Why are you doing stand-up?

[Phil]

C'mon, everyone write a few lines...

[Phil]

I'll start: I dunno.

I have no desire to make money off of this. I have no desire to make a career out of this. I have a nice career already and I think if I ever say to myself, "I want to do comedy for a living" ...it will suddenly become "work" and not "fun" and they'll be pressures and anxiety and stress...

I'm turning 30 this year and my girl and I don't want kids so I need to fill the void with something creative. By 40 I want to have accomplished something great, I want to do something I, 1) Love and 2) Am good at.

My favorite part about comedy so far is writing new material. It fits well into my existing busy schedule cause I just go about my day and jot down my stupid thoughts.

But honestly I really can't honestly pinpoint why I'm doing this...

[ASR]

For me...

Most of my life, comedy has been important to me. Earlier on it was comics, cartoons and movies, and later on it was actual stand-up.

When I was 17, two years ago, I got it into my head that I'd really like to try stand-up, and started writing jokes on my computer. I didn't take it very seriously, but the idea was planted.

Almost two years later, right before second semester of my freshman year at college, I found out about a stand-up comedy club on campus. I joined instantly and started going to meetings. At our second meeting, we went to an open mic in town and I went on stage for the first time. I knew right then and there that I wanted to keep doing this.

I'm young (just turned 19) and allowed to be delusional, so right now I'm convinced that I'm going to make some sort of career out of this, but I also like writing and filming things, and thankfully that goes hand-in-hand with comedy in some ways so it's a realistic path to take.

I've been on stage about 15 times now, and I have videos for most of them. Watching myself, I've improved DRASTICALLY yet I still consider myself terrible, and that's true, but I'm serious about this and want to continue for a long time to come.

In short, I do it because I love comedy, and being funny is just naturally a part of who I am. Everything is a joke to me, even the stuff that I shouldn't be laughing at. It just makes sense.

[Phil]

I'm afraid that if I ever wanted a career in comedy, I'd have to quit my job and turn into a bum...then I'd lose all my great ideas cause I'd have nothing to inspire me and write about except being a bum.

[ASR]

You don't think being a bum and having bum adventures and meeting bum friends would inspire you?

Have you never met a crazy bum? If you can channel that crazy thought process inherent to bums into stand-up comedy... insta-star!

[KevinLee]

I want to do mountains of cocaine with Quentin Tarantino.

[CaptainBreakfast]

'Cuz it's fun.

[Señor Colostimizer]

Avenge brother's death.

[punkdc]

It was something new to do when I got to college. Not much of a scene here in Iowa so the comics here really love it and just a good group of people to hang out with. I really like just going on stage and entertaining my friends.

It's also a good way to put some of my nervous energy into something. Being on stage is a great stress reviler to me.

[Morgan Evans]

I have this strong feeling that I might be funny, but I won't know it unless I can make a large amount of people laugh. I guess that's my primary reason, I get off on entertaining.

[John Santana]

Why am I doing Stand-Up? Sometimes I ask myself the same question. I do it for a number of reasons.
-It's a great test to see if others find me to be funny.
-I get to test material that I have written.
-I enjoy being a clown and I'm a child at heart.
-I like to perform and act.
-I've got a healthy ego and I can really come out of my shell on stage.
-I feel free and in control when I can get on stage and do/say almost anything.
-It's a great sense of accomplishment to improve onstage and be recognised.
-I do voice impressions, so Stand-Up is an avenue to share my impressions with others.

[cherrylime77]

I want to make fun of ideas that I hate. And I mean hate.

I hate controlling people, people who infer higher status, most people who went through the IVY league, Rich White Kids, Hipsters who are republicans, Hipsters who hate to read, a skinny tall girl named Maya who once asked me, "WHOM do you read?" without kidding, extroverts, women who hate other women who invariably refer to an abstract "Girl power" mantra all the while doing everything in their power to destroy/alienate/undermine women around them, and anyone who refers to themselves in the third person.

PS. If you are a woman who hate other women, I'm after you bitches.

[st.raw]

I hate real jobs and getting up early.

[Cameron]

I just really like potato skins and overpriced drinks.

[pixel revolt]

Is it wrong to ask this question out loud while the performer is on stage?

[MJEH]

TOP TEN REASONS

10. Ego sustenance

9. "Smart-Ass" roots

8. "Class Clownism"

7. Life revolt

6. My Princeton application was rejected

5. Inability to sing like Susan Boyle

4. Not as hot as Zac Efron

3. Only 12,844 Twitter account followers

2. Rejected by my third cousin when I was six

1. Got fired from Domino's for putting boogers in the food

[thecomedian]

I'm more of an improv/sketch comedian since I find it easier to work off of someone else but I've been doing open mikes for over a year and a half now just to keep my creative juices flowing until I make my way through the Second City or IO program.

[souporman]

i do (when I have time) open micz because i've always feared public speaking and cared what people think of me. Standup has allowed me to break free from these chains of oppression while setting me on the road to nihilist enlightenment

[drieux]

After being treated horribly by a lovely corporation I found myself with a decent severance package and time on my hands, so I finally decided to get onstage and give it a shot when I was 27. I'd been thinking about doing it for years - I've always enjoyed performing in general and always liked writing funny things and trying to make people laugh. I think the first time I ever considered it I was about 20.

I got about two months of just hitting every open mic I could before I was offered another job somewhere else, but I had the bug and I've been doing it ever since - coming up on three years. I really, really wish I had just started earlier instead of dragging my feet about it.

I also enjoy excuses to drink, but for some reason I'm much more sober and responsible these days because of the standup.

[JayP7]

It's a different experience from sketch and improv, and specifically I can get ideas across that I can't with sketch.

And unlike a lot of things (though after reading Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" probably not as many things as we'd like to admit) It really seems like a simple matter of putting the time in and getting in the reps to get good. And after seeing Louis CK put on an UNBELIEVABLE show a few months ago, I realized it was something I could honestly put decades into, even if it garnered me no money, for a chance to be THAT good.