When To Quit Standup.

Anyone who has done standup for any amount of time has thought about quitting. I know that I have especially in 2020 when everyone has basically been forced to take a break. I am grateful to have this time away from standup to really get an outside perspective to see if I still want to keep doing this. I am not caught up in the busy work of constantly doing shows and have the time to really think about if this is something I still need in my life.

“Don’t say maybe if you want to say no” ~Ryan Holiday.

When Standup no longer serves me.

I think that this is the number one most important reason to quit. Standup, like anything we do is a relationship. It serves a purpose and got me from one part of my life to another. Just like anything else in my life. Just like how skateboarding gave me an identity, community, and purpose when I was younger. It does not mean that it will in my thirties. Now for me I have had to adjust how I interact with skateboarding later in life, but for a time I realized that it no longer served me in the same ways. As I grow as a person I must allow the things I do in my life to grow proportionally. And for some things that means I must let them go. It's like the people who hold on to their high school glory days. We can still have that same behavior holding on to something that no longer serves me. Standup has been the keystone of my social life for the past several years. It has served me as my social hub, gathering at open mics or popular shows to trauma bond with fellow comedians. This has been a transformative experience for me. But there comes a time where this may no longer serve me for this reason.

When it’s not healthy for me.

Has this pursuit become unhealthy for me? Most of standup comedy happens around bars and drinking in some capacity. Is this a detriment to my health to be at a bar or several every night of the week? This isn’t to say that one cannot get clean, I am just saying that if it's hard and if it's destroying my life maybe I should be doing something else. If it's not healthy for any reason that I can identify maybe it’s time to stop.

When I no longer have a strong reason to do it.

I need a strong reason or higher purpose to do whatever I am doing. This is my north star guiding principle. Whenever times are tough I look to it and remind myself why I do what I do. So if that reason is no longer something I care about or I realize it is a hollow reason. I face the facts and let go. A hollow reason is usually I notice that it is a competitive reason or proving someone wrong. If the only reason I am doing something is to prove someone wrong who said I couldn’t do it. This is not a reason to continue. I am saying that if this is the only reason. It can be a part just not the whole thing. In my life my Dad will say things that undermine my abilities and I will find myself aggressively trying to prove him wrong. Now if this is something I truly care about that is one thing, but sometimes it will be something I do not care about. Then I find myself wanting something I never wanted. I am someone who is very good at organizing and making things happen so I have experienced this where I will get the thing and then realize oh, I only did this because someone said I couldn’t and I do not care about it. So I often wish that I had the forethought to not waste time on this frivolous endeavor.  

When I no longer have the time.

Pursuit in a career in standup comedy is a huge time commitment. It is about writing, performing, and promoting. I think about my time like money. It is a limited resource and I want to be sure that I am using my time for things I care about. In my 20’s I had less obligations and more time. As I get older and take on more responsibility I have less time. Something that I do is I will list my priorities. If standup falls low on my list then I might want to question whether I want to do this. Also am I making time for stand up? If I am not making time for it anymore this could be a subconscious way of saying it is no longer a priority for my time budget.  

When The fun stops.

Performing in front of people has been the biggest rush for me. Every time I get on stage it’s like jumping out of an airplane. It has gotten easier over the years but not as much as I thought it would, I still get nervous. I realized that I need some of the nervousness to get more energy to give to the audience, but that is for another article. The rush of a good or a bad set is very fun to me. But at a certain point for some when this begins to subside and it becomes more like work. I begin to question is this something that is worth my time worrying about? I believe that fun is an attitude but at a certain point is it no longer fun? If it's consistently causing me too much pain then I think, is it worth it? Is it worth the pain? For me oftentimes it’s the getting past all this and performing in spite of it that is fun. But for someone else this might not be an enjoyable experience. I need to continue to overcome fears just to feel alive, so I am not everyone.

Or do I just need a break?

I would like to say that it doesn’t have to be in such permanent terms. I think that from so much messaging that I receive is about persevering and pushing out of my comfort zone. But sometimes this can lead to burn out. As I write this, I do believe that there are reasons to quit. But more so I believe that we must adjust how we view standup comedy. Everyone who starts standup comedy is doing it as a hobby. Nobody will admit that is what they are doing, but for the first 10 years it is. For the vast majority of people pursuing this that is all it will be. For most of these it’s just about taking a step back, maybe slow down a bit. There is nothing wrong with easing back on frequency. This break from standup has really taught me the importance of it in my life. But at the same time I am grateful to have this time to pursue other things. Standup had been all consuming for so long. It's still a huge part of what I think about on a daily basis. But this break has given me time to write, time to learn to podcast and to ride a motorcycle. The thing about standup is we must also live a life to have things to talk about. This is probably one of the hardest parts of standup comedy. It's like how an athlete must work out at the gym making other muscles strong for the game they play. You can get strong by playing, but you cannot be great without cross training.

Standup comedy is one of the hardest things to do. I have to tell myself this often, but it's ok if it is just a hobby. There is nothing wrong with that. If it makes me happy and gives me purpose and community, that is ok. For me standup comedy is my church. I would love to make it my main gig at some point but for now it's just something I do with my friends. In my life I know that I am happier when I am writing and performing standup comedy. So for me this is worth it. This break from it has really shown me how much I do still need and love to have standup comedy in my life. It is still serving me. When this break is over I cannot wait to be back at it.

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Thank you for reading, You’re doing great. 

Bjorn RG.