Look into the cultural history of the location where your skits will be performed. If you live in the south, you shouldn't create skits that are all set in New York City. People like to watch entertainment that has something to do with them. If you're writing skits for children to perform for their parents, include the kids' personalities in the skits or create characters for them that resemble their parents. The parents will love watching this.
Skits are typically no longer than five minutes, so write only what you need. Your skit should have a clear beginning, middle and end. The audience must know who the characters are in the first few seconds. You must also keep the pace up because comedy requires pace and speed. Make your audience laugh and keep them laughing. Pauses and silences will drag your skit down and lose your audience's interest.
You have to create clear and immediate conflict in your skit. This conflict is vital to the structure of your skit, because it's what makes the characters act. Once the conflict is present, the fun comes from watching the characters deal with it. If a guy is talking to his friends because he's nervous about asking out a girl, the fun lies in watching the guy prepare himself. The payoff comes when the audience sees him ask the girl for a date. You can decide whether he fails, but the fun lies in the preparation and the ultimate payoff.
Write your skit so your actors can perform it with confidence. If you're working with unskilled actors, don't write a deeply emotional skit about a woman who loses her grandmother and spends the entire scene crying on stage. Write for your actors' talents. Use more accessible emotions and circumstances, like annoyance because your laundry shrinks in the dryer or your mother won't stop calling you. Skits shouldn't dig into tragedy either, unless you're mocking extreme emotions for comic effect.
Before you present your skits to an audience, rehearse your actors. Precision and timing are key elements for a successful skit, and they take time to develop. Be ruthless with your actors about timing. Make sure everyone knows their lines and they're picking up their cues. Again, pace is everything when you're making people laugh. Ensure your skits are successful with the proper amount of preparation.