Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Steve Martin’s Memoir of his Experience in Stand-Up Comedy
Oct 1, 2008
Readers who come to Steve Martin's memoir Born Standing Up (Scribner 2007) expecting a hilarious read packed with witty one-liners may be surprised to encounter a calculated discourse on comedy. Martin’s style may defy expectations, but readers aren’t likely to be disappointed by his candid account. And for any reader who's harbored a secret fantasy of headlining in a smoky club, the book is a definite must-read. As Jerry Seinfeld remarks in GQ, "Absolutely magnificent. One of the best books about comedy and being a comedian ever written."
A Look at Steve Martin’s Early Years
Steve Martin became serious about a career in comedy early on. At age ten, he started work at Disney Land selling pamphlets. He found his niche in the park’s magic shop perfecting tricks and joke routines for customers. In his teens, he moved on to stage performances at Knott’s Berry Farm.
In contrast to his romanticized memories of Disney and Knott’s Berry Farm, are the stark passages about his childhood with an emotionally distant and sometimes abusive father. Martin recounts these unpleasant chapters with respect and dignity, and by the end, readers share his joy in a touching family reconciliation.
Like any comedian, Steve Martin had his hecklers, sparse audiences, and moments of paralyzing self-doubt. He also gives readers an honest look at his struggles to conquer a drug habit and immobilizing panic attacks.
A Peek into Steve Martin’s Early Comedy
Readers who have grown up with Steve Martin during his movie career since the eighties may be surprised by the comedy giant’s earliest routines. As Elvis put it on their first meeting, "Son, you have an oblique sense of humor."
Steve Martin’s first act in the mid sixty’s, was a ten-minute piecemeal show of magic tricks, banjo tunes, a few jokes, and poetry recitations. As his popularity grew, so did his material. He examined comedy seriously--even philosophically--developing a routine without punch lines.
His theory was, if no one told an audience when and where to laugh, their response could be truly spontaneous and genuine. The result was a quirky act with unexpected gags such as Martin leading entire audiences out of the club and into the street. Show goers never knew quite what to expect, and they loved it. By the late seventies, Steve Martin’s albums had sold millions and his shows were attended by over forty thousand in a night.
Then, in 1981, he left stand-up and didn’t look back until the writing of this book. As he puts it this memoir is, “the story of why I did stand-up and why I walked away".
Martin’s detachment to his younger self in Born Standing Up is obvious from the very first sentence. He writes, “In a sense, this book is not an autobiography but a biography, because I am writing about someone I used to know.”
The book concludes with him looking wistfully back at that younger self, as though he’s glad to have met up once more after a long absence. And by the last page, the reader will be glad to have made Steve Martin’s acquaintance as well.
