12 Traits of Successful Comedians, Pt. 1
Do You Have Them? (Comedy Mindhacks #69)
About a year ago, over on LinkedIn, a content creator named Lukas Stangl created a post identifying “12 Traits of High-Performers.” Rereading them again now, I’m really struck by how well they map onto all areas of life, including stand-up comedy. As a comedian, comedy teacher, and comedy content creator myself, I’ve come to realize that stand-up comedy is a field where many expect to make it over night but often lack the discipline to make it at all. Fundamentally, I agree with the 12 traits Stangl lists and, as I launch into the New Year, I decided I’d write a couple posts reflecting on these points. These are mainly reminders to myself, but can also serve as reminders to anyone else who might be reading. So, here are the first 6 traits, which make up Part 1 of this post.
Emotional Intelligence: This matters on many fronts: reading a room, regulating your anxiety and adrenaline before going on stage, writing jokes for specific events, dealing with bombing, handling criticism, and so on. I’ve had at least half-a-dozen people in the last year alone get mad at me and guess what their first insult was? “You’re not funny!” That thought these words would cut to my core and harm me. But they didn’t. Why, because I have the emotional intelligence to know better and to remind myself: I’m not doing comedy for anyone else. I’m doing it for me. I don’t tell jokes I think others will like. I tell jokes I like. And if others laugh and enjoy themselves along the way, great. Comedians who can’t do these sorts of things, who don’t have emotional intelligence, won’t and don’t last long, or even worse, they last long and become unbearable.
Continuous Learning: I’m a comedian, yes, but even more than that, I’m a student of comedy. That’s what I am first. And that’s how I’ll always view myself. First and foremost, I’m a student of comedy. I’m always reading, writing, learning, and practicing. In the past year alone, I wrote 325 blog posts for a total of 212,279 words. I also posted 81 podcast episodes (around 100 hours of video content!) and enrolled 50 students in my online joke writing course. I created a “comedy club” and meet for 14-15 weeks with college students creating videos last semester. Creating content is a form of teaching but, of course, it’s more about learning than anything. Thus, I think this second trait goes an incredibly long way and is probably the most important. Many comedians think they know it all, that there is, in fact, little to master. They think you just get on stage and go. But that’s foolish. Learning how to write jokes, tailor/customize jokes, do shows in vastly different rooms or locations, deal with hecklers, fine-tune, edit, polish, etc. is all required. Continuously learning like this shows up, too, every time a joke dies and you have to ask yourself why instead of blaming the crowd. Stand-up is a feedback machine, but only if you’re humble enough to listen.
Consistency: This is, in many ways, the unsexy backbone of comedy. The comedians who improve aren’t always the funniest; they’re the ones who keep honing their craft when no one’s watching, doing gigs or mics they’d rather not be at, and dealing with audiences that consist only of other comedians who are checking their phones. Consistency is writing when you don’t want to, networking when you don’t feel like it, creating posts on 5-10 different social media platforms when you feel burnt out, driving to gigs and spending money when it’s a loss, and so on. Consistency is key. Behind every successful comedian sits this trait.
Being Goal-Oriented: This trait keeps you from confusing activity with progress. For instance, writing jokes is not the same as writing good jokes. Doing sets is not the same as getting better. Clear goals are super important and separate momentum from motion. My main goals for 2025 were 1) To increase my social media presence; and, 2) Perform more. I did both. I have a four goals for 2026 and, while I don’t know if I should even share them, oh well!, here they are: 1) Perform on the Nateland show; 2) Try to get my foot in the door at DryBar; 3) Continue growing my social media presence; 4) Teach more comedy; and, 5) Perform at more festivals than I did in 2025 (even if it’s only 1 more).
Strong Work Ethic: This is one of the three things my wife and I harp on with our kids in life. In addition to “Respect” and “Anger Management,” we focus on “Work Ethic.” (R.A.W. is the acronym.) In stand-up comedy, this means doing lots of work that will never be seen. Writing, editing, and cutting jokes you love. Listening to/watching back performances of yourself and critiquing them. Reading books. Watching videos. Creating and editing videos. Figuring out how to word social media posts. Taking classes. Driving for hours. Networking with others. Sending tons of emails. Registering for festivals. Sitting and waiting for your turn at mics. The list goes on. There’s no applause for any of these things. There are no laughs. It’s the grind and it can be daunting at times. But having a strong work ethic will push you through.
Positive Mindset: Having this mentality doesn’t mean pretending bombing is fun. It’s not toxic positivity I’m talking about. Having a positive mindset means not letting one bad set rewrite the story of who you are. It means not letting rejections from bookers or festivals or the good-ol’ boys club define you or your path. It means seeing failure as opportunity. It means doing comedy for you and keeping that front and center. It means staying upbeat about yourself and your content even when others might get down on it. This sort of positivity breeds resilience and, in comedy, that looks a lot like the ability to eat embarrassment for dinner and still show up hungry the next night. It’s difficult to describe just how important that is.
Alright, those are my first 6 reflections. I think that’s a pretty good start for 2026! But let me just say this: none of this is really glamorous. None of it! None of it feels artistic. Little of it is seen. And not much of it matches up with what most people think of when they see a successful stand-up comedian. But it’s all important. And stand-up comedy, like most meaningful work, rewards people who are willing to master all these seemingly boring parts and stick with them longer than everyone else. I don’t know about you but, for me, that’s a killer mindhack as I head into 2026. Stay tuned, Pt. 2 will be live tomorrow. Happy New Year!
JOKE WRITING COURSE: By the way, if you have any interest at all in learning about your persona, how to write some jokes, or doing stand-up comedy, check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE.