You ask a startup owner about their product, and they will give you an elevator pitch.
Request a bartender for a recommendation, and they will bless you with their signature cocktail.
Give a chef the opportunity to show off their culinary expertise, and they will hand you a tasting spoon.
Do you know what the equivalent of that is for a comedian? Their version of an elevator pitch or signature cocktail also has a name and, surprisingly, a time limit. And it’s called a tight five.
What Is a Tight Five?
A tight five is a 5-minute comedy routine that consists of the comedian’s sharpest jokes. The goal is to get maximum laughs in a short period. No rambling. No improv, crowd work, or long setups. Just fast jokes in a 5-minute-long (actually, 5-minute short!) and a well-rehearsed comedy set.
Why five minutes?…and not four, or ten?
Five minutes is around the maximum time comedians would get during open mics or auditions by booking agents. On late-night comedy talk shows, comedians often get 5 minutes to perform.
Over time, the tight five became a way for comedians to showcase their strongest material and make a quick but lasting impression on audiences and bookers.
Here’s a tight five by Bill Burr, from over 17 years ago:
The comedian has made observations around relationships and used them to shape his tight five. He talks about relatable conversations one has with their partner and brings up popular references like Titanic (1997) and connects them to the singular premise of “girlfriend quirks.”
If you watch the entire video, you will see that he gets a laugh almost every 10 seconds!
Anatomy of a Tight Five Comedy Routine
An effective tight five removes all filler. Every pause is deliberate, every line purposeful, and the rhythm is carefully rehearsed.
A tight five is the quickest way to grab an audience, especially a live audience that is not being served up the comedian’s best bits in curated reels. Most effective tight five comedy routines share a few common elements:
Landing the Hook
Like an appetizer in a 3-course meal, the hook for a tight five is the “this is going to be worth it” moment. A strong opening laugh makes the rest of the set smoother. Given that the attention span is now down to 47 seconds, a tight five needs to begin with something that immediately catches the audience’s eyes (or ears, in this case).
Taylor Tomlinson is known for her hooks. She starts off her routines with a strange confession, observation, or life update that immediately sets the tone for the rest of the routine:
In the above comedy routine for Jimmy Fallon’s show, within ten seconds, she gives her audience emotional whiplash, thus reeling them in immediately.
Establishing a Clear Comedic Voice
A tight five is not where comedians typically experiment with their tone. Why? Simply because there is no time. Longer routines can allow you to test new styles with enough time to compensate if it does not land. In tight five routines, a comedian’s signature style and voice shine throughout for maximum impact.
Mark Normand, a stand-up comedian who has been around in the mainstream comedy scene for more than a decade, is an excellent example of someone with a clear comedic voice:
He is known for his signature deadpan voice, something that elicits as many laughs as his jokes:
He is also known as the comedian who signs off as “I am Kevin Hart, have a good night, thank you!” which adds to his overall appeal.
Keeping Setups Short, and Punchlines Fast
A tight five is not the place for a callback or long stories that eventually lead to a punchline. In this format, jokes usually come in quick succession, with minimal setups leading directly to punchlines.
Zach Galifianakis delivers jokes with minimal setups very well. In this clip, you will see that each joke has a setup of 1-2 lines, and then the punchline.
An example, “My brother has ADD. Which is weird because he drives a Ford Focus.” Hilarious.
Sticking to One Theme
A tight five consists of punchlines and jokes around a core theme. That is because there is no time to provide context each time for a new joke, so the payoff moments will hit harder if the comedian sticks to the same or connected topics (unless it is a tight five consisting of random one-liners).
Focusing on a single theme also makes the tight five routine seem like a conversation.
Kevin Hart’s tight five here is not a rapid-fire stream of unrelated jokes. It is a story the audience can sink into.
In this set, he takes a simple dinner with a friend and stretches it into five minutes of comedy, layering in side bits about his financial habits. For the viewer, the payoff is not just in the punchlines but in the rhythm and familiarity of the story, which makes the whole routine memorable.
Wrapping Up With a Strong Ending
Longer comedy routines can gradually end without a mic drop moment. In contrast, a tight five requires a strong closing joke or an impactful mic drop moment. Because tight fives are short sets that are often part of a lineup, the ending must be energetic enough to keep the audience engaged and ready for the next act.
Check out the final joke in this tight five by Jerry Seinfeld:
The above comedy routine on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2016 ends on an existential note. Seinfeld describes the almost meditative process of getting through TV dinners, an (unfortunate) staple in US households, and wraps up his routine with an impactful punchline.
Why a Tight Five Is Harder Than It Looks
Many people say short pieces are easier to write.
Or fewer ingredients are simpler to work with.
But that is not necessarily true. Squeezing creativity out of limited resources, whether they are words, ingredients, or time, can be harder. As Susie told Midge in Season 1, Episode 7 of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:
Most comics take years to work up those first ten minutes. You did it in months.
Though she says 10 minutes, the logic is the same. Working up the first five minutes of a routine or five minutes that collate the best comedy bits can be tough.
Tight Five: Making the Audience Laugh in 300 Seconds With a Tight Five
Their tight five is a tough act for a comedian. In five minutes, they are expected to establish their voice, deliver a sequence of jokes, and leave an impression. It is a compressed format through which comedians can test their craft.
For audiences, a tight five-comedy routine is the quickest way to decide whether a comedian’s style resonates with them or not. If you enjoy a tight five by a specific comedian, chances are you will enjoy their longer routines as well.
