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BIOGRAPHY
Steve
Martin was born in Waco, Texas to Glenn Vernon Martin, a real estate
salesman and aspiring actor and Mary Lee Stewart, a housewife. Martin
was raised in Garden Grove, California
and is of English, Scottish and Irish
descent.
Steve Martin
As
a teenager, Martin started out working at the Magic Shop at Disneyland,
where he developed his talents for magic, juggling, playing the banjo
and creating balloon animals. He teamed up with friend and Garden Grove
High School classmate Kathy Westmoreland to do a musical comedy routine,
performing at local coffee
houses and at the Bird Cage Theater in Knott's Berry Farm.
Martin
majored in philosophy at California State University at Long Beach, and
for a while, considered becoming a philosophy professor instead of an
actor-comedian. In 1967, he transferred to UCLA and switched his major
to theater. Martin soon began working local clubs at night, to mixed
notices. At the age of twenty-one, he dropped out of college for good.
Martin periodically spoofed his philosophy studies in his 1970s stand-up
act, comparing philosophy with studying geology. "If you're
studying geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school
you forget it all, but philosophy you remember just enough to screw you
up for the rest of your life."
While
attending college, he appeared in an episode of The Dating Game.
Nevertheless, his time there changed his life: "It changed what I
believe and what I think about everything. I majored in philosophy.
Something about non sequiturs appealed to me. In philosophy, I started
studying logic, and they were talking about cause and effect, and you
start to realize, 'Hey, there is no cause and effect! There is no logic!
There is no anything!' Then it gets real easy to write this stuff,
because all you have to do is twist everything hard—you twist the
punch line, you twist the non sequitur so hard away from the things that
set it up, that it's easy... and it's thrilling."
Martin's
girlfriend in 1967 was a dancer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
She helped Martin land a writing job with the show by submitting his
work to head writer Mason Williams. Williams initially paid Martin out
of his own pocket. Along with the other writers for the show, Martin won
an Emmy Award in 1969. Martin also wrote for John Denver (a neighbor of
his in Aspen, Colorado at one point), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour,
and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. He also appeared on these
shows and several others, in various comedy skits.
Martin
also performed his own material, sometimes as an opening act for groups
such as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and The
Carpenters. He appeared at San Francisco's The Boarding House,
among other venues. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination
for his work on Van Dyke and Company in 1976.
FAME
In
the mid-1970s, Martin made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian
on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. That exposure,
together with appearances on HBO's On Location and NBC's Saturday
Night Live (SNL) (on which, despite a common misconception,
he was never a cast member) led to his first of four comedy albums, Let's
Get Small. The album was a huge success; one of its tracks, Excuse
Me, helped establish a national catch phrase.
His
next album, A Wild and Crazy Guy, was an even bigger success,
reaching the #2 spot on the sales chart in the U.S. and featured another
catch phrase (the album's title), this time based on a Saturday Night
Live sketch in which Martin and Dan Aykroyd played a couple of
bumbling Czechoslovakian
would-be playboys, the Festrunk Brothers. The album ended with a song
"King Tut", sung and written by Martin and released as a 45
RPM single during the King Tut craze that accompanied the extremely
popular travelling exhibit of the Egyptian king's tomb artifacts; the
single reached the top 40 in 1978. The song was backed by the "Toot
Uncommons" (they were actually members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt
Band). The album was a million seller.
Both
albums won Grammys
for Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978, respectively.
In
his comedy albums, Martin's stand-up comedy was clearly self-referential
and sometimes self-mocking. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden
spurts of "happy feet", deft banjo playing with balloon
depictions of concepts like venereal disease. His style is off-kilter
and and sometimes pokes fun at stand-up comedy traditions. A
typical gag might be interrupted for a sip from a glass of water and
just as he was about to speak again, he forcefully spits the water onto
the floor.
Steve Martin
in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
FILMOGRAPHY
-
White
Noise (2005) (writer:
"In My Nursery")
-
The
Prince of Egypt (1998)
(performer: "Playing With The Big Boys")
-
Planes,
Trains & Automobiles
(1987) (performer: "I Can Take Anything" (1987))
-
Little
Shop of Horrors (1986)
(performer: "Dentist!")
-
¡Three
Amigos! (1986)
(performer: "THE BALLAD OF THE THREE AMIGOS", "MY
LITTLE BUTTERCUP", "BLUE SHADOWS")
-
Steve
Martin Live (1986) (V)
(writer: "Knowledge Medley", "Creativity In
Action", "Grandmother's Song", "King Tut")
(performer: "Knowledge Medley", "Creativity In
Action", "Grandmother's Song", "King Tut")
-
Steve
Martin: Comedy Is Not Pretty
(1980) (TV) (writer: "Drop Thumb Medley") (performer:
"Born To Be Wild", "Drop Thumb Medley")
-
The
Jerk (1979) (performer:
"You Belong To Me")
-
Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(1978) (performer: "Maxwell's Silver Hammer")
... aka Banda de los corazones
-
"Saturday
Night Live" ....
Himself - Host / ... (19 episodes, 1976-2006)
... aka NBC's Saturday Night (USA: first season title)
... aka SNL (USA: informal title)
... aka SNL 25 (USA: alternative title)
... aka Saturday Night (USA: second season title)
... aka Saturday Night Live '80 (USA: sixth season title)
- Alec
Baldwin/Christina Aguilera (2006) TV Episode (uncredited)
.... Himself
- Episode
#31.12 (2006) TV Episode .... Himself - Host
- Episode
#28.13 (2003) TV Episode (uncredited) .... Himself
- Episode
#20.1 (1994) TV Episode .... Himself - Host
- Bill
Murray/Sting (1993) TV Episode (uncredited) .... Himself
(14
more)
-
The
78th Annual Academy Awards
(2006) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself, in opening segment
-
"Paris
dernière" ....
Himself (1 episode, 2006)
- Episode
dated 3 March 2006 (2006) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Biography"
.... Himself (1 episode, 2006)
- Steve
Martin (2006) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"The
View" .... Himself
(2 episodes, 2003-2005)
- Episode
dated 22 December 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 26 February 2003 (2003) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Live
with Regis and Kathie Lee"
.... Himself (2 episodes, 2005)
... aka Live with Regis (USA: new title)
... aka Live with Regis & Kelly (USA: new title)
- Episode
dated 20 December 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 11 November 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno"
.... Himself (1 episode, 2005)
- Episode
dated 13 December 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
-
Earth
to America (2005) (TV)
.... Himself
-
"Late
Show with David Letterman"
.... Himself (2 episodes, 2005)
... aka Late Show Backstage (USA: title for episodes with guest
hosts)
... aka The Late Show (USA: informal short title)
- Episode
dated 10 November 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 21 September 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
Mark Twain Prize: Steve Martin
(2005) (TV)
-
The
WIN Awards (2005) (TV)
.... Himself
-
"Magacine"
.... Himself (1 episode, 2005)
- Episode
dated 23 September 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Corazón
de..." .... Himself
(1 episode, 2005)
- Episode
dated 12 September 2005 (2005) TV Episode .... Himself
-
Disneyland:
The First 50 Magical Years
(2005) .... Himself
-
Live
from New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live
(2005) (TV) .... Himself
... aka SNL: The First 5 Years (USA: promotional title)
-
Steve
Martin: An American Cinematheque Tribute
(2005) (TV) .... Himself
-
"Great
Performances" ....
Himself (1 episode, 2004)
- Bill
Irwin: Clown Prince (2004) TV Episode .... Himself
-
Jiminy
Glick in Lalawood (2004)
.... Himself
-
"Tinseltown
TV" .... Himself (1 episode,
2004)
- Episode
dated 17 January 2004 (2004) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Player$"
.... Himself (1 episode, 2003)
- Gladiator
Radio (2003) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Extra"
.... Himself (1 episode, 2003)
... aka Extra: The Entertainment Magazine (USA)
- Episode
dated 15 October 2003 (2003) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Entertainment
Tonight" ....
Himself (1 episode, 2003)
... aka E.T. (USA: informal title)
... aka ET Weekend (Australia: weekend title)
... aka Entertainment This Week (weekend title)
... aka This Week in Entertainment (USA: weekend title)
- Episode
dated 13 October 2003 (2003) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Ask
Rita" .... Himself
(1 episode, 2003)
- Episode
dated 3 May 2003 (2003) TV Episode .... Himself
-
100
Years of Hope and Humor
(2003) (TV) .... Himself
-
The
75th Annual Academy Awards
(2003) (TV) .... Himself - Host
-
Reel
Comedy: Bringing Down the House
(2003) (TV) .... Himself
-
"HBO
First Look" ....
Himself (1 episode, 2003)
- Looney
Tunes: Back in Action (2003) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts
(2002) (TV) .... Himself
-
Smothered:
The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
(2002) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself (interviewee, 2000 U.S.
Comedy Arts Festival footage)
-
Comedy
Central Presents: The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Chevy Chase
(2002) (TV) .... Himself
-
AFI
Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Tom Hanks
(2002) (TV) .... Himself
-
Gilda
Radner's Greatest Moments
(2002) (TV) .... Himself/Various
-
The
Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch
(2002) (TV) .... Interviewee
-
The
British Comedy Awards 2001
(2001) (TV) .... Himself
-
"Primetime
Glick" .... Himself
(1 episode, 2001)
- Bill
Maher/Steve Martin (2001) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
73rd Annual Academy Awards
(2001) (TV) .... Himself - Host
-
Life,
Death, and Damien (2000)
.... Himself
... aka Life and Death and Damien Hirst (UK: TV title)
-
AFI's
100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies
(2000) (TV) .... Himself
-
Saturday
Night Live: The Best of David Spade
(2000) (TV) .... Himself
-
Thin
Ice (2000) .... Himself
-
Fantasia/2000
(1999) .... Himself - Introductory Host
... aka Fantasia 2000 (Philippines: English title) (USA:
alternative spelling)
-
"The
Martin Short Show"
.... Himself (2 episodes, 1999)
- Episode
#1.41 (1999) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
#1.2 (1999) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
Venice Project (1999)
.... Himself
-
"The
Howard Stern Radio Show"
.... Himself (1 episode, 1999)
- Episode
dated 1 May 1999 (1999) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"The
Rosie O'Donnell Show"
.... Himself (2 episodes, 1998-1999)
- Episode
dated 31 March 1999 (1999) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 5 October 1998 (1998) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
71st Annual Academy Awards
(1999) (TV) .... Himself - Co-presenter: Writing Awards
-
14th
Annual TV Academy Hall of Fame
(1999) (TV) .... Himself
-
Saturday
Night Live: Game Show Parodies
(1999) (TV) .... Himself/Various Characters
-
"The
Directors" ....
Himself (2 episodes)
- The
Films of David Mamet (????) TV Episode .... Himself
- The
Films of Nora Ephron (????) TV Episode .... Himself
-
Saturday
Night Live: 25th Anniversary
(1999) (TV) .... Himself
-
From
Spam to Sperm (1999) (TV)
.... Himself
-
Saturday
Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley
(1998) (TV) .... Himself (Various Characters)
-
The
69th Annual Academy Awards
(1997) (TV) .... Himself
-
"The
Works" .... Himself
(1 episode, 1996)
- The
Actor's Cut (1996) TV Episode .... Himself
-
Classic
Stand-Up Comedy of Television
(1996) (TV) .... Himself
-
Nichols
and May: Take Two (1996)
(TV) .... Himself
-
"Showbiz
Today" .... Himself
(3 episodes, 1990-1996)
- Episode
dated 28 March 1996 (1996) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 20 October 1990 (1990) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 18 August 1990 (1990) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"American
Masters" ....
Himself (1 episode, 1996)
- Take
Two: Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1996) TV Episode ....
Himself
-
The
Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts
(1995) (TV) .... Himself
-
The
67th Annual Academy Awards
(1995) (TV) .... Himself - Presenter: Best Editing
-
"The
Martin Short Show"
.... Himself (1 episode, 1994)
- The
Steve Martin Show (1994) TV Episode .... Himself
-
Comic
Relief VI (1994) (TV)
-
"The
Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"
.... Himself / ... (44 episodes, 1972-1992)
... aka The Best of Carson (USA: rerun title)
- Episode
dated 6 May 1992 (1992) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 19 December 1991 (1991) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 14 August 1990 (1990) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 30 August 1989 (1989) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 14 December 1988 (1988) TV Episode .... Himself
(39
more)
-
Paul
Simon: Born at the Right Time
(1991) (TV) .... Himself
-
"The
South Bank Show"
.... Himself (1 episode, 1991)
- Steve
Martin (1991) TV Episode .... Himself
-
"Late
Night with David Letterman"
.... Himself (3 episodes, 1984-1991)
- Episode
dated 1 February 1991 (1991) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 1 October 1984 (1984) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
dated 9 February 1984 (1984) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
62nd Annual Academy Awards
(1990) (TV) .... Himself - Presenter: Best Original Score
-
Life
of Python (1990) (TV)
.... Himself
... aka Life of Python: Monty Python 20th Anniversary Omnibus (UK)
-
Parrot
Sketch Not Included: Twenty Years of Monty Python
(1989) (TV) .... Himself/Host
-
Saturday
Night Live: 15th Anniversary
(1989) (TV) .... Himself
-
Learned
Pigs and Fireproof Women
(1989) (TV) .... Himself and The Great Flydini
-
The
American Film Institute Salute to Jack Lemmon
(1988) (TV) .... Himself
-
Looney
Tunes 50th Anniversary
(1986) (TV) .... Himself
-
Steve
Martin Live (1986) (V)
.... Himself
-
The
American Film Institute Salute to Gene Kelly
(1985) (TV) .... Himself
... aka The Best of Gene Kelly (UK: video box title)
-
The
57th Annual Academy Awards
(1985) (TV) .... Himself - Presenter: Best Art Direction
-
Muppet
Video: Rowlf's Rhapsodies with the Muppets
(1985) (V) .... Himself
... aka Jim Henson's Muppet Video: Rowlf's Rhapsodies with the
Muppets (USA: complete title)
-
The
History of White People in America
(1985) (TV) .... Himself
... aka The History of White People in America: Volume I
-
"The
New Show" ....
Himself (2 episodes, 1984)
- Episode
#1.3 (1984) TV Episode .... Himself
- Episode
#1.1 (1984) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
American Film Institute Salute to Frank Capra
(1982) (TV) .... Himself
-
Steve
Martin's Best Show Ever
(1981) (TV) .... Himself/Various
-
The
53rd Annual Academy Awards
(1981) (TV) .... Himself - Co-Presenter: Best Cinematography
-
Steve
Martin: All Commercials
(1980) (TV) .... Himself/Various
-
Johnny
Cash: The First 25 Years
(1980) (TV) .... Himself
-
"The
Big Show" ....
Himself (1 episode, 1980)
- Episode
#1.1 (1980) TV Episode .... Himself
-
Steve
Martin: Comedy Is Not Pretty
(1980) (TV) .... Himself/Various
-
The
Kids Are Alright (1979)
.... Himself
... aka The Who Rock Concert (Philippines: English title)
-
The
51st Annual Academy Awards
(1979) (TV) .... Himself - Co-Presenter: Best Visual Effects
-
The
21st Annual Grammy Awards
(1979) (TV) .... Himself
-
Steve
Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy
(1978) (TV) .... Himself/Various
-
Bob
Hope's Salute to the 75th Anniversary of the World Series
(1978) (TV) .... Himself
-
The
30th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
(1978) (TV) .... Himself
-
The
20th Annual Grammy Awards
(1978) (TV) .... Himself
-
Rolling
Stone Magazine: The 10th Anniversary
(1977) (TV) .... Himself
-
"The
Muppet Show" ....
Himself (1 episode, 1977)
- Episode
#2.8 (1977) TV Episode .... Himself
-
On
Location: Steve Martin
(1976) (TV) .... Himself
-
Rocky
Mountain Christmas (1975)
(TV) .... Himself
... aka John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas (USA: complete
title)
-
"Cher"
.... Himself (1 episode, 1975)
- Episode
#2.9 (1975) TV Episode .... Himself
-
The
Funnier Side of Eastern Canada
(1974) (TV) .... Himself
-
"The
Dating Game" ....
Himself (1 episode, 1970)
... aka The New Dating Game (USA: syndication title)
- Episode
dated 16 March 1970 (1970) TV Episode (uncredited) ....
Himself
Steve Martin's
famous smirk
LINKS
and REFERENCE
Steve Martin
- portrait
A
- Z ACTORS INDEX
A
- Z FILMS INDEX
Scifi
adventure set in the Antarctic where scientists discover giant insects
from the age of dinosaurs.
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