Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
5 journalers for this copy...
I bought this at a charity booksale to give to a fellow bookcrosser as a RABCK.
Sending in the mail to dabercro as part of the Happy Day RABCK. Congrats on winning, hope you enjoy or know someone who will.
Received in the mail today. Thanks for the RABCK and the bookmark! Looks like an interesting read.
From the book jacket..."In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was he biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away."
An interesting memoir detailing Steve's life from age 10 when he started his career.
An interesting memoir detailing Steve's life from age 10 when he started his career.
Journal Entry 5 by dabercro at ~~~ ♥ ~~~ A Friend ~~~ ♥ ~~~, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA on Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Released 13 yrs ago (10/12/2010 UTC) at ~~~ ♥ ~~~ A Friend ~~~ ♥ ~~~, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Sending to Aberpeter in WA.
thanks for the rabck off my wishlist
Steve Martin's memoir Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life takes the reader on a journey through Steve Martin's stand up career, from his start at the age of 10, selling guide books at Disney, through his years as a writer to a successful headlining comic.
Steve tells his story with honesty, leaving any celebrity ego he may have out of his story. As he matured as a person and as a comic, Steve would analyze his performances, learn from his mistakes and take note of things that worked in his performance. Through his hard work and determination, he started headlining. The nature of the stand-up comedian business is very lonely. The longer Steve was on the road, the more the solitary life-style bothered him, which eventually led the to end of his career as a stand-up comic.
Steve tells his story with honesty, leaving any celebrity ego he may have out of his story. As he matured as a person and as a comic, Steve would analyze his performances, learn from his mistakes and take note of things that worked in his performance. Through his hard work and determination, he started headlining. The nature of the stand-up comedian business is very lonely. The longer Steve was on the road, the more the solitary life-style bothered him, which eventually led the to end of his career as a stand-up comic.
Sending to JennyC to add to the Autobiography/Biography/Humor bookbox
Caught today for the Virtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox.
I'm going to read this one quickly and put back into the bookbox! I love Steve Martin.
I'm going to read this one quickly and put back into the bookbox! I love Steve Martin.
My Review: This was such a wonderful story! I am a big fan of his comedy and his writing, such as Pure Drivel and Shopgirl.
This story was only focused on his career in comedy. It's a really interesting story and he puts his own spin on it. If you are curious about him and his career, then you will enjoy this book!
Favorite Quotes:
"I learned speed-walking, and I could slip like a water moccasin through dense throngs of people, a technique I still use at airports and on the sidewalks of Manhattan."
"When I moved out the of the house at 18, I rarely called home to check up on my parents or tell him how I was doing. Why? The answer shocks me as I write it: I didn't know I was supposed to."
"Despite a lack of natural ability, I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naivete, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do."
"One afternoon I donned Phil's beret--which meant I was disguised as an artist--and sneaked into his life drawing class, where an attractive nude blonde was casually displaying herself. I was all business on the outside, but on the inside I was shouting, 'Yeehaw!'"
"Comedy is a distortion of what is happening, and there will always be something happening."
"In a college psychology class, I had read a treatise on comedy explaining that a laugh was formed when the storyteller created tension, then, with the punch line, released it. I didn't quite get this concept, nor do I still, but it stayed with me."
"You have an ob-leek (oblique) sense of humor." -- when meeting Elvis Presley he told him what he thought of his comedy
"Fame suited me in that the icebreaking was already done and my natural shyness could be easily overcome. I was, however, ill suited for fame's destruction of privacy."
Putting back into the Virtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox.
This story was only focused on his career in comedy. It's a really interesting story and he puts his own spin on it. If you are curious about him and his career, then you will enjoy this book!
Favorite Quotes:
"I learned speed-walking, and I could slip like a water moccasin through dense throngs of people, a technique I still use at airports and on the sidewalks of Manhattan."
"When I moved out the of the house at 18, I rarely called home to check up on my parents or tell him how I was doing. Why? The answer shocks me as I write it: I didn't know I was supposed to."
"Despite a lack of natural ability, I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naivete, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do."
"One afternoon I donned Phil's beret--which meant I was disguised as an artist--and sneaked into his life drawing class, where an attractive nude blonde was casually displaying herself. I was all business on the outside, but on the inside I was shouting, 'Yeehaw!'"
"Comedy is a distortion of what is happening, and there will always be something happening."
"In a college psychology class, I had read a treatise on comedy explaining that a laugh was formed when the storyteller created tension, then, with the punch line, released it. I didn't quite get this concept, nor do I still, but it stayed with me."
"You have an ob-leek (oblique) sense of humor." -- when meeting Elvis Presley he told him what he thought of his comedy
"Fame suited me in that the icebreaking was already done and my natural shyness could be easily overcome. I was, however, ill suited for fame's destruction of privacy."
Putting back into the Virtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox.
This book was not chosen from Round #2 of theVirtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox, so it's available.
Putting this book into princess-peapod's Spring Cleaning Bookbox.
Selected from princess-peapod's spring cleaning bookbox.
