Alt. Title: "Gawker? I 'ardly knew 'er!"

People in the "scene" always ask me how I come up with my jokes. So, if you'll indulge me, I'll explain my process in this thread.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO First of all, I come up with two disparate concepts or phrases that everyone knows, and then I put them together.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO For example, most people are aware of the website "Gawker" and also the famous Godfather phrase "Make him an offer he can't refuse."
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO Hence, my PROCESS would give me a punchline like "Make him a GAWKER he can't refuse." That's the punchline I work backwards from.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO So then you logically unpack it. How do you get there? What is the absurdity observed in life that would lead to that punchline?
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO Well, you have to change Gawker somehow to make someone that otherwise would've refused this site to suddenly be unable to refuse it.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO Something that you might find onerous about that site is the commenting system. Ugh. Who wants to sort through all those comments?
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO So, that logical structure of getting to the punchline is your set-up. Further, I like to structure it as a dialogue for directness.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

@DewNO Following this, I will tweet out the completed joke. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

GAWKER DEVELOPER: What should we work on today, boss? SUPERVISOR: Fix the commenting system. "Make 'em a GAWKER they can't refuse."
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

I find that you get the best jokes when you're observing people and find nuggets of absurdity like that. That's a big part of my process.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

And a big part of my process is that I don't steal jokes. I go to sleep at night with a good conscience. Some comics can't do that. I can.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

I've been doing stand-up for 20 years and you learn there's a code. And there's a process. And it's the only way you can live with yourself.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

That's a good "topper" (as we call it). I almost used that myself. RT @halosbeavpanths @DewNO aaaaand "scene"
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

Yes. I was on Maron's podcast a few times talking about Bill Hicks, whom I worked with. RT @halosbeavpanths wait do you actually do standup
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

Look, 20 years ago the comedy scene was dead, people. It's never been more alive. And it's because of auteurs like me, working with honesty.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

All I'm saying is that everyone has their own path to Carnegie and it starts in the dim lights of open mic night at some hole in the wall
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

I made my bones with this "punchline first" approach. Took me 10 years to come up with and eventually it revolutionized comedy in SoHo.
— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014

I would like to emphasize that, as with all my material, I came up with that Gawker joke in real time. Some comics aren't ethical like that.

— Alex Dewey (@DewNO) July 27, 2014