I just finished reading Steve Martin’s autobiography Born Standing Up. I picked it up yesterday, read half of it, and and then read the other half this morning.
It was a short book, just over 200 pages, so nothing to run home about in terms of length, but I think it still speaks to how it grabs you.
I really only knew him from his films; The Jerk, The Three Amigos, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles… and not really from his standup. At the back of my mind I might have known that he had made a real impact with it, but I’d never sought out any of it.
Watching some of it now it’s really amazing how confident he appears and how lively he moves around the stage in comparison to the dry humor and humble attitude that the book takes.
As far as I know he hasn’t done any stand up since giving it up in the early 80s which strikes me as maybe not bizarre, but a bold choice. I’m not saying it was a poor choice, I love his film career and it’s clearly been lucrative for him, but to quit an art form cold turkey after honing your craft for more than a decade seems frightening.
He mentions near the end of the book the idea that art is abandoned when it’s “finished”, if ever finished at all, and I guess this was his motivation for moving on.
When you’ve mastered one skill, it’s time to begin learning another.