If you’re looking to transform your passion for comedy into something more, a single piece of advice will pop up time and time again: you better hustle for it.
From Jim Gaffigan to Dane Cook, the advice is that you have to work at comedy feverishly to become a successful comedian. Professional talent scouts Sarah Klegman and Jeff Singer had this to say about a novice trying to make it pro:
If [he] is serious about comedy, he has to get to work. He needs to get on stage four times a week, minimum. If he keeps at it, maybe he’ll be worth [our] time—five to eight years down the road.
This is the grueling mindset that underlies a lot of the comedy world—and, if we’re being honest, most of the professional world, as well. Success comes from doing gig after gig, open mic after open mic, until your exhausted self develops the comedic chops to make it in the big leagues. Put in your 10,000 Gladwellian hours, and you are on your way to that awesome Netflix Special.
This narrative makes intuitive sense to many of us. If you work really hard, then that work ethic should translate to success.
Unfortunately, it’s utter nonsense.
Why hustle has nothing to do with being a successful comedian
Even a cursory look at the world around us demonstrates that plenty of unfunny people achieve success as comedians, and millions of very funny, hard-working people go nowhere.
To illustrate this point, let’s take a look at the career trajectory of two vastly different comics.
The unfortunately successful Jon Paul Piques
Jon Paul Piques is a Canadian actor who was initially popular on Vine before transitioning to Instagram.
Piques is, how do I put this nicely…? A tool. He literally has a video where he compares his fictional girlfriend to a dog, and then makes her fetch a ball. His videos aren’t overly sophisticated or complex. In fact, many of them are downright demeaning. Still, he has millions upon millions of followers and views. He has been a featured in SXSW and will be starring in an upcoming series with The Simpsons director David Silverman.
The unfortunately unsuccessful Megan MacKay
Another Canadian actor, Megan MacKay’s career, despite her consistent hard work, is going nowhere.
Megan enjoyed brief viral success after posting a Ray Rice Inspired Makeup Tutorial but hasn’t been able to capture that fire again. She’s really talented and seems to put a lot of time into her videos, but that grind hasn’t translated into success.
Why did Piques succeed and Mackay fail?
There were a lot of factors at play:
- Piques entered the Vine scene early, while Mackay began YouTube when the market had started to become saturated.
- Piques markets in misogynistic humor that, sadly, has a larger audience, while Mackay trafficks in smarter, more intersectional humor, which has an admittedly smaller base.
Again, there were a lot of reasons, but ultimately, hard work wasn’t one of them. Both of these comedians worked really hard at their craft.
The tale of Piques and Mackay isn’t just about two people, but rather of the countless comedians and actors in a similar position. There are thousands of Piques gallivanting around the world without any real comprehension of why they are successful and millions of Mackay’s doubling down on hard work because they think that will push them over the hump to fame.
Your hustle could actually hurt your chances
The cold, bitter truth, though, is that hard work simply isn’t enough to become a successful comedian. You can be smart, witty, talented, and still not earn the wealth and notoriety you think you deserve. There are a lot of factors that lead to success that are not in your control—connections, gaps in the market, gender, etc.
It doesn’t really make sense to kill yourself every night for a future that might not happen.
We know now (thanks to science!) that consistently pushing your body to its limit has some pretty dire consequences. Poor sleep habits, which comedians that grind every night often have, can lead to irritability, a diminished immune system, and decreased concentration in the short term.
How are you going to tell jokes if your brain is foggier than a horror movie? There might be a reason you’re fucking up those punch lines.
The more you neglect your body, the worse these effects will become over time. In the long term, a lack of sleep can contribute to a host of ailments ranging from diabetes to heart disease. The same for poor dietary habits: not eating properly can lead to issues such as tooth decay, diabetes, and even some types of cancer.
Your hustle isn’t worth it
Your hustle—the thing you do largely for free—should not come at the expense of your health. Don’t mortgage your health for the chance to maybe one day be a “successful” comedian. Most real comedians, the ones that last, don’t hustle. They figure out how to do comedy sustainably.
In the words of the fabulous Amy Poehler:
If the goal is doing good stuff and working with your friends… if you’re doing that then you’re succeeding. If the goal is to be famous and make money—then you’re in real trouble.
For you, maybe that stuff really is doing six open mics a week. But other people—those suffering from either illness or children, for example—might have less free time. And that’s okay.
It’s not important that you kill yourself doing comedy. It’s vital that you do it consistently with a schedule that works for you. That advice might not be sexy or fit neatly on a poster, but it will keep you going far longer than the phantom of success.
