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The Reality of Comedy: Steve Martin's Born Standing UpJoel Byars

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Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Paperback – Illustrated, September 2, 2008

by Steve Martin (Author)

4.4 6,514 ratings

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The 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.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Absolutely magnificent. One of the best books about comedy and being a comedian ever written." - Jerry Seinfeld, GQ

....

About the Author

Steve Martin is one of today's most talented performers. He has had huge success as a film actor, with such credits as Cheaper by the Dozen, Father of the Bride, Roxanne, Parenthood, L.A. Story, and many others. He has won Emmys for his television writing and two Grammys for his comedy albums. In addition to his bestselling novel The Pleasure of My Company and a collection of comic pieces, Pure Drivel, he has also written a play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile. He lives in Los Angeles.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Born Standing Up

Beforehand

I DID STAND-UP COMEDY for eighteen years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success. My most persistent memory of stand-up is of my mouth being in the present and my mind being in the future: the mouth speaking the line, the body delivering the gesture, while the mind looks back, observing, analyzing, judging, worrying, and then deciding when and what to say next. Enjoyment while performing was rare—enjoyment would have been an indulgent loss of focus that comedy cannot afford. After the shows, however, I experienced long hours of elation or misery depending on how the show went, because doing comedy alone onstage is the ego’s last stand.

My decade is the seventies, with several years extending on either side. Though my general recall of the period is precise, my memory of specific shows is faint. I stood onstage, blinded by lights, looking into blackness, which made every place the same. Darkness is essential: If light is thrown on the audience, they don’t laugh; I might as well have told them to sit still and be quiet. The audience necessarily remained a thing unseen except for a few front rows, where one sourpuss could send me into panic and desperation. The comedian’s slang for a successful show is “I murdered them,” which I’m sure came about because you finally realize that the audience is capable of murdering you.

Stand-up is seldom performed in ideal circumstances. Comedy’s enemy is distraction, and rarely do comedians get a pristine performing environment. I worried about the sound system, ambient noise, hecklers, drunks, lighting, sudden clangs, latecomers, and loud talkers, not to mention the nagging concern “Is this funny?” Yet the seedier the circumstances, the funnier one can be. I suppose these worries keep the mind sharp and the senses active. I can remember instantly retiming a punch line to fit around the crash of a dropped glass of wine, or raising my voice to cover a patron’s ill-timed sneeze, seemingly microseconds before the interruption happened.

I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a by-product. The course was more plodding than heroic: I did not strive valiantly against doubters but took incremental steps studded with a few intuitive leaps. I was not naturally talented—I didn’t sing, dance, or act—though working around that minor detail made me inventive. I was not self-destructive, though I almost destroyed myself. In the end, I turned away from stand-up with a tired swivel of my head and never looked back, until now. A few years ago, I began researching and recalling the details of this crucial part of my professional life—which inevitably touches upon my personal life—and was reminded why I did stand-up and why I walked away.

In a sense, this book is not an autobiography but a biography, because I am writing about someone I used to know. Yes, these events are true, yet sometimes they seemed to have happened to someone else, and I often felt like a curious onlooker or someone trying to remember a dream. I ignored my stand-up career for twenty-five years, but now, having finished this memoir, I view this time with surprising warmth. One can have, it turns out, an affection for the war years.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; Reprint edition (September 2, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1416553657
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416553656
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.8 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #15,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16 in Comedy (Books)
- #160 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- #577 in Memoirs (Books)

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4.4 6,514 ratings

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Steve Martin

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Steve Martin is one of today's most talented performers. His huge successes as a film actor include such credits as ROXANNE, FATHER OF THE BRIDE, PARENTHOOD and THE SPANISH PRISONER. He has won Emmys for his television writing and two Grammys for comedy albums. In addition to the bestselling PURE DRIVEL, he has written several plays, including Picasso at the Lapin Agile and a highly acclaimed novel, SHOPGIRL. His work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times.

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Shawkins

Hilarious, touching, insightful

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024

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Within the first five pages I had laughed out loud (not common for me) and bookmarked a note to share with my therapist. Steve Martin has always delivered in every movie I've watched him in and now in Only Murders. I grew up with him on my tv. And you can tell from his movies that the guy is smart. But this book is next level insightful. He fulfills Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" credo that one should give meaning to every single sentence in their writing. I was intimidated by that instruction as a kid and am intimidated again by how well constructed an autobiography this is. Steve Martin is either naturally a genius or tweaked and edited the hell out of this until it flowed perfectly.. or both. It's such a heartwarming, interesting, hilarious read with teachable moments about human psychology and the game of humor. I already want to buy additional copies for multiple people.

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2013

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This is by Hollywood standards an exceptional memoir: it's well-written, modest, honest, and revealing. But I think it comes across well just because we hold famous individuals to such low standards, and while this is a competent piece of work it fails to inspire.

The actor and comedian Steve Martin found success for a variety of reasons. He was at the right place at the right time: the exploding field of television was desperate for young creative voices. The culture of Hollywood, television, and California doesn't appear to be so cutthroat as it is today: Martin was lucky enough to meet a couple of girlfriends who helped him in the industry, and to have friends and roommates who happily shared their material with him (and he generously acknowledges their contribution to his early success). Martin is also blessed with both a sunny disposition (it is also impossible to imagine Martin sad) and relentless ambition. So, at age twenty-eight, dissatisfied with his almost perfect life as television comedy writer and as a well-recognized stand-up comedian, Martin decides to leave California, and travel around the country in the hope of becoming a famous comedian. And while he invariably faced hostile audiences and a constant string of comedic failures this experience only made him stronger, and slowly but surely he climbed his way to fame and fortune.

While Martin tries to both entertain and enlighten, I really don't know what we can learn from his memoir. I came away from the book, thinking, "Boy, Steve Martin sure is lucky to be Steve martin." Yeah, Martin had a cold and aloof father, but that was the only sore point in his whole life. As a young man who's tall, handsome, sunny, and funny, he's an instant chick magnet, and people were lining up to help him out. He's a very limited writer, and modern audiences would have real difficulty laughing at his material, but as a stage performer he's wild and free-spirited, and that just makes audiences want to laugh and to like him. And, despite his protests to the contrary, he's also a very focused and disciplined individual who carefully mapped out his ascent to the top.

3 people found this helpful

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Obsessive Reader, Traveler and Documentary Addict

The Best of Autobiographies! Engaging and Worth Revisiting!!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2023

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I purchased this memoir on audio a few years ago and decided to read it on my kindle while relaxing at the pool. This is easily one of my favorite autobiographies I've read and couldn't recommend it highly enough to those who are fans of Martin and his comedy. I really enjoyed his novella and film, Shop Girl, and decided to read about his life in his words.

Steve's book, first Published in 2007, chronicles his early life, his days working for Disneyland, working at low-tier coffee shops and clubs as a comedy act, his later days at the Bird Cage at Knotts Berry Farm, his relationships, his eventual fame, and the reason why he quit stand-up comedy altogether at the height of his fame in 1981. The book is written in Martin's own voice, and he is refreshingly candid about his struggles and successes as a comedian. He writes about the long hours of work and practice that went into his act, the rejection he faced from audiences early on, and the personal demons he had to overcome in order to achieve success.

Martin also writes about the changing landscape of comedy during his career, from the early days of the Borscht Belt to the rise of Saturday Night Live. He offers insights into the art of comedy and the importance of finding your own unique voice.

One of the things that makes Born Standing Up so enjoyable is Martin's honesty. He doesn't shy away from discussing his failures or his insecurities. He writes about the times he bombed on stage, the times he was rejected by agents and producers, and the times he felt like giving up. But he also writes about the times he triumphed, the times he found his voice, and the times he made people laugh.

He is an inspiration to anyone who has ever had a dream and has been told that it is impossible. Born Standing Up is more than just a memoir. It is a love letter to comedy. Martin writes about the power of laughter, and the importance of finding humor in even the darkest of times. He reminds us that comedy is a gift, and that it can make the world a better place. If you are a fan of Steve Martin or of comedy in general, then you will definitely enjoy Born Standing Up. It is a funny, moving, and inspiring book that will stay with you long after you finish reading it!

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Jean-Francois Lavergne-Bessette

Good product, satisfying

Reviewed in Canada on October 30, 2023

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Such a nice bio

Orlando Sánchez Reyes

Super!

Reviewed in Mexico on September 15, 2021

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I haven't read it yet because I'm lazy but it's Steve Martin so I'm sure it's great.

Academic

An emotional must-read for all public speakers and teachers about the loneliness of stage life

Reviewed in Germany on November 1, 2020

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I loved this book and read it in one piece. While it is written in a humorous language, it is not a funny book. It is a highly emotional travel diary. It describes the loneliness of stage life known not only to comedians, but to all public speakers, teachers, and the like. It describes the painful struggles of a young man seeking to work his way up. It describes the tensions between fathers and sons. The chapter about his reconciliation with his parents and his presence at their death bed are the most touching. In passing, Steve Martin lays out his theory of comedy which is more helpful to aspiring comedians than many of the guidebooks on the subject. Reading the book changes the way I listen to Steve Martin‘s recordings and look at his movies. This story of the human side to success is a must-read for all lay actors.

One person found this helpful

Alessandro

Not too sure about this

Reviewed in Italy on July 18, 2019

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This was a weird book to read. I started reading this not because I wanted to know more about Steve Martin's life, but because I was looking for something else: the secret of comedy. So, my mindset as I began this book was probably not the right one, but I found myself liking it in the end. And expecially, the end.

The first 80-90 pages are interesting as you start to learn a little about Steve and the pace of the writing keeps you interested. The rest of the book went on boringly and with not much to be extracted from it. But, then, at the very end, the book pics up and it offers really interesting and great insights into what it means to achieve fame and what it means to be dealing with it.

Did I like it? Yes, kind of. Although the middle part was boring and I could not wait for the book to end.
Would I read this again? Probably not.
Would I suggest this to anyone? Unfortunately, probably not.

InterNutter

A great book for Fans of Steve Martin and a great book for non fans of Steve Martin

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2018

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I got this after a friend recommended to me. Now I was not a big fan of Steve Martin but I am interested in comedy and comedy writing. After I finished the book which was a very enjoyable read I had a new appreciation for Martin and think this is a great insight on comedy and stand up. It is not a big book so wont take long to read but dont let that stop you.

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