Jerry Seinfeld

The five moves

Same rhythm, every week.

1. 1 — Study

   Any special, plus Comedian for the process.

   Watch on purpose. Specific comedians, specific reason.

2. 2 — Deconstruct

   Take one premise and count how many angles he finds on it.

   Isolate one mechanism. Name it before you use it.

3. 3 — Write

   One tiny premise, developed for 4 minutes, no topic change.

   10–25 premises minimum. Quantity buys quality.

4. 4 — Perform

   Run it. Resist the urge to bail into a different bit.

   Somewhere live. The classroom is useful; the audience is the laboratory.

5. 5 — Review

   Where did you run out of angles? That's your depth ceiling — raise it.

   Watch the tape. Log what the room did, not what you felt.