Stand-Up Comedy Myths Comedians Love to Hate

The Holy Grail of Bad Advice

Every art form has its sacred cows, those golden nuggets of wisdom passed down from the comedy gods themselves. Except sometimes those nuggets are actually just... well, let's call them what they are: comedic fertilizer.

A refreshingly honest Redditor going by u/Squary_Bum recently stirred up a hornet's nest on r/Comedy with a simple confession: "I've had several experiences lately of realizing acorns I took as fact from more experienced comics early on were kinda maybe bullshit." Either that, or these pearls of wisdom "were true once but aren't anymore" — kind of like how we all pretended flip phones were cool in 2005.

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Intrigued by the potential to expose comedy's biggest lies, u/Squary_Bum_ posed a juicy question to fellow comics: "What ideas have you heard confidently repeated in comedy that don't square with your experiences?"

The floodgates opened. Here are the myths that got comedians' collective underwear in a twist, though fair warning: some die-hards still worship these golden calves like they're the Ten Commandments of Comedy.

Myth #1: The Decade of Doom (Or, "You Must Suffer to Be Funny")

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The Myth You need to grind it out for a solid 10 years, hitting 3-4 open mics every single night, seven days a week, basically giving up your entire twenties and any semblance of a normal life before you're allowed to call yourself a "real" comedian. No pain, no punchlines, baby.

The Reality Check Comedian u/John_Diaz_1847 called BS on this workaholic nonsense: "It's just not true that you need to be hitting 3-4 mics every night, 7 days a week. At some point you have to go out and actually live life to mine material. Take a breather sometimes."

Turns out, if you spend every waking moment in dingy comedy club basements, you'll have plenty of material about... dingy comedy club basements. Riveting stuff.

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The infamous "10-year rule" particularly rankles u/Hover-Becker_12, who pointed out: "Pretending you need a brain surgeon's education worth of time to get to that level is, in my opinion, absolute bullshit." And they're onto something. The 10,000-hour rule (roughly 10 years if you're doing comedy full-time) has been thoroughly debunked by actual scientists who study this stuff. Research shows some people need 22 times more practice than others to reach the same skill level, which means that rigid time requirements are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

Of course, not everyone's ready to torch this sacred cow. User u/Stand_up_nights offers a more measured take: "Everyone should still go in expecting a 10 year buy-in. If shit pops off sooner, that's a bonus." In other words, hope for the best but prepare to eat ramen for a decade. Fair enough.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the mushy middle: Yes, you need to put in serious work. No, there's no magic number of years that automatically transforms you from open-micer to comedy genius. Some people are naturally funny and figure it out faster. Others need more time. It's almost like different humans are... different. Revolutionary concept, right?

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Myth #2: Social Media Will Burn Your Material Faster Than a Cheech & Chong Convention

The Myth If you post your jokes online, you're basically committing comedy suicide. Save it for the stage! Guard your material like it's the nuclear codes! Every clip you post is one less laugh you'll get at your live show!

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In 2025, with everyone from Ari Shaffir to Melissa Villaseñor dropping specials online, the landscape has completely changed. Social media isn't the enemy — it's literally how most comedians build their audiences these days. Sure, your aunt might have seen your viral TikTok about terrible dates, but guess what? She's probably not coming to your 11 PM Thursday spot at the Chuckle Hut anyway.

The contrarian view comes from u/Dolly_Snowflake_48, who makes a decent point about the difference between jokes and songs: "Jokes aren't like songs. Songs hit emotions a joke cannot. The average person can listen to a song on repeat or at least have a favorite song for months at a time. You can hear a good joke once, a great joke a few times, and an incredible joke people wouldn't mind coming back to every once in a while. Unless you don't plan on headlining ever with that material then do not post it."

It's a fair argument. Nobody's going to watch your five-minute crowd work video on repeat like it's Taylor Swift's latest heartbreak anthem. But here's the thing: most people have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to specific jokes. Unless you've got a bit that went mega-viral, chances are slim that your audience pre-memorized your set.

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The smart play? Post your B-material and crowd work to build a following, save your absolute killers for the special. Or don't. Jerry Seinfeld built an empire on material everyone knew was coming, and people still packed theaters to hear him talk about nothing.

Myth #3: All Comedians Are Basically One Bad Day Away From a Breakdown

The Myth Every comedian is clinically depressed, anxiously spiraling, or otherwise mentally unwell. It's basically a job requirement. You can't be funny unless you're fundamentally broken inside. Welcome to the sadness club; here's your membership card and antidepressants.

The Reality Check User u/iam_beaver35 drops some refreshingly sane perspective: "Honestly the level of mental illness is probably the same as regular population. Only difference is comics talk about it in public."

Mic drop. The difference isn't that comedians are all tortured souls — it's that comedians will literally get on stage and talk about their therapy sessions, anxiety disorders, and that time they cried in a Wendy's parking lot. For 45 minutes. While you paid to watch.

Regular people deal with the same stuff; they just don't workshop their trauma in front of strangers for $50 and drink tickets.

That said, OP u/Squary_Bum wasn't entirely convinced: "I'm guilty of generalizing about most to literally all comedians being neuro-divergent in some way, which is obviously tied up in a lot of big cultural shifts around awareness/delineation of those brain differences. I know I can't SAY it's true, but damn if it doesn't feel true."

And honestly? When you're in the comedy scene, surrounded by people who chose a career path with no stability, terrible pay, and constant rejection, it does feel like everyone's wired a little differently. But correlation isn't causation. Maybe comedy attracts neuro-divergent folks, or maybe any creative field that requires you to be vulnerable in front of drunk strangers naturally appeals to people who think differently. Either way, the "you must be depressed to be funny" thing is reductive nonsense that needs to die.

Myth #4: The Woke Mind Virus Killed Comedy (Spoiler: It Didn't)

The Myth You can't say anything anymore! The woke police are ruining comedy! Everyone's too sensitive! Back in my day, we could make jokes about [insert offensive stereotype here] and nobody complained!

The Reality Check This one got zero defenders on r/Comedy, which should tell you something. User u/Leeder-Snowflakes has reached their breaking point with "comedian podcasts that constantly complain about the woke agenda ruining comedy and IT IS SO TEDIOUS."

Louder for the podcasters in the back: IT. IS. SO. TEDIOUS.

Even comedy legends aren't immune to this lazy excuse. Redditor u/Lil_bitty_brown perfectly skewered Jerry Seinfeld's complaints: "Jerry Seinfeld complaining about not being able to do material at colleges because of snowflakes, when he is the most Elks Lodge mainstream comic of his generation, has always been a trip."

Oof. But also... accurate? Seinfeld literally made a career out of the most inoffensive observational humor imaginable. The man built an empire on "What's the deal with airplane food?" If HE can't play colleges, maybe the problem isn't the audience being too sensitive — maybe it's that his material is older than most college students.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: Comedy hasn't been ruined by people being "too woke." Comedy evolves. What killed in 1995 might not land in 2025, and that's okay. Good comedians adapt. Great comedians find ways to be edgy and smart without punching down. And mediocre comedians blame their flop sets on "cancel culture" instead of admitting their jokes need work.

Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, and countless others prove you can still push boundaries and be successful. The difference? They're actually clever about it instead of just being lazy and offensive.

The Bonus Myth: Comedy Is Your Only Job

Let's add one more myth to the pile, because why not? There's this romantic notion that "real" comedians only do comedy, living that pure artist life, surviving on stage time and the admiration of drunk crowds.

The reality? Almost every comedian has a side hustle (or three). They're driving for Uber, substitute teaching, doing voiceover work, bartending, or selling their plasma — whatever it takes to fund the dream. Even successful comedians often have other revenue streams beyond stand-up. That's not failure; that's survival. And honestly, it's more material for the act.

So What's the Real Truth?

The actual truth about stand-up comedy is disappointingly simple: There are no universal rules. Some people get good fast, others take longer. Some bomb because their material sucks, others because the audience is terrible. Some comedians are depressed, some are the happiest people you'll ever meet. Social media helps some careers and hurts others.

The only real rule? You have to be funny. Everything else is negotiable.

But that doesn't make for catchy advice, so instead we get these myths repeated ad nauseam by comedy gurus who probably peaked at hosting open mics in 2003. The best thing any new comedian can do is take all advice — including this article — with a massive grain of salt, trust their own instincts, and focus on the one thing that actually matters: writing jokes that make people laugh.

Everything else is just comedians arguing on Reddit about who has the right answer to an art form that has no right answers. Which, come to think of it, might be the most comedy thing of all.