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Born Standing Up
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Born Standing Up (2007) (edit title/settings)

A Comic's Life

by Steve Martin (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The Emmy and Grammy Award-winner's candid, spectacularly amusing memoir of his years in stand-up In the mid-seventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. Born Standing Up is, in his own... read more

Summary edit see section history

The book examines Martin's childhood, his first jobs at the Southern California theme parks, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. It includes his later stand-up comedy career, which lasted until 1981. In that year, Martin retired from stand-up comedy for four reasons.
1. The first reason he... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The book examines Martin's childhood, his first jobs at the Southern California theme parks, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. It includes his later stand-up comedy career, which lasted until 1981. In that year, Martin retired from stand-up comedy for four reasons.
1. The first reason he cites was due to his feeling that he had pinnacled his stand-up performance.
2. The second was his feeling that his routine had become bloated and old.
3. The third was that he was now also starting to become an actor in movies.
4. And the fourth was to pursue his new film career full-time.

Martin goes into detail about his act, how people viewed his act, and how that he managed to barely draw in more than a couple of people a night, to when he would be performing in front of tens of thousands of his fans.

Through Martin's slight explanations, the reader comes to understand his love for magic, his early gags like the "happy feet," and why he would wear a three-piece white vested suit on stage.

The book also deals with Martin's estranged relationship between himself and his family, especially his father. It goes on to relate how he eventually got to reconnect with each of his parents better, and learn more about them than he had known for his entire childhood. In addition, it goes into detail about his parents's deaths, and how he managed to deal with, and get through, both of them.

Though the book is primarily based on Martin's life and stand-up career, an interesting side story is his observations of how the world was changing completely around him, from his early days of hippy-esque "peace and love" culture, to something of which he was unsure, and something he had to work his act to agree with.

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First Sentence edit see section history

I did stand-up comedy for eighteen years.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Beforehand
Coffee and Confusion
Comedy Through the Airwaves
Disneyland
The Bird Cage Theatre
Television
The Road
Breakthrough
Standing Down
Acknowledgments

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Steve Martin (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Scribner
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 1416553649
Page Count: 224

Classification edit see section history

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