Steve Martin’s Memoir: Born Standing Up

Like many people my age, I remember watching Steve Martin and his wild and crazy guy routine for most of my adult life. I saw him on the Smothers Brothers Show, Johnny Carson, and certainly Saturday Night Live. I loved some of his movies — Roxanne and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels but rarely paid to see them. I always thought a little of him went a long way when it came to movies. I really enjoyed his book The Pleasure of My Company, about an obsessive compulsive neurotic, but didn’t finish Shopgirl. However, I can full recommend his memoir, Born Standing Up.

There is much more to Martin’s comic routine than meets the eye and ear. His influences were magicians, musicians, and comics such as Laurel and Hardy, Jack Benny and the old time radio comedians. He describes how as he went from gig to gig, he developed his philosophy of humor. A gag or joke works because it builds up a tension in the listener. When the release comes, so does the laugh. Martin wanted to know what would happen if you built the tension, but didn’t ever release it. When would people laugh and why? The way he talks about his process makes the reader want to see some of the skits to see how he is building this tension.

Another interesting part of the memoir is his struggles with his family, and his father in particular. Most of Martin’s personal life — and certainly his marriage — are left out of this story. He does talk about the tension in his family life and how, before the death of his father, he was able to reach out to him at least on some level. As a parent and a child, I could relate to the misunderstandings that can contaminate family life.

Here are links to some works of Steve Martin. Some of the older movies and tv shows are only in vhs.

Films

The Pink Panther (2006)

Shopgirl (2005)

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)

Bringing Down the House (2003)

Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)

Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

Novocaine (2001) (vhs)

Bowfinger (1999)

The Out of Towners (1998) (vhs)

The Spanish Prisoner (1997) (vhs)

Sgt. Bilko (1996) (vhs)

Father of the Bride II (1995) (vhs)

Mixed Nuts (1994)

A Simple Twist of Fate (1994)

Leap of Faith (1992)

Housesitter (1992)

Grand Canyon (1991)

L.A. Story (1991)

Father of the Bride (1991)

My Blue Heaven (1990)

Parenthood (1989)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Roxanne (1987) (vhs)

Three Amigos (1986) (vhs)

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

All of Me (1984)

The Lonely Guy (1984) (vhs)

The Man with Two Brains (1983)

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) (vhs)

Pennies from Heaven (1981)

The Jerk (1979)

The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977)

Books

Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life Listen to audio clip

The Pleasure of My Company

Kindly Lent By Their Owner: The Private Collection of Steve Martin

Shopgirl

Pure Drivel

Wasp, a Play in One Act

Cruel Shoes

Fierce Pajamas: an anthology of humor writing from the New Yorker
Records

The Steve Martin Brothers 1981

Comedy Is Not Pretty! 1979

A Wild and Crazy Guy 1978

Let’s Get Small 1977

Television Shows

Best of The Muppet show. (vhs)

Muppet Show 2

SNL. The complete second season

Saturday Night Life : the best of Steve Martin

Saturday Night Live, the classic years (vhs)

The best of Saturday night live. 1991 (vhs)

Saturday Night Live 15^th anniversary special (vhs)

February ‘08 Book Tea Party

This year for our Book Pot Luck we had a tea party, with a variety of teas and pots! The books that were chosen were:

Old Wives Tale by Electa Trisch (Virtual Catalog only);

Lost art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice;

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips;

The Ghost by Robert Harris;

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Venora Bennett;

Alligators, Old Mink & New Money by Alison Houtte;

Once Upon a Town by Bob Greene;

Sammy’s Hill by Kristen Gore;

The Partner by John Grisham;

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies.

The food was delicious, especially the unusual chicken salad sandwiches made with dried cranberries, allspice, chili, cinnamon and ginger!

Books to Choose From

Teas from Basically British in Warren, RI

Sharing a Favorite

Three at the party

Poetry and Music at the Library

It’s not just me! Other people at our Poetry and Acoustic Music Open Mike on Jan. 27 agreed that we are getting better and better. The poets have become much better at reading their poetry. There was a wide range of types from moving memorials to fallen comrades to a humorous piece about a dog to poems about a trip in a dory and the struggles of being 12. The music was also wonderful and varied: a couple of pieces on accordion, two pieces in tribute to Dan Fogelberg and Garth Brooks and a couple of songs written by the performer. Thanks to our participants:

Bill Lambert, Brad Smith and Chuck Durang were our musicians.

Bob Maskell, J. Richard Lebel, Joanne Bixby, Ken Patton, Leslie Joanne Hill, Mary Gregory, Richard Menoche and Robert Toto were our poets.

The Sun Chronicle had a nice spread of pictures. You can see them online in their photo gallery for Jan. 28, 2008.

Another article that appeared was about Irene Davey who just turned 100. Irene graced our poetry open mikes several times in our early years. She once offered a poetry prize for the best poem by a youth.

They also had an article about a poetry slam at the Attleboro Art Museum, that sounded fascinating. Watch for it next time they hold another one.

To Kill a Mockingbird is our 2008 community-wide book

This year the Library received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts Big Read program for a community-wide read of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We are partnered with UMass Boston’s Healey Library and WUMB-FM, Newburyport Literary Association, and the Silver Lake School and Gallery in the grant. Our events will include a visit by Charles Shields, author of Mockingbird, the biography of Harper Lee. We will also focus on North Attleboro in the ’30s with a music of the ’30s event. Other activities are still in the works.

We are encouraging groups around town to participate in book discussions. We will provide guides courtesy of the NEA. If anyone has ideas for other programs, please contact Maggie at the library.

Visit our Books Open Doors home page to keep up with the latest.