"You're uncomfortable! I'm the one with a catheter in my peter!" | Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up"

I would like to sum up this book in the most nerdy way possible: "To Trudge: The slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in his life except the impulse to simply...soldier on." - A Knight's Tale

I was SO PUMPED to get this book on Christmas. Thanks to all the holiday craziness I didn't get to finish up until January 2 - and then thanks to life I didn't get to write my review until now. 

The long and short of it is brilliance. Martin is obviously funny, but the way he tells his story is so serious. He makes jokes out of it all, but you can tell he's thinking about everything with philosopher's brain wrinkles. No matter how much sex he had or drugs he used in the 60's and 70's, he's a thinker. 

His act was crazy - balloons and eggs and bananas and those glasses with a funny nose and mustache on 'em, and more. He was crazy but not Carrot Top. Steve Martin has a tonal quality that feels like he thought about what his jokes mean and how they affect people. He wants people to have a good time and laugh, because that's what he was good at. But he's also good at thinking. 

I love comedians and stuff about comedians. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is on repeat on Netflix for me. On Steve Martin's episode, he talks about his act being so tied to the time period that it couldn't go on. Jerry Seinfeld is sorta incredulous, believing in Steve more than Steve believes in Steve. But there's no convincing him - he's decided that his act was time-bound, and he moved into film. 

He knows he made it. He's rich and famous. He doesn't talk about it. He focuses on the years when he was a nobody. When he worked at Disneyland and when he traveled alone. Then he was famous all at once - and still sort of lonely. 

It seems like a theme when I read about people who earn fame that they don't want to talk about their glory. They want to talk about the work they had to put in to get there. I'm glad they don't. I want to hear about how Steve Martin didn't know if he was funny, and how he was a magician and performed with friends in theme parks and was just a basic weirdy his whole life. I love that he clearly has a depressive streak but goes on being hilarious anyway. I love that he had a backup career. 

I think I love Steve Martin. I've never liked him much in movies, but I love the guy. He's worth reading about.

Have a good read,

-Luke

PS. My Instagram will have quotes from this book up at the same time this blog is posted (2/10/18, 12pm). Feel free to find me @lukeskyfoos or just go here: https://www.instagram.com/lukeskyfoos/ to see them.