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title: "What do courses teach that you genuinely struggle to learn | Tough Crowd"
description: "I’m not anti-course at all, but I keep going back and forth on whether I actually need one yet. Open mics teach me very quickly whether a joke works, but they d"
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# What do courses teach that you genuinely struggle to learn just by gigging?

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[NishaAfterWork](/banter/Stand-Up-Comedians/NishaAfterWork) 27 Aug 

I’m not anti-course at all, but I keep going back and forth on whether I actually need one yet. Open mics teach me very quickly whether a joke works, but they don’t necessarily tell me why it didn’t, or what I should practise between gigs. For people deciding between structured training and just getting more stage time, what skills do you think are genuinely harder to pick up on your own?

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