The last four weeks were a setup
A coach in your pocket... that won't laugh at everything you say.
Four weeks ago, I told you humor is a skill with no gym. Then I told you nobody is born funny. Then that “funny” isn’t one skill, it’s eight. And last Friday, that you can’t practice any of them alone.
None of that was an accident. Comedians call it a setup. In engineering we called it requirements gathering. Either way, this is where it pays off.
The question I get most after keynotes isn’t about the keynote. It’s some version of “okay, but how do I actually get better at this?” And for years, my honest answer has been a simple “you just have to start.”
But that’s not SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound). So I tried to create easy next steps but they were clunky. Read the book. Take the assessment. Practice on your coworkers (ideally with their knowledge).
The people who improved fastest were the ones I coached one-on-one, and not because of any magic on my part (okay, maybe a tiny bit). It was because they had a place to practice and someone giving them honest feedback every week. That’s it. An iterative feedback loop for humor.
The problem is that one-on-one coaching doesn’t scale, my calendar has opinions, and I have a soon-to-be five-year-old, Pineapple (my daughter), who I’m slowly turning into a joke machine.
Not to mention, most people don’t need a full coaching engagement anyway. They aren’t giving multiple keynotes or preparing for a TEDx talk. They need ten minutes a day and a way to know if it’s working.
The solution came 3 months ago
So when Studio reached out back in April about building an AI-augmented coaching app for humor, I immediately said yes... after contemplating it for two weeks. My hesitation might be the same one you’re having right now.
AI, left unsupervised, is a terrible humor coach. It laughs at everything you say and praises how brilliant you are no matter what. Even my mom lets me know when something is too cheesy.
An AI that tells you every joke is a winner may make you feel better, but it doesn’t help you get better.
Two things won me over.
Studio makes the official coaching apps for people like Mark Rober and Idina Menzel (so yes, I double-checked they meant to email me).
And this wouldn’t be a chatbot with my book stapled to it. The app is trained on my material, some you’ve seen and a ton I’m custom creating for it. The eight competencies, the frameworks, the exercises, are built into a full course with honest feedback along the way.
So here’s what’s happening on July 28
On Tuesday, July 28, the app launches.
The first 10 weeks are a full structured course (a setup week, then the eight competencies one week at a time, then a debrief week) with daily exercises, plus a coach in your pocket giving you feedback the whole way.
After that, the daily practice continues, built on your results from the first ten weeks and the new material I keep adding.
And if you’re in the first group through it, you won’t go through it alone.
I’m going through it with you. Live.
We start Tuesday, August 11 and spend ten weeks working through it together, a live session every week, everything recorded as we go. That’s the founding cohort, and it happens exactly once, because you can’t re-run the first time.
Which is also why the enrollment window is real. It opens July 28 and closes Friday, August 7 at 11:59pm PT, because the cohort starts the following Tuesday and there’s no joining late.
The price is $249 a year. Join during the founding window and it’s $199.20 a year, locked in for as long as you keep it. (The twenty cents is Studio’s math, not mine, and as an engineer I respect it too much to round.)
Want in first?
I’m still putting the final touches on the content, so I’m not opening enrollment today. That happens Tuesday, July 28.
Today I’m opening the founding list.
Put your name on it and you’ll get the enrollment link the morning of the 28th, before I announce it anywhere else. No deposit, no obligation, no seventeen-part email funnel. Just the link, first.
Wit regards,
-Andrew
P.S. Not sure if this is for you? Hit reply and ask me anything about it.
P.P.S. If you were in last November’s Live Lab founding cohort, keep an eye on your inbox. I made you a promise back then, and I’m keeping it with interest.
P.P.P.S. The app has been instructed not to laugh at the ladder joke. It’s the first thing I tested.