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. Steve Martin. Scribner. New York, New
York. 2007. Book review by Jane
This memoir covers Steve Martin's very early start to his ending in stand-up comedy. He writes a little about his writing career, and a very little about his movie career. He writes some about his childhood. Mostly, he talks about what it took to become famous as a stand-up comedian.
I loved Steve Martin's stand-up, and I never knew much about what he went through or what the critics said about him when he was doing Cruel Shoes, Let's Get Small, and King Tut, etc. I just loved hearing his comedy. My favorite was The Wild and Crazy Guys on "Saturday Night Live". SNL was where I first heard of Steve Martin, but I delved into his comedy shortly thereafter. But, back to the book. The book provides many affectionate laughs. There are reminders of the jokes he told and the book explains the origins of these jokes. The book also goes into his personal life; for example, of how distant emotionally Steve Martin's father was when he first began his career. Steve Martin describes some other painful moments of his life, which I would have never guessed. I was happy to read about his reunion--or should I say long-term efforts to reconnect--with his family.
Steve Martin claims that his success is through hard work alone, not talent. I would say he did work very hard to get where he is, but he has to be a little shortsighted of himself not to see his own talents. This book, however, describes the hard work he put into his career. If everyone worked so hard, they couldn't help but succeed. Starting at a very young age, Steve Martin was already working on his craft. He held jobs at Disneyland as a boy.
I missed in the book that he didn't go into his movie career much. I like Steve Martin's movies. But, I'm sure the story needed focus, and the movies would be a separate part of his life. He did claim that working at the movies is not as difficult as stand-up, where the audience is live.
One thing I really appreciated in the book was the sprinkling of photographs throughout. I got a kick out of the memories of the comedy, and it was nice to see some of the people he mentioned in his writing. Steve Martin writes about many famous and not-so-famous people that he was associated with during his stand-up career.
If you want to learn more about becoming a comedian and the hard work it takes, this book would be for you. I enjoyed reading it because I am a fan of Steve Martin. I've never aspired to becoming a comedian, however. I just enjoy a good laugh. But, for someone who is interested in comedy, the book also studies some of the methods that Steve Martin used in his writing and delivery-for instance, the punch lines, or lack of punch lines, as a formula he used at one time. I suppose he doesn't reveal all of his secrets in this book, especially since he had several different things going on, including props and magic tricks, etc. Nevertheless, there is a lot to learn here, especially the part about the hard work, which translates to any worthwhile career or endeavor.
Jane.
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Would you like to see more reviews like this one? Jane of Book Reader's Traverse prefers to scan the library database for books to read, grabbing titles from many sources. She reviews many non-fiction titles, as well as some fiction of the day. Visit her picks page for her bio and other reviews--Jane's Picks.
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