woodard observes.

Both men are involved in ministry in local churches in some capacity, often working with youth, all while having the flexibility to create skits that speak to the soul. Because they have firsthand experience being on a church staff, they know what pastors need and the types of resources they’re looking for. In fact, they consider their churches test vehicles for fresh ideas and new skits.

“A comedian usually will go from nightclub to nightclub and work his material to find out what works. A lot of times for us, we get to use our churches rather than a nightclub to test and see what works,” Woodard explains. “When you’re involved in the local church and stay involved in it, it keeps you grounded. You know what’s going on, what churches are going through, what they need; I think that’s one of the keys to us being able to help provide content that works.”

“We get to create characters. We get to make up stories. We get to create comedies, skits [and] videos,” adds James. “It’s our own little version of ‘Saturday Night Live’ for churches.”

Organic Scripts
Ironically, their creative process usually begins just as it did when they were teens—the two of them sitting in a room together, throwing out ideas and building off each other’s ad-libbing, rarely writing anything down. The script is actually the last piece of the puzzle. Once they land on a central theme or idea, they rehearse lines until they have something they feel is script-worthy. At that point, they generally film themselves performing their off-the-cuff skit. Then, they transcribe the video to create the first draft of a script.

They each bring their own unique talents to these brainstorming sessions. “Eddie really is the writer and more of the idea guy; it usually begins with him having an idea, and then we kind of work on it together,” Woodard explains. “I think the creative element that I bring is more putting seasonings into the sauce to make it taste different somehow.”

“Tommy is the total puncher-upper and ad-libber,” James adds.

“I remember being a youth minister and trying to come up with the next series. What are we going to do? How do we talk about Easter differently? How do we talk about Christmas differently? What’s the theme?” James continues. “There’s pain involved in that, of trying to figure out how we present something to the audience so it’s fresh…Every Wednesday night or every Sunday, you are coming up with a message or an hour-long program, and that is just crazy. Like, who else does that?”

Creative Space
The Skit Guys stress that it’s important to maintain creativity and make a habit of consistently collecting ideas. For James, ideas originate from a variety of everyday sources—other people’s stories, news, TV, movies and books. He also insists it’s important to find a creative space away from the office (aka, your church’s campus) to explore new ideas, brainstorm and plan your messages in chunks.

“I think youth ministers have to find that place—that coffee shop, that booth—wherever it is, to sit and look at their year and say, ‘OK, during the next three months, we’re going to do this, this and this; and it would be great to have this,'” he suggests. “Find a team of people to surround [you] to be creative.”

While Woodard and James admit the work of a youth minister can be overwhelming, they suggest taking cues from their old high school youth minister and calling out the creativity within your youth group. “[Our youth pastor] looked and found some kids who were creative, and that kept him from having to do everything,” Woodard laughs. “I would encourage youth pastors to [observe and] find students, find volunteers who lean toward creativity. Let them get involved, and realize [you] don’t have to do all the work [yourself].”

More than anything, The Skit Guys see the value in what youth pastors do and desire to come alongside them to provide resources and fresh ideas as they teach students how to be Christ followers. Woodard easily sums up their mission: “The reason we exist, the reason we do what we do, is to help youth pastors, [senior] pastors and whoever else is in ministry to communicate the truth of God’s Word and [His] love for people. That’s really our goal.”

Having been a youth minister himself, James is grateful for every youth leader pouring into young adults. “Thank you for what you do in building students’ lives,” he says. “It is a huge responsibility, and the fact that you—and if you’re married, your spouse—are in this week in and week out helping students, loving students and trying to help them become fully devoted followers of Christ…That’s an amazing thing, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.”

For videos, downloads and resources, visit SkitGuys.com.

The Skit Guys’ Five Tips for Staying Creative
1. Gather ideas from everyday life and the media you enjoy.
2. Find your place outside the church.
3. Surround yourself with creative people.
4. Call out the creativity in your students.
5. Go to SkitGuys.com to download their resources. (Shameless plug!)