In a New York Times interview, Jerry Seinfeld describes the anatomy of his Pop-Tart joke, still a work in progress, and shows his longhand writing process.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it as a look at how a master comedian develops material through slow, iterative writing, and compares it to programming and other craft.
“Seinfeld explaining how he developed his Pop-Tart joke”HN comment, 2018
My impression is that the bar for humor is higher on Hacker News than most other places. Perhaps at a minimum the joke should be intellectually interesting enough that there is no need to lawyer up behind a claim that the joke is on topic. Here the nexus is formulaic: ?X is, in fact, Satoshi Nakamoto! Chuck Norris, Paul Graham, my dog Spot for ?X are each about equally humorous. I think this is because each is about as clever an intellectual move. That's not to say that a joke connecting Stallman to Nakamoto couldn't work on Hacker News. Just that it would probably require a lot more work: e.g. better premise than a hackathoned machine learning classifier might be the singularity. Even here it might have worked if the author had gone all in and backed up the claim with examples, anecdotes, rationals that pushed the joke telling art via absurdity. this video
Cites itaustinlAug 2018
“Jerry Seinfeld also gave an interview with the NYT about the process”
Seinfeld on his comedy process
Full comment
I started to appreciate stand-up comedy a lot more after realizing just how much effort goes into delivery. It's almost uncanny to watch a comedian perform the same routine twice, because their timing is so consistent. Here's a good breakdown of a Louis CK joke: link Jerry Seinfeld also gave an interview with the NYT about the process — I think Jerry is a good example because so much of his comedy depends on the delivery. this video
Cites itjs2Aug 2018
“Seinfeld explaining how he developed his Pop-Tart joke”
Seinfeld explaining developing his Pop-Tart joke
Full comment
Tying together two recent HN submissions. This one, and the submission on Ali Wong wherein someone linked to Seinfeld explaining how he developed his Pop-Tart joke: this video
Cites ithyperpalliumDec 2019
“Seinfeld showed his (long) development of his "pop-tart" joke”
Seinfeld showing long development of Pop-Tart joke
Full comment
I agree with getting started. If Michelangelo iterated studies (in marble!) and drafts to work out mistakes and what he was doing, surely I can too. BTW Seinfeld showed his (long) development of his "pop-tart" joke: this video
