Happy Birthday, Steve Martin!
Steve Martin hit it big when I was in graduate school, so there were times when I would finish reading Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, or Bultmann, then whiplash my consciousness by listening to the record — yes, an actual LP — of Martin’s 1st comedy album “Let’s Get Small”. Although I had seen Martin on “The Tonight Show” in the mid-70s, somehow I think my lifelong adoration for him as a comedian, writer, and all-around creative individual was cemented by those experiences at Yale, all the ‘heavy’ stuff I was studying in contrast to Martin talking about the realization that “I’m smoking my own shit.”
When I got my Masters and decided to take a year off from academics — that year becoming the rest of my life — I lived in Aspen, Colorado from 1978–1980, playing music for a living. There I had unintentionally followed in Martin’s footsteps as he had lived in Aspen for a few years in the early 70s (that’s where he met his eventual manager Bill McKuen, brother of John McKuen of the Aspen-based group The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band).
There were a lot of Steve Martin stories in Aspen. One was about an after-hours soiree at a local club called Patty Bugatti’s, which featured a swimming pool with bar service. One thing led to another and all the party people began to strip down for some skinny-dipping. Folks looked over to see Steve sheepishly creeping away from the action. After much cajoling to join them, Martin replied, “I can’t.” “Why,” they asked. He said, “I forgot to wear my big cock.”
When I started my own stand-up comedy act in 1985, I guess it was no surprise that I patterned it after Steve Martin. Not so audience members would make that connection as I was light-years away from being as funny. But Martin’s ability to balance silly and smart, that was what I strove for with bits like “The Bobby Sherman School of Rock Stuttering” and comedy songs like “How Can I Get Over Her When She’s Still Under Him.”
So when assiduously avoiding work the other night and I ran into this video clip below — Steve Martin introducing The Jerk at an AFI screening — I was once again reminded of how much I love that movie:
The movie, written by Steve Martin & Carl Gottlieb & Michael Elias and story by Steve Martin & Carl Gottlieb, is hysterical, but with its silly and inane humor, what you may forget is there is a deft love story worked into the plot that provides a layer of emotional resonance. Here is a scene from The Jerk featuring Martin as the story’s Protagonist Navin R. Johnson and his love interest Marie Kimble Johnson, played by Bernadette Peters:
I’ve followed Martin’s career closely, read all his books, saw the first run of his brilliant play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” at the Westwood Playhouse in LA. I know from interviews that he looks back on the phenomenon part of his career, when he was doing stand-up comedy in arenas for 20,000+ audiences, as a surreal, even perhaps discomforting part of his life. But on this, Martin’s 65th birthday, I figured what better time to celebrate Martin’s years in show business.
Steve as a contestant on “The Gong Show”:
Steve performing magic on “The Smothers Brothers Show”:
An early appearance by Steve on “The Tonight Show”:
Audio of Steve in a stand-up gig in 1981: “What I Believe”:
Steve doing “King Tut”:
Steve doing his Great Flydini act:
Happy 65th Birthday, Steve Martin! Thanks for all the laughter, great characters, and especially… your wonderful creativity.
What is your favorite Steve Martin comedy bit or movie?
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