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THE MIND OF A COMIC
There's an old joke that goes like this: A man walks into a
doctor's office. He says "Doctor, I'm terribly depressed. Nothing
cheers me up; there is no joy in my life. Can you help me?" The
physician says, "I have just the thing. The great clown Cabrini
is playing tonight at the opera house. He will make you laugh
your troubles away without fail." The man shakes his head and
says "Ah, that's the problem. Doctor. I am Cabrini."
There is more than a little Cabrini in comedian Steve
Martin's autobiography Bom Standing Up: A Comics Life
(Scribner, 2007). Although the book is full of warm and funny
moments, a faint melancholy air flits through it like the tune
of an old music box. Martin confesses his mixed emotions in
his introduction: "In a sense, this book is not an autobiogra
phy, but a biography, because I am writing about someone I
used to know."
Martin's story begins with a reasonably normal Southern
California boyhood, darkened slightly by an emotionally distant
father. As a boy, his first foray into showbiz was as a third-
grade magician, but his first true apprenticeship in the enter
tainment world began when he was 10. He was one of the first
(and youngest) employees of the newly opened Disneyland. He
remained for seven years. He devotes an entire chapter to his
time in the Magic Kingdom, and remembers his colleagues with
a warmth that seems charmingly genuine. He also recounts
with great fondness his first job as a stage performer at Knott's
Berry Farm, where he played for three years. His account of his
quiet return visit there 30 years later is one of the most mov
ing parts of the book.
His memories of his
college days and early
career are similarly warm.
But as the memoir moves
into his years as a pro
fessional comedian, an
unmistakably different
tone emerges. We hear
it first when he writes
about his time as a
writer on the Smothers
Brothers show, when he
experiences his first panic
attack, and by the time
he reaches his chapter on
his time as a road comic,
it is in full bloom. The
tone is one of loneliness.
All artists understand the
loneliness that accompanies the act of creation, but for the
comedian it is especially difficult, because unlike the painter
or musician, the comic must guard against letting that emo
tion infect his work. Everyone likes a sad song every now and
then; a sad comedian, not so much. Like the clown Cabrini,
the comic must wear a happy face. This constant juxtaposition
clearly took its toll on Steve Martin. His recounting of these
days before money and fame reads like an old war story.
But even these years were valuable. As Martin writes: "In
this netherworld, I was free to experiment... Everything was
learned in practice, and the lonely road, with no critical eyes
watching, was the place to dig up my boldest, or dumbest,
ideas and put them onstage." His act tightened, his reviews
got better, and he began to draw larger audiences as a con
sequence. None of his experience with success, though, could
quite prepare him for what happened next.
In October 1976, Steve Martin appeared as guest host on
a new TV show called "Saturday Night Live." The next time he
performed stand-up, 6,000 people showed up, twice the num
ber of his largest previous draw. Steve Martin the phenomenon
was born. He would ride the wave for six years. Two albums
of his stand-up went platinum. At the height of his fame, he
played in New York to an audience of 45,000 people. And then,
in 1982, he quit. Just like that. He would never perform stand-
up again. Born Standing Up ends there. Martin's post-comic life
will have its own volume. For now, we must be content with
this elegant little book, maybe the best book ever written on
the inner workings of the comic mind.
Pete McBrayer
Pete McBrayer is a local stand-up comic.
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