Deon Cole gives audiences a glimpse into what it takes to create material for a comedy special — even when the jokes don't work

CHICAGO — Comedians will spend months in comedy clubs trying out new material to see what works and what flops. The good stuff stays. The rest is usually discarded and never seen by a wider audience. But what if a comedian let you see that process?

Late last fall, Deon Cole began honing material for a tour that was to begin in March. The pandemic put those plans in limbo, so he decided to sift through three months of club performances — all of it taped to be studied later — and assemble that footage into a 40-minute compilation that gives audiences a sense of how the process works, awkward moments and all.

"For every 15 jokes I write, only one works," Cole says in the non-special, called "Workin' It Out."

It's available for free on Netflix's official