In the seventies Steve Martin reigned as the top standup comedian across the United States, reaching commercial peaks—sold-out arena shows, platinum albums, chart singles, and ecstatic audience worship—normally reserved for rock acts. Later phases of his work embraced respected dramatic roles and playwriting, yet the “Wild and Crazy Guy” figure shaped on his comedy LPs continues to represent his defining artistic contribution for countless admirers.
Born August 14, 1945, in Waco, Texas, Martin passed most of his early years in California and, while still a teenager, operated a concession stand at Disneyland. There he acquired assorted stage skills that ranged from magic and juggling to banjo playing and balloon-animal sculpting. Following college graduation he began crafting, and sometimes delivering, humorous material for television series such as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Hour, and The Sonny & Cher Show. Toward the close of the sixties he relocated to Canada, where he appeared as a recurring guest on the syndicated Half the George Kirby Comedy Hour and simultaneously launched his standup career.
Martin soon advanced to opening slots for rock acts, his long hair, scraggly beard, and hippie attire placing him squarely within the period’s counterculture. In his twenties, however, his hair turned white; he gradually adjusted his stage image to match, emerging as a neatly groomed, impeccably attired traditionalist. The resulting contrast with his increasingly elaborate comic character proved striking: outwardly playful and absurd, Martin’s routines scathingly derided the inherent foolishness of standup itself, drawing on catchphrases, props, and familiar bits to forge a singular strain of lacerating anti-comedy.
Once he had cultivated an audience on the club circuit, Martin attained nationwide visibility through multiple guest spots on NBC’s Saturday Night Live and several appearances on The Tonight Show. His 1977 debut album, Let’s Get Small, propelled his career into overdrive; the LP climbed into the Top Ten, his live dates sold out instantly, and catchphrases such as “I am…one wild and crazy guy!” and “Well excuuuse me!” entered the vernacular. After a brief cameo in the musical Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band he made his feature-film bow with 1978’s The Jerk, which he also wrote; he additionally produced the best-selling volume Cruel Shoes.
A Wild and Crazy Guy, Martin’s biggest-selling record, appeared the same year. Another platinum release, it rose to the number-two chart position thanks to the comic single “King Tut,” a mock-disco track that satirized the contemporary national fixation on the ancient Egyptian pharaoh. By then Martin had clearly begun to tire of standup’s limited scope; following his last two LPs—1979’s Comedy Is Not Pretty and 1980’s Steve Martin Brothers—he starred in the film musical Pennies from Heaven, a decisive step beyond his earlier buffoonish Jerk persona, and ultimately withdrew from standup performance entirely.
After a string of modestly received comedies directed by Carl Reiner, among them the inventive Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, Martin earned praise for his deft physical comedy in 1984’s All of Me. His warm portrayal and accomplished script for 1987’s Roxanne, a graceful comic reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac, secured the critical recognition that had previously eluded him and soon led to dramatic parts in Lawrence Kasdan’s Grand Canyon and the Silas Marner adaptation A Simple Twist of Fate. During the nineties Martin appeared largely disengaged from Hollywood productions, coasting through formulaic mainstream comedies such as Father of the Bride and Sgt. Bilko; instead he concentrated on theater, authoring the well-received stage work Picasso at the Lapin Agile.
Remaining wide-ranging in his pursuits, Martin also cut a banjo record; when the John McKuen-produced Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo emerged on Rounder Records in 2009, it demonstrated his command of the instrument and underscored his broad, adaptable gifts. To promote the album he toured with the Steep Canyon Rangers serving as his backing group. The partnership proved popular and yielded 2011’s Rare Bird Alert, on which Martin joined the Steep Canyon Rangers as a guest member and which included contributions from Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks. Love Has Come for You, a joint project with Edie Brickell featuring her lyrics and vocals over Martin’s banjo melodies, reached stores in spring 2013. Topping Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart, the album proved a major success, prompting a tour—captured on a 2014 live recording—and a follow-up, So Familiar, issued in October 2015. Love Has Come for You additionally prompted Martin and Brickell to compose the musical Bright Star, directed by Walter Bobbie. Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina shortly after World War II, the show premiered in 2014, and in 2016 Ghostlight released the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Bright Star. Martin’s second studio collaboration with the Steep Canyon Rangers was heralded by the summer 2017 single “Caroline.” The resulting album, The Long-Awaited Album, arrived in September of that year.
