[seanalltogether]

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.

[Nrsolis]

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.