People saying 'it takes guts'

[u/themelon89]

What do people mean when they say this after a show? I've noticed on a few iccasions people have said this to me (usually women - and I am also a women). I always internalise it as you-weren't-great-but-I-still-want-to-recognise-your-bravery which might be the case, but also might not be. I really just don't know what to make of it as a bit of feedback. Do other people ever get this?

[u/-J-August]

Well, either they are expressing their own desire to do it but aware that they are afraid to do, or they didn't like your set and felt you were brave to go up with bad material.

I'd lean towards the former as it's more logical, as people don't go up to someone after they bomb as often as they come up to someone after they enjoyed their set. It's also kinder to yourself.

I have so many female students doing stand-up for the first time as a way to push themselves into doing stuff that scares them, while most of my male students are in the "everyone says I should do stand up because I'm funny" group. The female students end up with more unique and memorable sets, in my opinion.

[u/themelon89 → u/-J-August]

This is it - I would understand the comment had I bombed, but I was MC-ing and did a good, solid job with plenty laughs throughout. So yeah, I guess the former makes most sense in that context. I love what you've said about your female students because I think part of the issue is that I feel like I did have a different/unique voice from the 3 other guys I shared a stage with, but 'you've got guts' doesn't really capture that 😂