A Dark Comedy Sketch About the End of the World by Jean-Pierre Martinez
One character, male or female, is there. Another arrives.
One – Did you hear the radio?
Two – The radio? Does that still exist?
One – Since the last television channel stopped broadcasting, they’ve reopened a radio station.
Two – And?
One – This time, I think it’s the end.
Two – The end of the world, you mean?
One – The end of Humanity, at any rate.
Two – It’s true that the Earth itself has seen worse. Ice ages, periods of overheating, meteorite impacts…
One – After a few centuries, the Earth will recover, that’s for sure. But us…
Two – We wanted to fly too high. Too fast. We burnt our wings. And now we’re in free fall. We’re all going to crash.
One – That reminds me of something…
Two – And what are they saying on the radio?
One – They’re telling us to pray.
Two – Pray?
One – The only radio station we can still listen to is one announcing that the apocalypse is coming tomorrow. And that we must prepare.
Two – Prepare? How?
One – By praying, precisely…
Two – If only all their prayers could have prevented this.
One – And yet, since Humanity has existed, there have been plenty of prayers.
Two – We would have been better off praying a little less and acting a little more.
One – After every natural disaster, earthquake, flood, forest fire… In the midst of mass graves, the survivors thanked God for having spared their own little selves.
Two – And even today, the few very temporary survivors of this apocalypse are still giving thanks to their God.
One – Do you think the very last survivor of Humanity, before disappearing, will still thank God for having spared him?
Two – What’s certain is that God will disappear with the last man stupid enough to believe in him.
One – That’s one of the few reasons to feel hopeful about the prospect of this apocalypse…
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A sketch from the collection Apocalypse
Link to the collection for free download (PDF)
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