Born Standing Up - A Comic's Life

Author: Martin, Steve
ISBN: 978-1416553649
Year Published: 2007
Date Read: 28 January 2008
File Under: Autobiography
Why did I read this book? It was a gift from my sister-in-law.
Number of pages: 207, with a large font and widely spaced lines (I guess he did not want two novellas in a row.)
Not recommended.

Comments: Why did Steve Martin write this book? I don't know. Why did I read this book? Steve martin was a hilarious hoot who created great self-deprecating comedy for many years (and my sister-in-law gave the book to me for Christmas). Why did I read this book all the way to the finish? I hoped it would get better. It did not.

I had heard that Shop Girl, also by Martin, was well written and reviewed. That is as close as I got. As my hair color reveals that I would have been young when Steve Martin was popular, the book appeared to be an appropriate gift for a man known for his own gags, now and then. I thought the book would be funny, insightful, entertaining, an escape from reality and filled with quality prose.

Why would you expect well written text from one successful at delivery of one-liners? When we watched Steve Martin, part of the humor was what we perceived was going on in his head. Why, for example, did he think he was a wild and crazy guy? We went along. Why did he wear that arrow thing? We ignored it along with him. When we so exercised our imagination about what was going on in the comedian’s head we filled in the blanks with our own willingness to find humor and to laugh. Steve Martin did not have to say too much. No long monologues – outlandish behavior for no apparent reason and street theater carried us along on riffs of laughter. We wanted to laugh and saw no reason to hold back. But this book. What happened?

Okay, so it is his biography (and who has not wondered whether the tale of one’s life would be interesting to others) and he did not get along with his Dad. He liked his Mom. You never get the impression that anyone in the family has a big heart pumping out tons of love. There were no hugs, group or otherwise, going on in Southern California when Steve was growing up. If you are looking for profound introspection, it ain’t in this book. If you want insight into the human condition, go reread The Good Earth. If you want to find out about Steve Martin, the bio on Wikipedia is likely more interesting and you can see the end of the article without scrolling down too much.

Born Standing Up provides you with information about every job held by Steve Martin, his companions of the female persuasion, and celebrities cresting in popularity at the same time as this comedian. Maybe it was cathartic for Steve Martin to write the book. Maybe the scene of Steve Martin saying goodbye to his father on his death bed was meant to mean more, but the emotion evoked here was as shallow as a one-liner. I do not mean to detract at all from Steve Martin’s genius. It just does not show up on these pages.

Some other comedian has a rave blurb on the back of the book. I suspect he read other reviews, has spent too much time reading Superman, and that he never opened this book. Pedantic, plodding, dull, dry, narrowly focused, mildly entertaining, historical, mercifully short, sleeping pill, tinder. Steve Martin deserves a better biography.