"The money stinks as a comic"
A classic case of oversupply perhaps. Far too people quitting their day jobs to do stand-up full-time because someone in the office laughed at their jokes.
Everyone learns to perfect their craft through constant failure. Musicians/artists have the luxury of failing over and over while in the isolation of their bedroom. Comics have no choice but to fail repeatedly in front of a live audience, and nobody wants to pay you while you're learning to fail.
The common wisdom for comics learning is that your first 100 sets don't count. You basically count as a win any time you are able to stay onstage for the required amount of time.
To paraphrase: your first 100 jumps off the board count if you hit water.
I don't think its a question of oversupply. Getting up on stage is a terrifying experience for most people.
I think the biggest factor is the mechanics of the showbusiness industry. The top people earn most (90%) of the potential revenue. The rest get the remainder.
Disagree completely -- the world has plenty of office workers scared to try something so bold, we need better filtering tools and more people trying rather than believing that the current system works to capture, foster, and utilize talent properly.
I think we do way too much stifling as a society as it is, and a lot of that has to do with people who gave up on their dreams for a safe existence justifying their decision by ridiculing others who dare to take risks.