Posts Tagged ‘Born Standing Up’

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Reviews: The Arts

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently bought Steve Martin’s: Born Standing Up, an autobiography about his life in stand up comedy.  As promised, I am going to write a brief review of the book.  As a bonus, I will also be sharing my thoughts on my most most recent trip to the movies….(500) Days of Summer.

Comedy is a distortion of what is happening, and there will always be something happening. -Steve Martin

Born Standing Up was a quick and enjoyable read.  I read it over a 10 days span, which really means 3 days of actual reading.  I’d wager that I took no more than 4 hours to read it (maybe that’s quick?  it’s a 204 page book, make your own assumptions).  It’s evident that Steve Martin is a writer, which is why the book was so easy to read.  It’s written in a natural voice, making his childhood stories even more appealing.  Naturally, the book is written in chronological order, beginning with his childhood and rocky relationship with his father and ending with him walking away from stand up at what some would consider the apex of his career.

Continue Reading Here…

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Steve Martin: Born Standing Up

In my quest for new experiences and meeting new people, I’m contemplating dabbling in stand up comedy and improv comedy. Am I doing this to get discovered and become wildly famous in Hollywood? Of course…..joking, joking. See, I’m a natural at this comedy thing ;)

I’m actually just interested in opening up, overcoming some of my lingering childhood shyness, and meeting some fascinating people. I heard this was a good way to do it, just let go and get over your fear. Maybe this experience will help with my entrepreneurial aspirations and my fear of starting them?stevemartin

As a prelude to beginning this humorous chapter of my life, I decided to buy a book. I bought Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life. It’s his autobiography about his stand up life. It received good reviews on the New York Times (I believe). So, last night I ventured out to Borders and bought it, full price. That’s uncharacteristic of me, especially with Amazon a click away. However, my decision to buy it at Borders was two pronged. First, instant gratification. No need for explanation there. Secondly, I figured that by purchasing the book at full price, the guilt of paying the full $15 would coerce me into reading the book cover to cover. Far too many times I’ve started a book and stopped 83 pages into the book. Not this time.

In the coming weeks and months I will be posting my thoughts on Steve Martin’s book as well as my initial foray into structured comedy. Hopefully I’ll have some good jokes by then…hopefully.