Doug Stanhope is a comic whose style I don’t particularly like, but one who I really respect. Someone on reddit posted this great quote of his about why comics shouldn’t give advice to other less experienced comics. The redditor who posted it said they found it on his blog.

“I was once in my early years of comedy and semi-popular in the ranks of the open mics in Phoenix when a comic higher-up in the ranks – Joey Scazzola – caught me giving advice to a new guy.

He said ‘Never give anyone advice because you’re only telling them how to be more like you.’ Every time I’ve erred and given someone advice, I remembered that.

If you want advice, you most likely just want someone to reassure you of what you already know. If they tell you otherwise, you’ll either discount it or you’ll take their advice and no longer be following the instincts that got you in this to begin with. So either way, you didn’t need the advice.”