This book is a memoir, but it is also an illuminating guidebook to stand-up from one of our two or three greatest comedians. And he writes about how he figured out what worked on stage. He writes about fear, anxiety and loneliness. He writes about mentors, girlfriends, his complex relationship with his parents and sister, and about some of his great peers in comedy-Dan Ackroyd, Lorne Michaels, Carl Reiner, Johnny Carson. He writes about making the very tough decision to sacrifice everything not original in his act, and about lucking into a job writing for The Smothers Brothers Show. Obsession is a substitute for talent, he has said, and Steve Martin's focus and daring-his sheer tenacity-are truly stunning. By age 20, studying poetry and philosophy on the side, he was performing a dozen times a week, most often at the Disney rival, Knott's Berry Farm. In the decade that followed, he worked in Disney's magic shop, print shop, and theater, and developed his own magic/comedy act. ReviewĪt age 10, Steve Martin got a job selling guidebooks at the newly opened Disneyland. 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.

Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. 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. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. 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. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written.Īt age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park.

This book is, in his own words, the story of 'why I did stand-up and why I walked away.'Įmmy 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 awriter. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene.

Born standing up a comic's life