Comedy Lab

comedy lab

-- days 0 words ~0:00 / 5:00

synced

0/9

Set

Compare

Bench

Craft

Week 2 performance · ~3:40 · 14 beats

Your actual set. Read it to absorb shape before rehearsing. Don't edit here — use Bench.

Intro

Hi, my name is Andre Arako. As you can tell, English is not my first language. Some days it's not even my second.

strong opener

Look

People say that I look like a guy who is always trying to chase James Bond.

needs act-out — T1

RSF

You guys know a resting bitch face, the RBF? People say I have a resting smiley face. Half the time it's because I don't understand what you guys are saying, so I go, uh-huh, uh-huh.

use letters "RSF" explicitly — T2

Wife / Russian

My wife's story is only in Russian, which is weird because I'm Ukrainian. She then switched and had a nice 450-day streak on Duolingo. One day she went to surprise me and she goes, один, два, три, четыре. I was very impressed. My wife knew how to count. I tried to have a conversation. She looks at me, she smiles, and she goes, один, два, три, четыре.

needs wife setup + cleaner counting landing — both teachers

Ukraine / Chernobyl

Anytime I say I'm from Ukraine, you guys have this face. Half of your brain is trying to show empathy, and half of it is trying to not say anything about Chernobyl.

lands clean

Bomb Shelter

Anyway, we're here in a comedy club, but I'm not here to talk about war. So the other day, my parents called me from a bomb shelter. I'm like, ma, we have real problems here. Gas is $7.

add "it's not always about you" phrasing — T2

Immigration / Citizenship

You know, I hate the questions when people find out that I'm from Ukraine. They say things like, how long you been here? How long you're staying for? When are you going back? Like, I'm a citizen now. They go, yeah, of course. Sure.

pick one frame: disbelief OR instability — T1

Mom / Plan B

My mom had me when she was 20. So I'm basically here because she didn't read Plan B instructions correctly. You have to take it after sex, not after I turn 12, mom.

strong — keep as is

Mom / Amsterdam

My mom and I recently had mushrooms in Amsterdam, the magic kind. She's still there, looking at her tulips.

tight — keep as is

Parenthood / CPS

You know, now I have a two-year-old myself. So I have a lot more empathy to you guys, because I also cannot understand what the fuck is she saying. Having kids is a blessing. You lose sleep. You lose money. You lose your sex life. Highly recommend it.

CPS logic chain is confusing — T2

Tinder

My wife and I, we met on Tinder. She had pretty strict filters. You needed to be male and within a three-mile radius. So I passed both of them.

strong — potential wife bridge — T2

Driving Test

Overall, tests here in the United States are not easy. I was doing my driving test, and then they asked all these weird questions. If you're making a left turn, how do you show this with your arm? If you're making a right turn, how do you show this with your arm? When it's 100 degrees outside, can you leave your baby unattended in a car? Really hard tests.

lands well

Tag

We're now prepping for a second child.

tight callback tag

AI Closer

At my work, I work with AI quite often. And it's been truly life-changing. Just yesterday, I was the program manager at my company, and now I'm a customer service representative for ChatGPT. Because every friend of yours now is asking questions. This is not working. It gave me a wrong response. So thank God I'm not a doctor. I cannot imagine what kind of questions these guys are getting from their friends. That's it.

strong closer

Teacher 1

"You have engineered these jokes to very strong precision."

What they pushed on

The overall shape works. Precise, high-joke-density writing with strong setup-to-punchline discipline.

The Bond / villain line wants an act-out, not just wording. You have the setup — you need a body.

The wife / Russian / Ukrainian material needs clearer context — who is your wife and why is her learning Russian surprising?

The resting smiley face bit is worth bringing back as a callback at the end.

The "I'm a citizen" joke needs one clear frame: either disbelief or political instability — not both at once.

The mushrooms bit wants a stronger setup before the tulips punchline.

Direct quotes

"You have engineered these jokes to very strong precision."

"You have a very high joke per minute and a high laugh per minute ratio."

"It deserves an act out."

"It would be helpful to have that... my wife jokes. Like that's where this would go."

"That is worth a callback."

"I would choose one of them and clarify."

"Same punchline, different setup."

Teacher 2

"It's so good. It's good. It's fucking great."

What they pushed on

RSF should be performed harder — explicitly spell out the letters so the audience can hold onto the label.

The Tinder line is strong and may work better as a bridge into the wife / language section.

The wife counting joke needs the setup landed more clearly before the payoff hits.

The Ukraine / bomb shelter joke should emphasize "it's not always about you" — make those words visible.

The CPS / two-year-old bit has potential but the current logic is confusing — needs a cleaner setup chain.

The set has many jokes already. Main task is consistency and firming up, not inventing new material.

Direct quotes

"It's so good. It's good. It's fucking great."

"Make sure you use the letters RSF."

"Like that's how you got to land that just so we can stay on that."

"I think that could potentially be like a transition."

"Land the counting more clearly for the audience."

"Use the words. It's not always about you."

"It did get a little confusing, though."

"But overall, it's so likable."

Both agree

The set works. Strong comic point of view already present.

Wife / language material needs clearer context — setup before the counting payoff.

Specific beats can land harder through performance, not just wording changes.

Where they diverge

T1 — Architecture

Structural grouping of bits

Act-outs (Bond line)

Callbacks (RSF at end)

Clarify premise before escalation

T2 — Execution

Performance emphasis on RSF

Stronger beat-to-beat transitions

Cleaner logic on CPS

Name and brand "RSF" explicitly

Working read

T1 sounds like: keep the architecture, tighten the engineering. The jokes are well-built — fortify the structure and add physical dimension.

T2 sounds like: keep the likability, sharpen the stage execution. The voice is right — make sure the audience can hold onto the labels and follow the logic.

Both agree the set is further along than most at this stage. The work is refinement, not rebuilding.

8 specific rewrites from teacher notes. Work one at a time. Open a task, write a new version in the box, mark it done when it feels right on stage.

01 RSF Act-Out T1 ▸

T1: "It deserves an act-out." Right now RSF is only words. You smile while talking about dark things — make that visible. Write a physical description of what you actually do with your face/body while delivering it.

0 words

02 Brand It "RSF" T2 ▸

T2: "Make sure you use the letters RSF." You introduce the concept but don't name it hard enough. The audience needs to walk away saying the label. Spell it out, put it in their mouth: "R. S. F."

0 words

03 Wife Setup — Who Is She? Both ▸

Both teachers flagged this. We don't know who your wife is before the Russian joke lands. Add 1–2 lines: she's Chinese-American. So the misdirect is — of course she learned... Russian. That setup makes the counting punchline earn it.

0 words

04 Tinder → Wife Bridge T2 ▸

T2: "I think that could potentially be like a transition." The Tinder joke currently floats. Try routing it into the wife/language section. The Tinder filters establish who she is → now you can introduce her + the Russian surprise.

0 words

05 Counting Landing T2 ▸

T2: "Land the counting more clearly for the audience." The audience needs to feel how absurd the 450-day streak is before the payoff hits. Setup: she has a 450-day streak. She's ready. She "surprises" you. And she makes it all the way to... четыре. That's it. The whole streak.

0 words

06 Bomb Shelter Framing T2 ▸

T2: "Use the words. It's not always about you." The joke works — parents in bomb shelter, you're worried about gas prices. But add the explicit callback framing. The audience needs to hear those exact words to lock in the meta-joke.

0 words

07 CPS Logic Chain T2 ▸

T2: "It did get a little confusing, though." The two-year-old section has something — but the logic of the current version is unclear. Map it out: what's the exact setup, what is CPS being invoked to mean, what's the actual punchline? Write it clean.

0 words

08 Citizenship — Pick One Frame T1 ▸

T1: "I would choose one of them and clarify." Right now it suggests both (a) people doubt you're really a citizen and (b) instability meaning you'd go back. Pick one. Frame A: sarcastic disbelief — "yeah, of course, sure." Frame B: geopolitical instability — implied you'd be forced to return. Different punchline energy.

0 words

Theory quick ref

Rule of 3pattern, pattern, BREAK

Misdirectno no no no YES

Absolutespick a side, no "probably"

Brevityeach word costs $5

93/793% delivery, 7% words

Pitch UPup to hold, DOWN on punchline

Don't move on funnypause after punchline

Kernel of truthstart real, spin funny

RSFsmile + dark = contrast

Ukrainian Edgenuclear, war, immigration

Culture ClashUkrainian + Chinese family

Vulnerabilitymore real = more relatable

Your Bits

New Bit

Edit Bit