[edw519]

Age 10, me: "I want to be a professional baseball player." Others: "Get serious, you'll never be good enough."

Age 16, me: "I want to publish comic books." Others: "Get serious, that's no way to make a living."

Age 22, me: "I want to teach math." Others: "Get serious. You'll never make much money that way."

Age 30, me: "I want to publish my own software." Others: "Get serious. No one will buy yours over some big company's."

Age 35, me: "I want do a start-up." Others: "Get serious. You're too old. You have responsibilities."

Age 40, me: "I want to be a stand-up comic." Others: "Get serious. Only the top 1% of the top 1% make any money."

Yesterday, me: "I want to sit in a cubicle all day long and maintain someone else's crappy code." Others: "Get serious. No one could possibly want that."

Today, me: "Since I spent my whole life listening to people who never mattered, now I'm going to really "get serious" and do what I want: surf Hacker News and write cool software." Others: "".

[mattmaroon]

While very few standup comics make Louis CK money (and don't forget how long it took him to get there) there are tons of working professional ones you've probably never heard of. It's very similar to music in that way. If you're willing to work hard at it you'll probably get to where you can make a decent living within a couple years, even if you never end up with your own HBO special.

[kurtvarner]

I love how he made an insightful comment, and everyone goes off on a tangent about how much money comedians make.

[mattgreenrocks]

Facts are easy to talk about.

Too easy.

[Cushman]

My understanding is that the realistic way a musician makes a living without "making it" is session recording and teaching. What's the equivalent of that for comics?

[jdietrich]

I can't speak for the US, but in the UK there's a broad spectrum of "professional standup", from people playing 10 minute slots at comedy nights for £50 a time, through people touring small theatres and arts centres with 100-200 seats, all the way up to people playing arenas and doing TV.

The general rule of thumb here is that you can make a comfortable living with ~15,000 twitter followers - just enough fans to make a tour viable.

[rquantz]

Just to add to the "working musician" profile: there are lots of opportunities for paid live performance, whether in clubs, with live orchestras or bands, or for events. Most musicians I know make most of their money with a combination of live performance and teaching, rather than with session work, which has largely dried up everywhere except LA. Even here in NYC there's very little money in recording anymore.

[ocelotpotpie]

Assuming your write your own material, the rough equivalent for a comic is getting a writing gig. TV shows, for other comedians, etc. You basically write "session" material as a comic the same way a "session" musician would be a hired gun.

[nerfhammer]

Being a writer for a TV show isn't "making it without making it", it's "making it" proper.

[ocelotpotpie]

Absolutely - I didn't intend to downplay being a TV writer.

In that vein, being a session musician is also "making it" as well. But "it" is subjective - if "it" is being on stage, you didn't "make it" in either case.

[cmaggard]

Local clubs and improv/comedy classes?

[lupatus]

Indie publishing and art classes.

Edit: Oops. Wrong "comics".

[petercooper]

I'm intrigued now. Did you give the stand up comic thing a fair shake?

[erichocean]

Sounds like you need to upgrade/replace your "Others".

[dancesdrunk]

Something I always tend to ask folks:

"Living the life you want to live or one society expects you to?"

Fortunately I was given a severe life lesson not too long ago - certainly made me more selfish but at least it taught me to do what I enjoy, and ignore the nay-sayers.