14 Problems Only Comedians Will Understand

11. You May Never Know Why A Joke Doesn't Work

So many times, SO MANY TIMES, a comedian will fall in love with a joke, or a line, or an idea and it just won't work.

Never.

Not once.

But it's so funny in the comedian's mind, and they know it can, nay, it MUST work, so they reformulate it over and over, try it a hundred different ways, with different pauses, inflection, different placement within the overall set.

Nothing works! WHY? WHY CAN'T YOU SEE HOW FUNNY THIS IS?

In the end, they have to let the joke go, knowing that they are a failure of a person for not being able to find the precise way to communicate this idea to the world. It's crushing.