FAQ & Glossary
Everything you want to know about Caligari. All the words explained. No corporate fog.
Caligari Vocabulary
Caligari uses specific terminology for parts of the app. Here is what everything means.
- Cabinet
- Your full library of all comedy material. Every bit lives in the Cabinet: searchable, version-tracked, and impossible to accidentally lose on the subway. One source of truth for everything you have ever written.
- Bit
- A single joke, premise, or piece of material. Setup, punchline, tags, alternate punchlines, version history. The bit is the atomic unit of stand-up comedy writing in Caligari. Each bit gets its own card.
- Set
- A curated arrangement of bits for a specific performance. Sets have a defined runtime and sequence. Build multiple sets for different contexts: opener slot, headliner, corporate room, festival showcase. Bit edits sync automatically to every set that contains them.
- Green Room
- The pre-show view. Review your set before going on, check notes from previous performances, see what landed last time. Make last-minute arrangement adjustments. Calm before the stage.
- Logbook
- The performance history layer. Every show gets a Logbook entry: room, date, which set you did, what worked, what fell flat. Over time, patterns emerge: which bits kill at clubs and die at corporates, which opener has never missed.
- Joke DNA
- The AI structural analysis feature included with every paid plan. Joke DNA reads your material and surfaces structural insights: setup efficiency, misdirection patterns, tag potential, premise specificity. It analyzes your writing. It does not write your jokes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Organized by topic. Scroll or use the category labels to find what you need.
Product
What is Caligari?
Caligari is joke management software for stand-up comedians. It gives you a searchable bit library called the Cabinet, a set builder with live runtime, a performance Logbook, and Joke DNA, an AI analysis tool that surfaces structural insights about your material. One place for your whole act.
How is Caligari different from Google Docs or Notes App?
Google Docs and Notes App are general-purpose capture tools. Caligari is purpose-built for stand-up comedy material. It understands bit structure, tracks versions automatically, lets you compose sets from your library with live runtime, and logs your performance history. Your jokes are not buried under grocery lists.
Why doesn't Google Docs work for organizing stand-up material?
Google Docs treats bits as text in a document, not as structured objects with history, tags, and performance data. It can't connect related bits thematically, track which version is current, or build a set with live runtime. It's a word processor, not a comedy management system.
Why is the Notes App bad for comedy writing?
The Notes App is excellent at capture. It fails at everything after: version history, semantic search, performance tracking, and set building. Everything looks identical in a Notes App. Your best bit is visually indistinguishable from your grocery list.
Why doesn't Notion work well for stand-up material?
Notion is a general workspace tool that requires building your own comedy system from scratch. You can make it work, but you are maintaining infrastructure instead of writing material. Caligari ships with the system already built: bit library, set builder, Logbook, and AI analysis all wired together.
What's the best app for stand-up comedians?
Caligari is the only app built specifically for stand-up comedian material management. It combines a searchable bit library, a set builder with live runtime calculation, a performance Logbook, and Joke DNA structural analysis. Everything a working comedian needs to track their material from first draft to retired bit.
What is joke management software?
Joke management software is a purpose-built tool for stand-up comedians to organize comedy material, build set lists, and track performance history. Unlike general note-taking apps, it understands bit structure, version history, and the full lifecycle of stand-up material from first draft to retired bit.
Pricing & Plans
Is Caligari free?
Yes. The Free plan gives you a Cabinet for up to 25 bits and one set. No credit card required. Paid plans scale with your career: Open Mic ($4/mo) adds 100 bits and Joke DNA, Working Comic ($8/mo) adds 500 bits and the full intelligence suite, Headliner ($16/mo) removes all limits.
How much does Caligari cost?
Free to start: 25 bits and one set, no credit card. Open Mic is $4/mo. Working Comic, where most working comics land, is $8/mo. Headliner is $16/mo for unlimited everything. Founding Members lock Working Comic at $72 per year for life while 500 founding slots last.
What is included in the free plan?
The free plan includes up to 25 bits in your Cabinet, one active set, and a basic Logbook. No credit card required. Joke DNA structural analysis and advanced features require a paid plan starting at Open Mic for $4 per month.
What is a Founding Member?
Founding Members lock the Working Comic plan at $72 per year for life, a permanent discount while the founding slots last. It's for comedians who want to support the product early and lock the lowest price before it scales. 500 slots, then the rate goes up.
Features
What is Caligari's Cabinet?
The Cabinet is Caligari's bit library. Every joke gets its own card with the current text, full version history, tags, runtime, status (working, ready, retired), and a performance log. Semantic search surfaces related material even when the exact words differ. It's the name is a nod to the physical filing cabinets old TV writers used.
What is Caligari's Logbook?
The Logbook records every show: venue, date, which bits you performed, and how each landed. Over time, patterns emerge: which bits work in clubs versus corporate rooms, which opener has never missed, which closer only lands on weekends. The Logbook makes those patterns visible so you can act on them.
What's the difference between a bit library and a set builder?
A bit library is where your material lives permanently. Every bit, every version, searchable by topic and status. A set builder is where you arrange existing bits into a set for a specific show. If you change a bit in the library, it updates in every set that contains it. These are different tools doing different jobs.
What does Joke DNA analyze?
Joke DNA analyzes the structural properties of your comedy writing: setup-punchline construction, premise specificity, tag potential, misdirection patterns, and callback opportunities. It evaluates the text of your bit, not your delivery. The output is structural insight about what you have already written.
Does Joke DNA write jokes for me?
No. Joke DNA reads and analyzes your existing material. It does not generate new jokes, rewrite your bits, or suggest new premises. The material is yours. Joke DNA gives you structural clarity on what you have already written so you understand why it works or where it stalls.
Which Caligari plan includes Joke DNA?
Joke DNA is available on Open Mic ($4/mo) and above. The Free plan does not include AI structural analysis. Open Mic is the entry point for Joke DNA, giving you 100 bits plus analysis on all of them.
How do I use Joke DNA to improve my material?
The most effective use is studying what's working, not just diagnosing what isn't. When a bit consistently kills, run Joke DNA to reverse-engineer why. Look for tight misdirection, lean setup, hidden callbacks. Once you can see what you did right, you can do it on purpose.
What does a dedicated comedy app do differently?
A dedicated comedy app like Caligari gives each bit its own card with version history, lets you search semantically, builds sets from your library with live runtime, and tracks every performance in a Logbook. The difference is between a general tool you adapt and a system already built for how stand-up comedy material actually works.
Getting Started
Can I import material I already have written?
Yes. You can paste material directly into a new bit card, or use the import feature to bring in larger blocks of text. Caligari will help you split and tag your material as you go. Ten years of scattered Google Docs becomes one searchable library.
Can I use Apple Notes for comedy writing?
Apple Notes works for capture. It fails at organization, version history, set building, and performance tracking. If your comedy writing lives in Notes, you have capture without a system. The material is there, but you cannot search it by topic, track which version is current, or build a set from it.
Is a Google Doc good for organizing comedy material?
A Google Doc is a fine place to dump material. It is not a comedy organization system. It has no bit-level version history, no performance tracking, no set builder with live runtime, no semantic search across topics. It is a document, not a library.
Can I use Caligari on mobile?
Caligari is a web app that works on any device with a browser, including phones and tablets. A dedicated native mobile app is on the roadmap. Join the waitlist to get notified when it launches.
How do I track which comedy material is new versus tested?
In Caligari, each bit has a status: working, ready, or retired. Tag new material as working when you are still developing it, ready when it has been proven in rooms, and retired when it is done. The Logbook records every performance so you always know how many times a bit has been tested and where.
How do professional comedians organize their jokes?
Working comedians use a three-layer system: a bit library where every joke lives with its full version history, a set builder that composes sets from that library with live runtime, and a performance log that tracks what landed after every show. None of these layers can be replaced by the others.
Privacy & Trust
Is my material private?
Absolutely. Your material is visible only to you. Caligari does not share, publish, or use your jokes for any purpose other than powering your account. Your bits are your intellectual property. Joke DNA analysis runs on your material without training on it or sharing it.
What is the best way to organize stand-up comedy material?
The most effective system has three layers: a bit library with every joke in one searchable place with version history and tags, a set builder to compose sets from your library with live runtime, and a performance log to track what worked and where. The single most important rule is one source of truth. No more wondering which Google Doc is current.
Comedy Craft
How do I start writing stand-up comedy?
Start with observations, not jokes. Find something that actually bothers, confuses, or genuinely delights you. Write toward the specific: not dogs, but your neighbor's dog who stares at you like it knows something. Each observation becomes a premise. Each premise becomes a bit. Capture everything. Organize it so you can find it.
Why do comedians lose their best material?
Comedians lose material because capture and storage are treated as the same thing. You capture in Notes, voice memos, texts to yourself, and you never move it anywhere. Three months later the idea is buried under 400 other captures. The fix is a system with a real home for each bit.
How do you build a comedy hour?
A comedy hour is built from tested material, not written from scratch. You build a tight five, then a ten, then a twenty, then a forty-five, then an hour. Each stage requires retiring weaker material and deepening what works. A bit library and performance Logbook are how you track which material has earned its place.
How do you protect your comedy material from being stolen?
The most practical protection is documented version history. Caligari timestamps every edit and records every performance with the material as it existed that night. If you need to prove originality, you have a timestamped edit trail and a performance log. That is more defensible than anything in a Notes App.
How do I find my comedic voice?
Comedic voice comes from writing from a position, not from a topic. Not 'airplanes' but 'airplanes from the perspective of someone who resents the entire social contract of air travel.' The more specific and honest the position, the more it sounds like a person. That's voice.