You have to have a thick skin, yes. If you're going to do something as foolhardy as standup, you've got to be able to take it on the chin if someone has a go at you.
Interpretation
To succeed in stand-up comedy, one must be resilient to criticism and tough enough to handle challenges.
This quote by Bill Bailey emphasizes the importance of resilience in the field of stand-up comedy. It suggests that performing in front of an audience comes with risks, including potential heckling and criticism. A comedian must develop a 'thick skin' to endure negative remarks and continue thriving in such a competitive environment, highlighting the need for psychological toughness in artistic endeavors.
In practice
Use this quote during a comedy workshop to encourage new comedians.
It's a lovely moment when everyone's part of something greater than the sum of its parts. That encapsulates what a comedy gig should be, with the comic as the lightning rod, the Norse mischief god, getting the audience to do something they wouldn't necessarily do.
If you can't make fun of yourself, you don't have any right to make fun of others
If I was your wife Sir, I'd poison you! Madam, if you were my wife, I'd let you!
I thought she'd make some comment about the bloodthirsty gods chasing us, but when she finally found her voice, she said, "That boy kissed you!" Leave it to Liz to have her priorities straight.
Don't talk to me." "Why not?" "Because I want to fix that in my memory for ever. Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret.
I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it
I am so busy doing nothing... that the idea of doing anything - which as you know, always leads to something - cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.
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