Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

Steve Martin

Nov 2007 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

I love Steve Martin. I loved him on SNL, when he did stand up and in the movies. I have never read any of his books, but I think I will now. I really enjoyed this memoir of Martin?s life as a youngster working in Disneyland, where he got his start in show business. Alternately sweet and funny the chronicle of Martin?s years of creating and honing his craft as a comedian and his decision to walk away from it all was a warm and engaging story. Martin is known to be intensely private, but here he lets us all in, just a little, but enough to appreciate how much work went into becoming that ?Wild and Crazy Guy?. A memoir that wasn?t self pitying but instead is a compelling narrative of a less than happy childhood that led to one of the world?s funniest and ground breaking comedians alive today.

Not great, but really good explanation of how a performer learns to deal with the audience. An essential part of his maturing act was his developing authority over the crowd. His ability to make them react together - something Stephen has earned, too.

Excellent coverage of his formative years..gives a real understanding of the man and his work/influences. Didn't realize until I was done that the pub date was 2007...even so, wanted to know more about films/acting/writing/production, plays, his other books, etc.

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.