Born Standing Up - A Comic's Life is a warm and very funny account of Steve Martin's rise and free-fall as a stand up comedian. It is a colorful chronicle of, as Steve puts it, "The War Years" that gives us an rare insight into the life of this talented and sensitive writer/performer.
On a personal note, I am extremely flattered that he chose to end this memoir with a story of our first meeting at KMPC Radio in Los Angeles.
In doing so, Steve uses a quote from a chapter in my book :
I do not know if my act holds up these many years later. It is not for me to decide or even think about. Sometimes I hear or see a piece of an old show, and it sounds funny; sometimes I don't get it and can't figure out what the fuss is all about. I did however, in the course of writing this memoir, come across routines and adlibs, long forgotten that made me smile, like this description of a radio show in the seventies, remembered by the host Sonny Melendrez.
"Steve Martin came directly from a recording session to debut his Let's Get Small album on my show. Before he left, he got very serious, and I truly thought we were seeing another side of him. He launched into a monologue of what seemed like sincere words of friendship. It took me by surprise, given the hour of silliness that had just taken place. 'Could this be the real Steve Martin?' I thought.
"Sonny you know, I've listened to you for years, and I
really feel like you've become my friend. I feel like I
can ask you this question."
"Sure, Steve, you can ask me anything."
"What time is it?"
- from Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
As an extra treat, I invite you to listen to Steve tell the story in this excerpt from the Audio Book version of Born Standing Up.
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