Customer Reviews

Comedy Is Not Pretty!

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For 1979 Steve Martin returned to The Boardinghouse nightclub in San Francisco for his third comedy LP, even though according to Steve when they got the tape they took to to the studio and erased it.

Comedy Is Not Pretty, and admittedly this third LP isn't quite as good as Let's Get Small and Wild & Crazy Guy, in part because at points it is cruder, particularly in Steve's somewhat embarassing sketch on Jackie Onassis. It nonetheless does hold up well, from his accident with a drinking glass onward. His Sound Effects gag is quite funny, and he brings out his Wild & Crazy trademark when he growls that the audience thinks he's A Rubberhead.

Googlephonics, dealing with a subject one usually doesn't think about for comedy (stereo systems), is the most interesting track, in large part because it is almost a botch. Steve blows his lines repeatedly during the sketch, and it is here that the laughs come.

Steve's banjo gets work in two tracks. Cruel Shoes is the title story from the contemporaneous book he authored, while his deft deployment of the banjo shines brightest in the delightful Drop Thumb Medley.

From the taking of histages (the Iran hostage crisis gave the album an eerie topicality at the time of its 1979 release) through Steve's tips on becoming a millionaire, Comedy may not be Pretty, but it is still funny.

I first listened to this on 8 track when I was a kid and found this a classic rightaway. Martin shows that his witty humor can last into the ages. I highly recomend this to anyone looking for a good laugh. I've gone through some of my old comedy tapes and some were not as funny as I remembered, but Steves comedy is timeless and sophistication of the 90's can't ruin this. a definate must get, humor that doesn't requiring swearing and all the other acts today in order to be funny.

I bought the c.d. a year ago from a local record store. They had it playing and I asked what it was. Luckily, I found the only copy they had. I bought it, took it home, and I was amazed. I laughed my butt off. I haven't heard his other albums, but I just thought this one was hillarious!! If you enjoy comedy, BUY THIS RECORD NOW!

Steve martins style of humor continues with this collection of routines. My favorite is Cruel Shoes, in fact I think it is one of the funniest bits he has ever done. Buy it!

Steve Martin was marketed/managed VERY well in the mid 1970's. His first album "Let's Get Small" came out of nowhere and inspired many. His follow up "Wild and Crazy Guy" went a step down...some outtakes from the original album, and some more recent live stuff (see my reviews of those if you wish).

Then came this cd...which appears to be everything left on the cutting room floor...that should have remained there perhaps. If you are a fan, this is worth having as a collector...so we can hear when his comedy did NOT work.

So, if you want to have everything of Martin's...get this. If you only want something funny...then stay away...far away...from this cd, which could have been titled "Comedy is not Here"

All of Steve Martin's comedy albums are funny. It's just a question of which of the four are the funniest. If you're looking for his best, they are "Let's Get Small" and "A Wild and Crazy Guy" (in that order). On his final comedy album, "The Steve Martin Brothers", a full side of the album is just Steve's banjo playing (the other half obviously comedy). You'll only get half the comedy you expected on that one.

I USED TO LISTEN TO THIS YEARS AGO AND GOT TO WHERE I COULD RECITE SOME OF THE ALBUM BY HEART. I JUST HAD TO GET IT SO THAT MY FRIENDS COULD LISTEN TO IT AND UNDERSTAND WHERE I WAS GETTING MY ONE LINERS. STEVE MARTIN GOES DOWN THERE WITH BILL COSBY FOR COMEDY. LOVE THIS AND HIS OTHERS.

My first Steve Martin album was " Wild and Crazy Guy " so this was my second album from him and still a very solid album for Steve coming off his Phoenix on Saturday Night Live and 1978 hit song " King Tut ", Some of the bits may not translate well to the younger crowd like " Googlephonics" but real talent is displayed in " Drop Thumb Medley " yeah man Steve and his banjo ROCKS. This was recorded at the peak of the night club Seventies before we entered the more mature Eighties, and it was fun to party, so you can forgive the free wheeling pick up chicks vibe. I love Steve Martin's comedy because he's funny without being crude, he was almost " intellectual " in his pseudo-post-college-doubt God-and pot wasn't that bad approach to late Seventies lifestyle. Always funny never explicit and I admit I wish he was still this good.

This CD was exactly what I ordered and came well within the shipment window promised. I have liked Steve Martin since I saw him at The Birdcage at Knott's Berry Farm in the 60s.

This cd pales in comparison to Steve's previous two releases. Let's Get Small is a must have for any cd library. Wild and Crazy Guy is the follow up and not as good, but it is from the tour when I saw Martin in a large venue. Comedy is not pretty appears to be out takes from his earlier club days (of which Let's Get Small comes from). This is in comparison, 2nd rate material - the funniest already utilized. Buy this only if you want a complete collection of Martin's work.