Goodreads | Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life (Paperback) by Steve Martin

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steve martin	1	29	03/12/2008 08:59AM

J.P. rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

01/04/08

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: comedy fans, biography fans

I usually avoid these types of books like the Plague. Celebrity autobiographies---ego unchained, coupled with a "Then I went here, then I did this, then I went there and did that. . ." boring-ass format. Nine times out of ten, books like these put me to sleep.

Not so, Steve Martin's BORN STANDING UP. First of all, it's more focused than most celeb tell-alls. It centers around Martin's life leading up to and including his career as a standup comedian, not as an actor/filmmaker. ...more I usually avoid these types of books like the Plague. Celebrity autobiographies---ego unchained, coupled with a "Then I went here, then I did this, then I went there and did that. . ." boring-ass format. Nine times out of ten, books like these put me to sleep.

Not so, Steve Martin's BORN STANDING UP. First of all, it's more focused than most celeb tell-alls. It centers around Martin's life leading up to and including his career as a standup comedian, not as an actor/filmmaker. So "Three Amigos" fans, you'll have to wait for Martin's next volume for those fascinating Chevy Chase anecdotes.

This is not a laugh-out-loud book, but there are funny bits in it. Once , while working as an up-and-coming comedian in the late 1960s, Martin recalls how he stepped on to the stage of a Playboy Club on a Monday night. Monday nights in nightclubs, he tells us, were usually as dead as graveyards. On this particular night, however, the club was packed. Martin describes how his performer's ego soared---until he realized that he was standing in front of an audience consisting entirely of Japanese tourists who spoke almost no English.

Most interesting to me was Martin's chronicle of how he slowly, painstakingly evolved from a self-conscious, teenaged magician working at Disneyland to the banjo-plucking, arrow-through-the-head wildman who sold out arenas and defined 1970s comedy. Martin is generous in providing insights into how he developed the "punchline-free", surreal humor that he's known for today.

Along the way, the comic spins numerous anecdotes concerning his encounters with those who shaped his life, both personally and professionally; old-time vaudeville comedians, writer Dalton Trumbo (and his daughter, Mitzi), Johnny Carson and the Smothers Brothers are just a few of the notables who are vividly recounted. Even Elvis makes a cameo appearance.

Even more intriguing, Martin finally answers the question of why, in the early 1980s, he walked away from standup comedy, never to return.

Martin is as skilled a writer as he was a standup comedian; he keeps the pace brisk as he tells his multi-faceted tale. If you're looking for an insightful, intelligent page-turner, look here. If you don't know much about this entertainer, you'll walk away from BORN STANDING UP with a new appreciation for his singular talents. If you're a Steve Martin fan, roll up your sleeves and dig in!...less

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Patrick rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

01/03/08

Read in January, 2008

If, before I read this, someone were to tell me that I would only laugh one time in the whole book, I would be like, “No way,” and he would be like, “Seriously, at one point a bird craps on Steve Martin’s head and that's literally the only time you’ll laugh in the whole book,” and I would be like, “Come on, really?” and he would be like, “Well, think about it: think about his material during this period and try to imagine how it would translate onto the page, and then think abo...more If, before I read this, someone were to tell me that I would only laugh one time in the whole book, I would be like, “No way,” and he would be like, “Seriously, at one point a bird craps on Steve Martin’s head and that's literally the only time you’ll laugh in the whole book,” and I would be like, “Come on, really?” and he would be like, “Well, think about it: think about his material during this period and try to imagine how it would translate onto the page, and then think about where he is now, both as a writer and just as a person, and imagine that person trying to convey anything that you would be able to have any connection at all to, and plus you’ve heard all of his albums, right? Like pretty recently?” and I’d be all, “They’re – they’re on my iPod,” and he’d be all, “Well, so even if there were some way to transfer a live performance of this nature to paper successfully, you still wouldn’t laugh when you see it typed out because you’ve just heard it,” and I’d be all, “So, should I not read it?” and he’d be like, “Obviously, yes, you *have* to read it, it’s a document of a period in American comedy that you’ve always admired and been fascinated by. I’m just saying you’ll be frustrated with it; in fact, what you’ll say when it’s over is: ‘I wish this book were the Internet’,” and I’d be all, “Whaaaat?” and he’d be, “Like when he talks about being writing partners with Bob “Super Dave Osbourne” Einstein and how much fun that was, you’ll be all, ‘Yes, please, more about that, click click click,’ but then he won’t give you anything, until about seven [generously margined:] pages later when he will mention again that he’s still writing partners with B“SD”O, and you’ll be all, ‘More? About this?’ but he won’t tell you anything, nor will there be more than a passing mention about Saturday Night Live, plus you’ll also be creeped out when he mentions Linda Ronstadt’s panties, but that’s just because you have a problem with that word,” and I’d be all, “Yes: I can’t hear it without imagining the speaker is in some state of arrested adolescence,” and he’ll be all, “It’s a perfectly cromulent word,” and we’d be all “Simpsons reference!” and high five and I’d be all, “I’ll try to get past it,” and then I’d be all, “But wait, how do you know this is all true?” and he’d be all, “Because I am you! From the Future!” and I’d be all, “Really?” and he’d be all, “Yeah. Wanna make out?” and I’d be all, “OK. But no gay stuff.”...less

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Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

07/18/08

Read in July, 2008

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

I hope this isn't too embarrassing a thing to admit, but when I was a kid I used to have Steve Martin's old comedy albums literally memorized; and I mean, literally, back in the late '70s and early '80s when he was at his commercial height, back when I was ten, eleven, twelve years old, I could l...more (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

I hope this isn't too embarrassing a thing to admit, but when I was a kid I used to have Steve Martin's old comedy albums literally memorized; and I mean, literally, back in the late '70s and early '80s when he was at his commercial height, back when I was ten, eleven, twelve years old, I could literally relate entire routines of his to a public audience (and sometimes did), pause for pause and inflection for inflection. And now I look back, of course, and wonder what the childhood-me ever saw in Martin's edgy, countercultural performances; as can be expected from a '70s comedian, most of his work was about drugs and sex and other strictly adult topics, half the jokes zooming right over my head as a child even as I was able to perfectly recite them. I guess, then, that it was maybe the pure manic energy Martin brought to his performance, the traditional zaniness of it all, which I guess adults were enjoying for ironic reasons at the time but I loved just because it was silly -- a grown man wearing rabbit ears, a clown wearing a formal three-piece white suit. "Well, excuuuuuuuusssse meeeeee!!!!"

So how interesting, then, to get to sit down and read Martin's memoirs on those years, Born Standing Up, decades after he quit stand-up for good, decades where he has been ambivalent and shy about his stand-up years in the first place, preferring to constantly delve forward with his traditional acting instead, as well as the more intellectual humor that has defined his later career as a novelist and playwright. Because as this tight, slim, plainly-spoken, always entertaining volume shows, it was in fact precisely the combination of his traditional showbiz childhood experiences and the countercultural excesses of the '60s that led to his act in the first place, not an affectation of any sort but merely the things that naturally interested him back then, the things that he naturally found funny; but by doing so, he in fact forged something entirely new, unique and unforgettable, leading to him at one point being the number-one live-entertainment draw in the entire United States, and this counting rock musicians as well.

That's important to remember about Martin's early career, that he had the kinds of live-audience successes that sound surreal anymore in these "Laff Shack on every corner" days; at the height of his stand-up years, he was sometimes packing in 20,000 people a night or more, night after night and city after city, precisely because he did the kind of hybrid performance that no other comedian did, a wry sensibility attuned to the times combined with literal cornball routines and effects from the Catskills era. It'd be easy to believe, as many did, that Martin deliberately added these cornball details to his routine at a certain point during adulthood, precisely for the ironic enjoyment that jaded '70s audiences would get out of it; but as this book shows, these elements have actually been a consistent part of his public act since literally his teenage years, when he worked at the magic store inside of California's Disneyland during high school, wearing such things as arrows-through-the-head and Groucho Marx glasses unironically, trying to actually sell more of them at the store. Once he got into college, according to him, once he was in his twenties and starting to put together an adult touring club routine of his own, he simply left the magic-store accrouchements in, simply because he was 20 and a terrible comedian and needed stuff to fall back on; it was only as he started getting older, started embracing more of the countercultural things going on around him, that these details took on their ironic effect, by which time he was a good enough comedian to understand how to exploit them for that purpose.

In fact, it's no surprise that no less than Jerry Seinfeld has called Born Standing Up "one of the best books about comedy and being a comedian ever written," because this is a very wonky, very process-obsessed memoir, a chance for Martin to literally record the steps that moved him from one moment to the next in his early career, to literally talk about the specific things he changed from step to step, the specific things he held onto. Because let's face it, there's actually a hugely fascinating milieu of significant events that was swarming around him during his youth; raised in southern California, actually a philosophy student at college while first pursuing a career as a comedian, Martin was lovers and roommates with all the various future legends of Hollywood, but also compatriots with student radicals, art historians, blacklisted Communist writers, and all kinds of other people who would have such a profound effect on his later, more mature career. (For those who don't know, in fact, on top of his performance career, he's currently also one of the most respected private collectors of 20th-century art in the entire country.) He was a writer on the old "Smothers Brothers Comedy Show," right at the height of its Nixon-hating, network-preempting controversy; he was brought into the now-classic "Saturday Night Live" right at its most daring start, one of the people who helped cement the show into what it now is. When the "Lenny Bruce Look" finally became the norm on comedy stages in the mid-'70s, he switched over to a short haircut and a three-piece suit, for no other reason than to be different; and then right at the height of his career, a moment when he was literally selling out basketball stadiums for weeks on end, he walked away from it all and never looked back.

And that's maybe the biggest irony about Martin's early career, as so smartly but sometimes cynically detailed in Born Standing Up; that he had never meant to be a stand-up in the first place, had only done so because he literally had nothing else going on in his life at the time, and in fact couldn't wait to walk away from it all as soon as he could, perpetually embarrassed as he was over the entire stand-up industry in the first place. And in this I share a deep empathy with Martin, in that this is how I in general feel as well about my own youthful years in the slam-poetry community of the 1990s; how even something that brings a person quick fame and attention can ultimately be embarrassing to the person it's benefiting, how a person can be weirdly proud of what they themselves did within that medium but still deeply disappointed by the medium itself, by everyone else in it and what the general public thinks of it. As Martin explains throughout this memoir, he has always seen writing and intellectualism as much more worthy life pursuits than simply getting on a stage and making with the yuk-yuk, and in fact even needed to be convinced by friends to write the memoir in the first place; it's very telling, I think, that he actually had to hire a researcher to track down all the photos and documents seen throughout the manuscript, in that he had held on to barely any of this stuff himself.

That's a fascinating thing about Martin, I think, that his career can be classified into such two clean and unrelated halves, not just the mediums he's worked in but even the type of humor he uses. He truly was a master of the stand-up format, which is why I have such immense respect for him for walking away from it all, the moment his fame got big enough that he had the actual opportunity to do so, to delve instead into traditional movies and traditional acting. But I have to say, I'm glad as well that he was eventually convinced to indeed write Born Standing Up -- it's a treasure trove of information for anyone who was old fan of his from those years, as well as any aspiring stage performer who wants to understand more about how one hones one's craft over time. It comes highly recommended today.

Out of 10: 9.0 ...less

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Trebro rated it:

(review of isbn 0743569725)

03/24/08

bookshelves: books

Read in March, 2008

I am a huge fan of Steve Martin, to the point that even though I was probably a bit too young for it, Mom took me to see Roxanne in the theater. His SNL work and standup and early movies were a big part of forming the peculiar sense of humour that I have today.

So next time *I* am laughing hysterically while the rest of the room looks on in silence, remember kids, it's all Mr. Martin's fault.

This book, which I listed to as read by the author (I think it would have been funny to have it start...more I am a huge fan of Steve Martin, to the point that even though I was probably a bit too young for it, Mom took me to see Roxanne in the theater. His SNL work and standup and early movies were a big part of forming the peculiar sense of humour that I have today.

So next time *I* am laughing hysterically while the rest of the room looks on in silence, remember kids, it's all Mr. Martin's fault.

This book, which I listed to as read by the author (I think it would have been funny to have it started to be read by someone else, but he's a bit more serious nowadays.), tells of the early days of the comic's career, from his troubled childhood to an early job at Disney, where Martin met some of the people that would affect his future career.

With a co-dependent mother and a father that, while Martin covers it a little, seems to have been abusive, Martin grew up very isolated and therefore gravitated to the adult figures he found in his work. It let to him putting together a very strange act--a new comedy, one that didn't rely strictly on joke and punchline. Part of going to a Steve Martin show was not knowing what was going to happen next.

The narrative takes us through his life a young man, warts and all, discussing his personal life and phobias, his enchantment and disillusion with flower power, failed loves, and of course the comedy. In some ways, the book is a love story to what made Steve Martin the person most of us recognize today. The zaniness came from a strong desire to be different--rejecting the acts and jokes of others to come up with something truly original. The sheer amount of work and risk it took to do so is sometimes astounding and had not a few things broken the right way, he might be an insurance salesman or something by now, or perhaps a tenured philosophy professor, wondering what might have been.

We're better for the fact that he succeeded.

Martin's tone in this book is rather serious for a good portion of it, especially his early years. There are some good one-liners here and there, but the overall tone is more scholarly than silly. Those looking for the old Wild-and-crazy-guy aren't going to find it here, though flashes of the Martin wit, when written in, are guaranteed to make his fans smile.

Perhaps most interesting to me is the description of why Martin got out of stand up and moved toward the movies. Increasingly isolated and increasingly popular, he couldn't do the things that made the act work--it's hard to be spontaneous when twenty thousand people are looking for King Tut and the interplay between actor and audience is lost completely. (Perhaps the most telling example of this loss of what made him so good is the last show he ever did, where a guitar didn't come down on stage and instead of reacting with classic Martin shtick, he froze and later yelled backstage.)

This is a book about a man and how he made his life, painful at times but very enlightening. If you want a complete biography, this isn't it. Maybe we'll get "Steve Martin: The Movie Years" at a later date. But if you want to know how it feels to be shuffled off to guest hosts on the Tonight Show or how Marin got to write for the Smothers Brothers, this is for you.

While I miss the old Steve Martin--the newer, older Martin seems to try too hard to be "deep" now, and that shows in places during the text--I understand the need to change over time. (After all, when's the last time I put on roller skates and talked about the extinction of the dinosaurs?) I am thankful to Martin for writing this very touching look at that past I loved so much, and if you are a fan of the comic, I think you will, too. (Library, 03/08)

Trebby's Take: Highly recommended!...less

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James rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

03/11/08

recommends it for: Everyone.

This probably gets an extra star for my undying love for Steve Martin.

When I was a kid, I had three heroes: Han Solo, Kermit the Frog, and Steve Martin. Two of them are fictional, so only one can tell his life story, and damn, he f'n did it. It's a story of perseverance, and how to persevere under what I would call whelming odds. Not overwhelming, but enough that you might see where he would want to pack it in. Sometimes.

I love his approach to this book. He doesn't really write t...more

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CJ rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

01/04/08

bookshelves: 2008-books

Read in January, 2008

recommended to CJ by: Jillian
recommends it for: steve martin fans

I heard Steve Martin talk about this book a couple of weeks ago on NPR and he was brilliant. He's so low key about his celebrity it makes me want to sit and have a cup of coffee with him.

In Martin's own words this book is "a biography, because I am writing about someone I used to know." It chronicles his childhood entrance into show business and follows him all the way through playing stadiums in the 1980s.

What interested me most is his approach to doing stand up. I've ofte...more

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Michelle rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

05/23/08

bookshelves: memoirs, non-fiction

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: People interested in comedy or the history of comedy

I enjoyed reading Steve Martin's memoir of his years in stand-up comedy. His job handing out guide books in Disney Land as a pre-teen led him to a love of magic, then to a love of performing on stage. I loved the hard work and thought he put into his act; honing it after years of trial and error.

I think so many people today break into "the business" because of nepotism, but Martin did it by persevering. I first knew of him as the guy in the movie The Jerk, but he was al...more

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Maggie rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

05/27/08

Read in May, 2008

I was born in 1978, a particularly good year for comedian Steve Martin. That was the year he won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album with Let's Get Small, the year he released "King Tut" on 45, the year he appeared in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, made so many appearances on SNL that he seemed more like a regular fixture than a guest host, and was basically as successful as any comedian can hope to be. But since I wasn't exactly cognizant in 1978, all this was lost on m...more I was born in 1978, a particularly good year for comedian Steve Martin. That was the year he won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album with Let's Get Small, the year he released "King Tut" on 45, the year he appeared in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, made so many appearances on SNL that he seemed more like a regular fixture than a guest host, and was basically as successful as any comedian can hope to be. But since I wasn't exactly cognizant in 1978, all this was lost on me. By the time I was old enough to appreciate popular culture Martin had long since traded in his stand-up career for one in film, so my early memories of him are more of the Little Shop of Horrors variety rather than the comedic banjo/magic act sort. And so, I entered into this autobiographic recount of his stand-up career with slight apprehension. I love Steve Martin but had never seen his stand-up routine, so I wondered if a story about this particular era of his life would be slightly lost on me.

As I came to learn, Martin's early career made for a pretty interesting read, even for those who were not yet self-aware in 1978. Before making it big, he more than paid his dues working in a Disneyland magic shop, performed some of his earliest material in a Knott's Berry Farm theater, made endless and often unsuccessful appearances on daytime variety shows, and strove to create a original brand of comedy that relied more on quirky non sequiturs than on punch lines. He was also a student of philosophy, loved art and poetry, suffered from severe panic attacks, had a complicated and poignant relationship with his father, and very nearly gave up on show business before finally making it big. On top of learning these interesting facts about Martin, his autobiography also revealed that he's a great writer who comes across as a genuine, wholly likable, and all-around good guy.

Personally, I clearly prefer fiction over non-fiction, and biographies/autobiographies are generally not my thing at all. It's not that I don't find true stories interesting - I do! - it's just that I'd rather enjoy my stories of celebrity life in episodes of E! True Hollywood Story form rather than in book form. But I needed a book for the plane and had heard good things about Born Standing Up, so when I noticed that it happened to be available at my local library I rolled the dice and picked it up.

And the verdict? Born Standing Up is a very enjoyable read that can easily be digested in a few hours, making it the perfect airplane read. If you are a Martin fan, it's definitely worth your time....less

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Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

05/31/08

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: Patty!

for me, this book read just as if it were a one-sided, long conversation with the only thing forcing story progression being when steve would remember his original point and refocus on the story. he veered off on related tangents and then would jump back into the plot very quickly.

that sounds much more critical than it should. the man has done a lot in his lifetime and i'm sure it's hard to put all of that into a book cohesively. even thought it was a bit scattered, i would still recommend ...more

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Patrick rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

05/04/08

bookshelves: 2008

Read in May, 2008

I'm not the biggest Steve Martin fan, but I watched "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" a few months ago and my brother gave me his book "Cruel Shoes" in college, so I was interested to read his take on his stand-up years, which were a kind of anti-comedy that employed the banjo and purposely bad magic tricks. The book is only 200 pages, so it's concise and interesting thoughout. My favorite part was when he explained his theory of what he was trying to do:

"What if there w...more

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Colleen AF rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

01/20/08

bookshelves: autobiography, non-fiction-adult, read-2008

Read in January, 2008

I count my idols on one hand. When I was 18 I took a cross country road trip with my father during which we listened to Martin's LET'S GET SMALL on repeat for the entire length of New Mexico. The trip confirmed a few beliefs, yes my father was the greatest man on the planet, and yes Steve Martin was a close second. Martin's stand-up has still never been rivaled, a perfect blend of absurd with a straight face, as if his goal was to make the joke fly over the audience's heads. Many times there wer...more

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Diane rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

03/12/08

Read in March, 2008

A very enjoyable read. I've liked Steve Martin's other books, especially Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, and this memoir is a good behind-the-scenes look at how he came to craft his hyper-silly comedy routine of the '60s and '70s.

I was interested to learn how much philosophy he studied and how he evolved his brand of comedy. Rather than cue the audience for a punchline, he got rid of the punchline altogether and went on with another bit, waiting for the audience to catch up. (Based...more

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Justin rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

08/13/08

Read in August, 2008

I devoured this book like semisweet chocolate, only some kind of chocolate that isn't too rich and doesn't leave me sick no matter how much of it I eat. I feel like I could read about Steve Martin's analysis of his own standup comedy for thousands of pages. Instead I'm stuck with about 200, and these I cherished.

Born Standing Up is not an intimate confessional by Martin, and those eager to learn more about the man behind the rather aloof, cold public facade will be disappointed here. ...more I devoured this book like semisweet chocolate, only some kind of chocolate that isn't too rich and doesn't leave me sick no matter how much of it I eat. I feel like I could read about Steve Martin's analysis of his own standup comedy for thousands of pages. Instead I'm stuck with about 200, and these I cherished.

Born Standing Up is not an intimate confessional by Martin, and those eager to learn more about the man behind the rather aloof, cold public facade will be disappointed here. The book finds Steve Martin looking back on his own standup career as if it all happened to someone else. He seems completely detached from it 25 years later, and rather mystified himself at the astounding success he achieved. And really, I can't say I blame him. If I'd reached a level of performance in which I was putting my show on in front of 20,000 people, I don't think I'd really believe it either. Martin explains what happened. Explains what he did to get where he got, and explains the development of his comedy from doing magic tricks at Disney Land to the astoundingly bizarre "avante garde" style he adopted as a 30-something. Observing the sheer weirdness of his act in retrospect it's hard to imagine how it got so popular, and I think it has entirely to do with the fact that Martin was so obsessed with comedy he performed literally thousands of shows during his lifetime. He attacked the craft with almost unprecedented zeal and the result was a level of comic timing so advanced he could get away with anything on stage, and make people laugh--including wearing balloon hats, slapping himself in the face, and tuning an imaginary banjo. He honed such a unique style that he is the one comic I can think of who is utterly inimitable. Nobody could ever try to emulate Steve Martin without looking like a total copycat. Somehow, in his absurd randomness, he created something utterly profound and memorable.

Anyway, it's fascinating to read Martin's deconstruction of his own comedy career, especially if you're interested in standup comedy itself as an art form, which I very much am. In Born Standing Up Martin provides the best, most succinct description of his own act I could possibly think of, and because he is my favorite standup comic in history, the quote, to me, really describes an ideal version of comedy in general:

"What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation. This type of laugh seemed stronger to me, as they would be laughing at something they chose, rather than being told exactly when to laugh."

Genius. You have to do something a hell of a lot, for a very long time, to come up with such an acute sense of how you actually do it. It's debatable if Martin was the greatest comic in history, but I'm almost positive he was the most precise, astute, and self-aware....less

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Todd rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

04/12/08

bookshelves: humor

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: entertainers, comedy enthusiasts, and other old people

I purchased this book as part of a long-standing tradition of buying books for my mom about people she has expressed interest in. This one had been standing out to me on shelves in the months leading up to Christmas, so when the gift rush set in, Born Standing Up was a no-brainer.

As you know, the beauty of book giving is in trying the item out before you pass it along. Long story short, this led to a two day devouring of this book before seeing the family to exchange gifts. I could not put t...more

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J rated it:

(review of isbn 0743569725)

02/28/08

bookshelves: audio-books, biography-autobiography, humor

Read in February, 2008

recommended to J by: Julie

A friend from work let me borrow this, and I'm so glad I listened to the audio book rather than read it (I'd almost bought the book at Target last week on a whim). Steve Martin is my favorite comedian; I've had all his albums at one time or another, his early movies are some of my favorites. I don't know much of his literary work, unfortunately, like "Pure Drivel" and "Shopgirl", but will be atoning for that shortly. Hearing Martin tell his own story is a real treat. Whil...more

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Paul rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

01/31/08

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: anyone who was a fan of Steve Martin's stand up comedy

Steve Martin is an interesting fellow. When I was in high school, he went through his "overnight sensation" phase, where his lines were on every high school student's lips. He was the embodiment of a kind of faux stupid attitude that many high school students affected. His first movie, The Jerk, went right along with that.

But somewhere Steve Martin dropped all that. Today you're more likely to find his work in The New Yorker than on Saturday Night Live, and he hasn't done...more

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Johnsergeant rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

01/16/08

bookshelves: audiblecom, audiobook

Read in January, 2008

Downloaded from Audible.com

Program Type: Audiobook; Unabridged
Narrator: Steve Martin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2007
Length: 4 hours and 3 min.

Publisher's Summary
In the mid-70s, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. Born Standing Up is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away".

At age 10 Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling...more

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Joey rated it:

(review of isbn 1416553649)

12/19/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: Steve Martin Fans

I am a huge Steve Martin fan. I own his comedy albums and never get tired of them. He has great clips on Youtube, too. When my mom told me that a book was coming out soon about his life as a stand-up comedian, I was anxious for a month to get my hands on a copy. I bought the book as soon as it came out and devoured it, but I was not impressed.

Steve Martin barely exposes any part of himself as an artist. He seems to just give a quick overview of what happened to him and what he did to become so...more

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Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

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