Born Standing Up
Encyclopedia
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life is a memoir
, released November 20, 2007, by Steve Martin
, an American
author
, actor
, comedian
, executive producer
, playwright
and screenwriter
. It chronicles his early life, his days working for Disneyland, working at low tier coffee shops and clubs as a comedic act, his later days of the Bird Cage, his relationships, his eventual fame, and the reason why he quit standup altogether in 1981.
theme parks
, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm
. It includes his later stand-up comedy
career, which lasted until 1981. In that year, Martin retired from stand-up comedy for four reasons.
1. The first reason he cites was due to his feeling that he had pinnacled his stand-up performance.
2. The second was his feeling that his routine had become bloated and old.
3. The third was that he was now also starting to become an actor in movies.
4. And the fourth was to pursue his new film career full-time.
Martin goes into detail about his act, how people viewed his act, and how that he managed to barely draw in more than a couple of people a night, to when he would be performing in front of tens of thousands of his fans.
Through Martin's slight explanations, the reader comes to understand his love for magic, his early gags like the "happy feet," and why he would wear a three-piece white vested suit on stage.
The book also deals with Martin's estranged relationship between himself and his family, especially his father. It goes on to relate how he eventually got to reconnect with each of his parents better, and learn more about them than he had known for his entire childhood. In addition, it goes into detail about his parents's deaths, and how he managed to deal with, and get through, both of them.
Though the book is primarily based on Martin's life and stand-up career, an interesting side story is his observations of how the world was changing completely around him, from his early days of hippy-esque "peace and love" culture, to something of which he was unsure, and something he had to work his act to agree with.
An excerpt from the book was published in USA Today
.
s.
Lev Grossman
, Time
book critic, ranked the book number 6 on his 2007 "Top 10 Nonfiction Books" list.
Fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld
praised the book, calling it "one of the best books about comedy and being a comedian ever written."
version, read by the author, (and also released November 2007) was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award
for Best Spoken Word Album.
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, released November 20, 2007, by Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. It chronicles his early life, his days working for Disneyland, working at low tier coffee shops and clubs as a comedic act, his later days of the Bird Cage, his relationships, his eventual fame, and the reason why he quit standup altogether in 1981.
Overview
The book examines Martin's childhood, his first jobs at the Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
theme parks
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park in Buena Park, California, now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and a line of jams, jellies, preserves, and other specialty food, now part of The J. M. Smucker Company based in Placentia, California....
. It includes his later stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
career, which lasted until 1981. In that year, Martin retired from stand-up comedy for four reasons.
1. The first reason he cites was due to his feeling that he had pinnacled his stand-up performance.
2. The second was his feeling that his routine had become bloated and old.
3. The third was that he was now also starting to become an actor in movies.
4. And the fourth was to pursue his new film career full-time.
Martin goes into detail about his act, how people viewed his act, and how that he managed to barely draw in more than a couple of people a night, to when he would be performing in front of tens of thousands of his fans.
Through Martin's slight explanations, the reader comes to understand his love for magic, his early gags like the "happy feet," and why he would wear a three-piece white vested suit on stage.
The book also deals with Martin's estranged relationship between himself and his family, especially his father. It goes on to relate how he eventually got to reconnect with each of his parents better, and learn more about them than he had known for his entire childhood. In addition, it goes into detail about his parents's deaths, and how he managed to deal with, and get through, both of them.
Though the book is primarily based on Martin's life and stand-up career, an interesting side story is his observations of how the world was changing completely around him, from his early days of hippy-esque "peace and love" culture, to something of which he was unsure, and something he had to work his act to agree with.
An excerpt from the book was published in USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
.
Critical reception
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life received mostly favorable reviewReview
A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
s.
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman is an American novelist and journalist, notably the author of the novels Warp , Codex , The Magicians and The Magician King...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
book critic, ranked the book number 6 on his 2007 "Top 10 Nonfiction Books" list.
Fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
praised the book, calling it "one of the best books about comedy and being a comedian ever written."
Audio-book Grammy Award nomination
The audio-bookAudio book
An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...
version, read by the author, (and also released November 2007) was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Spoken Word Album.
External links
- Review of Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life, by Jeff Giles, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, November 16, 2007. Accessed May 18, 2009. - Excerpt from "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin, USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, November 20, 2007. Accessed May 18, 2009. - Audio excerpt from Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life, The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, October 29, 2007. Accessed May 18, 2009.