Soon after Marianne Ways arrived at her office one Monday morning this month, she called to check on sales for that night’s performance of Butterboy, the weekly showcase of stand-up comics she produces at Littlefield in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Then she started worrying.

Only 26 tickets sold. The space fits 250. “That sucks,” she said by phone, and not only for business reasons: a sparse crowd gets self-conscious and is hesitant to laugh. Ms. Ways, 37, has been putting together comedy shows long enough to know she would have to come up with a quick fix.

Part of what makes New York the greatest city in the world to see live comedy is the large number of cheap, easily accessible and impressively curated live shows outside the clubs. These were once considered alt comedy; now some (Whiplash on Monday, Sweet on Tuesday) are institutions. Their hosts may get the applause, but the far less well-known bookers are the crucial players who establish the vision and quality control. To understand the art of her job, I followed Ms. Ways for one week, keeping in touch by email and phone to see what went into putting together a lineup.

Ms. Ways is one of the most important gatekeepers in Brooklyn’s fertile stand-up scene, which is centered not in clubs, but in bars and performing spaces like Union Hall and Bell House. She first established her reputation in the borough in 2010, booking Hot Tub, which was created by the hosts Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler on Monday nights. When that popular show moved to Los Angeles, Night Train, which she created with the host Wyatt Cenac, took over the slot. As soon as it ended in November (Mr. Cenac will have a show on HBO), she started Butterboy with three new hosts, Jo Firestone, Aparna Nancherla and Maeve Higgins. All of these became popular hits, sharing the same diverse aesthetic, progressive vibe and balance of famous names and new voices.