Facebook Memories today tells me it’s three years since that first time I first pushed down my fear and climbed on stage to see how I’d go at stand up comedy. I’m glad to say it went pretty well, or the last three years would have been very different for me.

Three years goes fast. I didn’t think I’d still be doing it now. I started doing comedy in my fifties so I didn’t expect a career.

It takes a long time to become good as a comic. I’ve heard them say at least ten years, and about 20 to make a living with it. I’m not sure how true that is, and I’m skeptical about the suggestion the 10+ year comics I hear are all better than me, but there’s definitely something to it.

I remember thinking “But Taylor Tomlinson is young and amazing, better than most comedians out there.” And it’s true (check her out if you already haven’t) but then I remember that she started at the age of 16 as a Christian comic doing Church events. I thought about Bo Burnham, who’s another brilliant comic of the same age, but he also started at 16.

The tricky thing about comedy is you don’t get experience at home. A musician can wait until they’re excellent before performing in public, but the comic has to do all their learning and growing in front of everyone. It can embarrassing and excruciating.

I’d be genuinely interested in some statistics about how many people do stand up comedy a second time. I’ll bet it’s much lower than the number of people who try it once. I suspect that the percentage of comics who actually stick it out for three years is very low. A few people told me they did it for months before a negative experience discouraged them from trying again.

I totally understand that. There’s challenges and obstacles in the first few years that will make you feel horrible. Comedy is brutal sometimes, an attack on your self esteem and mental health. I think anyone who sticks it out for longer than a year is stronger and more emotionally resilient than most people. The night I started, three years ago, I was one of six first timers. Most were never seen again, and only Patrick Houghton and I are still doing it today.

One of the things I do enjoy about comedy is levelling up. It’s not like Dungeons & Dragons where a Dungeon Master tells you that you now have increased toughness and more magic spells, but there’s definitely milestones where you feel like you’ve achieved another plateau of accomplishment and you definitely have more skills than before.

It’s a mixed feeling, because you’re suddenly disgusted by all of your earlier material and efforts, and you cringe thinking about everything you’ve done leading up to this point. But it also comes with a feeling of mastery and accomplishment, and a confidence that you know you’ve earned. Purely in terms of self-development, I’d do it all again just for the contribution that factor makes.

Yes, I enjoy knowing I’ve racked up three years of experience as a comedian. It’s still an extremely long journey but I feel great about it. Doing more comedy amplifies my appreciation of comedy, so it’s a relationship that gets deeper and more fulfilling.

Yes, there’s been moments of anxiety, anguish and agony. But I’ve made excellent friends, met some of my heroes, felt my soul lift from enthusiastic applause, been complimented by strangers after shows and recognized in the street. I’ve earned respect from my peers, won competitions, written material I’m proud of, worked through issues that were troubling me, exorcised many of my inner demons and (of course) had lots of laughs along the way.

Three years feels pretty good. I’m happy with my progress so far, really glad to be still in the game and looking forward to many more years of developing in comedy. I’m on tonight at the Commonwealth Hotel, so you can see how far I’ve come. Here’s the details about tonight’s show.