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. While it starts off pretty dry and unassuming, as Martin starts to relate his rise to fame as his act gets more exposure, you can tell just from the narration that he's excited reminiscing about it. And here's where reading the book would not bring the same flavor to this story. Hearing Martin re-enact his old routines is a far cry from how they would work on the written page. You can catch little glimpes of his "wild and crazy guy" as he reminisces about old gags and jokes.

It's fascinating listening to him talk about how his act slowly developed, how his interest in magic and philosophy really helped shape the ideas around what he was trying to do. And it's also great to listen to a pretty down-to-earth guy relate what fame is really like in an honest, uncompromising way. There's not much "woe is me" here, and Martin admits that celebrities only complain about fame when it's no longer convenient for them. I felt like I was listening to a kindred spirit as he talked about his struggles with anxiety and the struggle between wanting to be noticed and wanting to be reclusive: an "ixtrovert", as Hillary so nicely puts it. Normally, I'm a bit of a book snob, preferring to read the book rather than listen to it, but I have to say, I'm so glad that I listened to this one. This is a great look into the life of a very talented man.