hi jack

You may well be right that many amateurs have much deeper knowlege of folk than some professionals.

A professional does not get paid to necessarily have knowledge in great depth Many do !!! ). He is primarily paid the entertain an audience.

I know many people who have extremely deep knowledge but they don't know how to express it in an way that will keep an audience interested and entertain.

On your second point professsionals are after all is said and done only human. They like anyone else make mistakes.

But the good pros have learned how to reduce them and cover most of them up. They also know how to use "balls ups" to their advantage.

cheers

MikeL2