diff --git a/scripts/deploy b/scripts/deploy
index c3379439..c51d9c78 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy
+++ b/scripts/deploy
@@ -114,22 +114,28 @@ deployOneHost() {
 parseArgs "$@"
 
 failedDeploys=()
-if [ "$host" = "all" ]; then
-  for host in moby lappy crappy servo desko; do
-    if [ "$variant" = "all" ]; then
-      for variant in -min -light ""; do
-        deployOneHost "$host" "$variant" || \
-          failedDeploys+=("$host$variant")
-      done
-    else
-      deployOneHost "$host" "$variant" || \
-        failedDeploys+=("$host$variant")
-    fi
-  done
-else
-  deployOneHost "$host" "$variant" || \
-    failedDeploys+=("$host$variant")
-fi
+# deployHelper is like `deployOneHost`,
+# but it handles the special cases of `host=all` or `variant=all`,
+# and aggregates failed deployments into the `failedDeploys` var.
+deployHelper() {
+  local host="$1"
+  local variant="$2"
+
+  if [ "$host" = "all" ]; then
+    for host in moby lappy crappy servo desko; do
+      deployHelper "$host" "$variant"
+    done
+  elif [ "$variant" = "all" ]; then
+    for variant in -min -light ""; do
+      deployHelper "$host" "$variant"
+    done
+  else
+    deployOneHost "$host" "$variant" || \
+      failedDeploys+=("$host$variant")
+  fi
+}
+
+deployHelper "$host" "$variant"
 
 if [ "${#failedDeploys[@]}" -ne 0 ]; then
   echo "FAILED DEPLOYMENT:"