It is not that being consistently good at something is hard.
Being consistent with anything is difficult.
Then when you add in performing at a certain level – well fugetaboutit…
This is not only true for comedy. You can see this easily in sports too.
Any NFL team can beat any other NFL team on a given Sunday. One team plays flat, the other shines, and then you get a crazy upset that everyone can’t believe. But what team can play at the highest level week in and week out?
This is obvious to me in golf too. PGA champions can have an off weekend and barely make the cut. But few can show up at every tournament and play at the highest level. Look at who finishes near the top ten in every tournament. I touched on this here in regard to Phil Mickelson.
Here is a masterful piece on how to be great.
And you guessed it.
Greatness is spelled C-O-N-S-I-S-T-A-N-T.
THE CONSISTENT WORK enhanced my act. I learned a lesson: It was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: Like lucky cards in poker, you can count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the abominable circumstances.
-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up (Amazon)
