Customer Reviews

Born Standing Up

5 star:		(177)
4 star:		(69)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My pre-ordered copy from Amazon arrived the day before Thanksgiving. I tried to explain to my son who was home from college for the break how much I looked forward to reading Steve Martin's autobiography. He thought it sounded about as interesting as reading the autobiography of Chevy Chase.

But to anyone old enough to remember Steve Martin's sensational, if seemingly brief, career as a stand-up comic, this is a fascinating book, not to be missed. There is much here that was new to me. I had no idea, for example, that he appeared so many times on the Tonight Show before becoming really famous, or that he had appeared as a bearded, long-haired comedian before adopting his famous clean-cut 3-piece white suit look, or that he suffered from debilitating panic attacks just as he began his career as a writer on the Smothers Brothers show.

For the first 80 pages or so I thought his life story was a bit humdrum, almost like a parody of Bob Dylan's "Chronicles". Martin grew up 2 miles from Disneyland, and the fact that he became an entertainer seemed almost inevitable. But the book really takes off as he recounts the early days of his career making the transition from magician with a few funny bits to a full-blown stand-up comic. Not that Steve Martin is the colossal genius that Bob Dylan is, but it's interesting that much as Dylan describes how he became a songwriter because he realized he could never succeed as a virtuoso guitarist, Martin writes how he became a comic because, well, who doesn't want to be in show business?

At the height of his career as a stand-up comic Steve Martin was the funniest man in America. One of the joys of this book is that he appreciates how funny he was and delights in retelling the same jokes that amused us then and amuse us now. For the generation of Americans who came of age in the Seventies, Steve Martin's routines remain an important part of our lives. For example, for me personally, on the night in September 1978 when I finished my first day as a microprocessor programmer I recalled his profound insight: "...and the most amazing thing to me is: I get paid for doing this." I am very grateful that Steve Martin has taken the time to write this book.

With a number of hit movies under his belt, it's almost easy to forget that Steve Martin first earned fame doing stand-up comedy. In the late 1970's he was selling out large arenas, appearing regularly on Saturday Night Live and the Tonight Show, and spinning platinum comedy albums excerpted from his act. He made it look easy and was wildly successful until he walked away in the early 80's. In this book, he takes a look back at the path that led him toward all that fame. While he begins with childhood, he limits himself to events that were formative to his career. The narration is honest and concise. Whether he talks about failures in himself or others, he adopts a matter-of-fact tone that deftly avoids dips into self-pity or bitterness.

As the book continues, we learn all of his major stepping stones from Disneyland to the Bird Cage theater at Knotts Berry Farm, and so on. Martin traveled a winding road to stand-up success and is brutally honest about how much he had to learn for so long early in his career. Yet, with each step, you can see the progress as he figures out how to create his own unique comedy voice and make it work.

There are many things that could be said in favor of "Born Standing Up." From my perspective the most important are these two. First, I felt like I knew Steve Martin better when I finished reading than when I started. That may seem an obvious result of any biography but it can only be said if the author is genuinely candid. The second thing is that I both like and respect him more as a result. Not because he paints a perfect picture of himself, but because he is honest about his shortcomings and how he dealt with them. It was a true pleasure to spend this time in his company and I hope he writes a sequel someday covering the experiences of his movie career.

This offering takes us from Steve's childhood through his last stand-up act in the early 80s. On the verge of quitting in the mid-70s, he suddenly broke through bigtime, finally burning out a few years later and moving on to films. He was certainly my favorite comic at the time.

The book can be painful to read, especially before he hit it big. Constant travel. No money. Estranged from family. Silent (or heckling) audiences. Rejection. Loneliness.

The writing is first rate and some of his insights are profound, especially his take on Johnny Carson. The main problems I had with the book are the amount of space he devoted to unknowns he met along the way and his cerebral and overly analytical approach to his stand-up comedy. To me he was funny not because of what he said or did, but HOW he said or did it. Body language is his genius. Strangly, he doesn't seem to recognize that.

Make no mistake. This is not a funny book. It is a serious, sometimes sad, memoir of his dues paying years in the business. Often interesting (I read its 200 pages in two sittings), but not especially compelling.

You are not going to learn everything about Steve Martin. This is more like sitting with Steve Martin in a bar and him telling you a story. Its a gift really, some guy sits down and tells you he was once the biggest comic in the world. As you listen to the story he goes off on a little tangent once in a while but it is a nice conversation and when you finish you realize you might have just met the smartest guy you may ever know.

On a bit of a whim, I bought the audiobook version of Born Standing Up and thought it was superb. Because it is narrated by Steve Martin himself, the jokes and gags in the book absolutely come alive with hilarious result such that I couldn't imagine reading this book in print.

In short, buy the audiobook and treat yourself to a great story about a creative, thoughtful, talented, and truly funny man. You would have to be a grouch not to enjoy it!

I read this book partly because I remember, in my preteens, running out and buyng every Steve Martin album as soon as it came out. And since then I've been a fan of all of his work. But I never actually realized he consciously and definitively stopped doing stand up at a certain point in his life. I guess I just figured he didn't have time to do it anymore. This is a book about how Steve Martin developed as a comedian and his life during that endeavor. There's been a lot more to his life which he only alludes to in this book. What you get is his usual light, resonant touch and as others have said there is no malice anywhere in the telling. His tremendous discipline and intelligence come through and this is would be a great read for anyone who wants to be a performer.

Steve Martin recently expressed mild disapproval of the editing of his autobiography on Charlie Rose. Was the soul of his story edited away? Were the best comedy bits whittled down to nothing? Because something is definitely missing from Born Standing Up.

This was a very easy, mildly interesting read but a curious one too. Lots of 'I did this,' and 'I did that,' but little in the way of introspection revealed. Internal point of view, feeling. I'm mean, let us inside your head, Steve! How can someone suffer from anxiety attacks for 20 years and only mention it twice, briefly, in his book? You didn't let us in. Not until the end, with the death of his father and later his mother, does Martin really let loose, let us into his heart.

He mentions at one point that his defense against fame is to remain stoic. Okay. But I think that if you're going to take the time to write about your life, you should also consider taking the cork out of your emotional bottleneck and letting the real you flow.

I like Steve Martin and I don't mean to rip on him but this autobiography is too mannered, too orderly, and frustrating. Interesting but frustrating, like trying to get your silent Uncle Fred to tell you about his experiences in WWII and he only mentions the destinations, the weapons and the weather. How did you FEEL about the experiences, Uncle Fred? How did you FEEL about those times, Steve Martin? Unless he meant for me to feel sorry for him for the man he's become, Martin didn't relate his story well. He's an interesting subject but not in this book.

Maybe the biography will be better.

And funnier.

I love Steve Martin and it was great to relive some of the moments in the 70s when he was so brilliantly funny and we all watched him on Saturday Night Live. Reading about how he got there was enjoyable and it certainly seemed to be more difficult and require more work than I would have expected.

In the end I was really disappointed. This book left me wishing that I actually learned something about Steve Martin the person from the inside. Otherwise the book is just so much "I did this, then I did that, yada yada yada..." It may sound harsh, but who cares?

Mr. Martin has insights into the world, into comedy, into art that spring deeply from who he is. Too bad he left all that interesting and meaningful stuff out of this book.

I think Steve Martin is the closest thing to a "Renaissance Man" that our recent times has produced: he acts, he's funny, he writes like a dream, he's witty - and I mean that in the truest sense - and his timing and poise are rare these days in an artist. He is a truly modest man with (to borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill) much to NOT be modest about.

And yet, he is.

Having said that, I just finished "Born Standing Up" and, throughout the whole book, I laughed, I cried, I sat nodding in perfect understanding of what he wrote about the creative process and its accompanying fears and joys (I, too, am a writer). But there were certain times in the book during which I merely SAT and absorbed his carefully-turned phrases, his "just right" words, his perfect images, not overblown, not overdone but ... just right.

This is an intimate look at a private man; it contains the right degree of balance and revelation. I don't need to know every "down and dirty" detail of someone famous and their life or who they slept with on their way up. Likewise, Mr. Martin feels no need to tell a reader all that stuff; that's his business. But what he does reveal in this graceful memoir underlines his basic ordinariness and decency as a human being, while at the same time demonstrating the talents that made him so successful.

It also clearly demonstrates to anyone - be they writer, musician or comedian - that there is no such thing as an "overnight success". A "success" is only achieved after years of hard, hard work; most don't make it. Mr. Martin did - and, as I sat reading and remembering (and, yes, replaying his CDs in my car on the way home from work the last few days) - I silently thanked him for his genius, his literary skills and - of course - his comic talents. He's made my world, at least, a brighter place for many, many years.

Born Standing Up will be of most interest to young people who want to create a career performing in stand-up comedy. I was fascinated by Steve Martin's recollections of the lessons he learned at the magic shop in Disneyland and in performing at the Bird Cage Theater at Knott's Berry Farm. Both places were favorite haunts of mine while he was doing his apprenticeship, and I'm sure I saw him perform but don't remember him. Knowing a lot about both places, it made it easier for me to appreciate the other steps he took to develop an act and to become recognized. His description of being on the Tonight Show was a good lesson in patience . . . the first dozen or so appearances don't do a thing for your career.

Having seen him perform, I could never figure out why he chose to do the self-deprecating bit and wear a white suit. Now I know how all that came about. It was definitely interesting.

But if you want to know a lot more about Steve Martin, the man, and his daily thoughts and challenges . . . this book will leave you disappointed.

At times I felt like I was reading a book about how to plan a career rather than an autobiography -- especially towards the end when he explained how heavy touring while you are hot makes it inevitable that you won't develop the new material you need to stay hot. I guess there's a reason why Bob Hope always had so many writers working for him.

I haven't always enjoyed Steve Martin's humor, and I found myself wondering over some examples of what was great about his humor. If you aren't a big fan of Steve Martin's or don't want to be a stand-up comedian, you might find it wisest to skip this book. It's probably a two or three star effort for you.