Born Standing Up - A
Comic's Life is a warm and
very funny account of Steve'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:
