Born Standing Up: A Comic's LifeThe riveting, mega-bestselling, beloved and highly acclaimed memoir of a man, a vocation, and an era named one of the ten best nonfiction titles of the year by Time and Entertainment Weekly. In the mid-seventies, 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. This book is, in his own words, the story of “why I did stand-up and why I walked away.” Emmy and Grammy Award–winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, and a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Martin has always been a writer. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written. At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes. Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times—the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies. Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Up is a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time. |
Contents
Comedy Through the Airwaves | |
Disneyland | |
The bird Cage Theatre | |
Television | |
The road | |
Standing Down | |
Acknowledgments | |
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Angeles Ann-Margret appearance asked audience audition banjo began Bill McEuen Bird Cage Boarding House Bob Einstein called career Carl Reiner Coffee and Confusion comedian Comedy Hour comic crowd Dave didn’t Disneyland dollars door e. e. cummings father feel felt film friends funny Gary Mule Deer head heard high school Hollywood Ice House John McEuen Johnny joke Kathy Westmoreland knew Knott’s Berry Farm later laugh Lenny Bruce living looked loved magic act magician material Melinda Mike Mitzi mother moved movie never night nightclub Nina onstage performing Phil Playboy Club played punch line routine Saturday Night Live seemed sense show business sing Smothers Brothers song stage stand-up started Steve Allen Steve Martin street television theater thing thought told Tonight Show took trick Trumbo walked Wally Boag wanted watch week writing