Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.49 (889 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B000ZM8GL8 |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 196 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-07-16 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Not A Hollywood Tell-All But Rather A Sneak Peek Into The Hard Work Roller Coaster of a Professional Comedian I bought the audio version with the e-version and it felt as if he walk speaking specifically to me. It gave it a much more intimate feel. I highly recommend the professional reading addition.The book itself is a collections of stand-up memories and developmental notes on how Mr. Martin began his professional career as an onstage performer. It goes through a bit of the highs and low without going for the cheap "tell all" trash of sex, drugs, and back room deals that seems more like a low class ploy to. "Not a barrel of laugh, monkeys, etc." according to Stepan Spoonwalla. It's kind of depressing, actually. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing; who was it that explained that most good comedy comes not from light-hearted people, but is a weapon aimed at the powerful rather than a tool to amuse them; to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" ?Martin's book brings the dark, but not so much the anger; more sadness. What he does a pretty good job of is showing that, while he landed by an accident of birth in a charmed place and time, he was plagued with the same . Wonderful! One of the best autobiographies I've read. Though seemingly a shorter read than some, every word is woven into an intensely interesting, honest and heart warming story. With a self-made and brilliant career as a back-drop, Martin entices the reader into his life and takes you along for the ride. His revelations about his relationship with his parents will bring you to tears as well. I remember his famous phrases from his comedy routines being repeated at work. His and Dan Ackroyd's Czech "wild and cra
In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott's Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written. Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times -- the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. Born Standing Up is a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time.. In 198
President Kennedy died that day and I didn't know that news could be taken so personally by a nation. I could hear the scheduled programs clicking off and being replaced by live broadcasts. Obsession is a substitute for talent, he has said, and Steve Martin's focus and daring--his sheer tenacity--are truly stunning. He writes about mentors, girlfriends, his complex relationship with his parents and sister, and about some of his great peers in comedy--Dan Ackroyd, Lorne Michaels, Carl Reiner, Johnny Carson. In fact, only I have changed. As I looked around the eerily familiar room another first came over me, a previously unknown emotion, one that was to have a curious force over me for the rest my life: the longing tug of nostalgia. I asked someone what was going on. Years later I was looking through a box of memorabilia and noticed a silk-screened