Lake Neuron

I guess it’s a little unusual to receive a book on Christmas morning and finish it before going to bed Christmas night — and I promise you it was not at the cost of being antisocial — but I just closed “Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life,” by Steve Martin.

For someone like me who adored Steve’s standup comedy as a high school student in the late 1970s, this was a terrific gift choice. It’s well known, of course, that Martin is a fine writer — not only some of his own screenplays but plays and novels as well. But this is different, a surprisingly frank and relevatory memoir of his days as a stage performer, from being a teenager at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm to quitting the standup game at a time when he was performing in arenas. There are plenty of fun celebrity stories, but this is not a seamy tell-all book. Instead, it’s a memoir of how Steve crafted a new kind of comedy — with influences as wide-ranging as vaudeville and his studies in philosophy.

When I was in Christian college, one of the leading names in Christian (and secular) music was Michael Omartian. As a secular record producer, he was the driving force behind Christopher Cross’s success. But he and his wife Stormie also released Christian albums as performers, and Stormie went on to success as an author of religious books. I had no idea that Stormie had once dated Steve Martin, with whom she worked at Knott’s Berry Farm. He speaks fondly of her, refers to her autobiography, and includes her in the acknowledgments of people who helped him gather photos and what have you for the book. I’m guessing that he doesn’t share her faith, but neither does he disparage it or disrespect it.

I also appreciated Martin’s remembrance of a crucial week performing at the Exit/In in Nashville, the legendary nightclub where I attended BarCamp last summer.

I have a CD, purchased a year or two ago, of “A Wild And Crazy Guy,” which I owned on vinyl as a teenager. I’ll have to listen to it again after work tomorrow. (The same hazy photo of Steve wearing bunny ears appears on the new book and the old album.)

This is definitely a recommended read.

Tags: books, Steve Martin