What is stand-up comedy, really, but a funny presentation? In the same way that you or I might get nervous getting ready for a big speech at work, stand-ups have to get into the right state of mind before they tape a special. Even a regular set at a club takes some pretty meticulous crafting. It's hard work to seem off-the-cuff. 

While the best comedians seem like they're coming up with new material in a stream-of-conscious flowstate onstage, the truth is that they're much better served writing the jokes down and practicing over and over again. While in front of an audience, new transitions might arise, making the gaps between bits seem smoother and more natural. The rote memorization is tricky, as well. No comedian wants to be stuck onstage, treading water, asking, "So, what else do we want to talk about?"

Ray Romano is one of the all-timers. He never stopped performing stand-up, but he was definitely sidetracked by the success of Everybody Loves Raymond. When he arranged to film his first special in 23 years, Romano had to shake off the years to get back in the saddle. He spoke with Vanity Fair about how he prepped for the shoot.

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"I’ll say the routine out loud to make sure that I remember it," Romano revealed. "Naturally, the rhythm will come back. I have to do a speed-through, to make sure I remember everything. I’m usually alone when I do that, but if my friends are around, I do bother them to quiz me with the bullet notes of the set. When I’m doing a long set, I have to keep it in order. If I jump around, then I forget things."

Here's what might have helped matters in that particular special: Nobody purchased a ticket ahead of time to see Romano, specifically. In an innovative move, Romano arranged to film "pop-in" sets, rather than ticketed Ray Romano shows. 

"The audience, 100 percent, did not know I was going on. We set a time for me to come in, so it wasn’t like I just walked in off the street, into the Comedy Cellar. We had cameras set up and everything, but the audience was told that the Cellar was just filming a promo, and we used that same line for both clubs. For the first show, we knew I was going to go on after the third comedian, so I knew what time I had to be there. I like that energy, and that’s what I do when I go into the city. I just pop in, and the energy from those moments is something that I wanted to try and get on camera."