Attendees of the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco love being the butt of the joke. Last year, Seth Myers entertained them during a 40-minute set that poked fun at the tech industry’s liberal use of self-affirmations.

John Mulaney’s one-night-only set on Thursday at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre represented the rare chance for his Bay Area audience to get a peek at the comedian’s process. Mulaney isn’t currently on tour and was only in town for the Dreamforce set — more on that later — so he was able to use the evening to workshop new material.