Build your 5

The five moves

Same rhythm, every week.

1. 1 — Study

   Great tight fives — late-night sets.

   Watch on purpose. Specific comedians, specific reason.

2. 2 — Deconstruct

   Count the jokes. It's fewer than you think, and none are filler.

   Isolate one mechanism. Name it before you use it.

3. 3 — Write

   Assemble your five from the year's strongest material.

   10–25 premises minimum. Quantity buys quality.

4. 4 — Perform

   Perform it three times this week.

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

5. 5 — Review

   Cut anything that failed twice.

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