Author

You want to be a bit compulsive in your art or craft or whatever you do.

I just believe that the interesting time in a career is pre-success, what shaped things, how did you get to this point.

I realized that comedians of the day were operating on jokes and punch lines. The moment you say the punch line, the audience either laughs sincerely or they laugh automatically or they don't laugh. The thing that bothered me was that automatic laugh. I said, that's not real laughter.

From Steve Martin

When I first started doing my comedy act, I just desperately needed material. So I took literally everything I knew how to do on stage with me, which was juggling, magic and banjo and my little comedy routines. I always felt the audience sorta tolerated the serious musical parts while I was doing my comedy.

From Steve Martin

I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic.

From Steve Martin

I was not naturally talented. I didn't sing, dance or act, though working around that minor detail made me inventive.

From Steve Martin

I was raised with 'Laurel and Hardy' and 'I Love Lucy' and Jerry Lewis, and I just loved it. And I had a friend in high school and we would just laugh all day and put on skits. You know, it's the Andy Kaufman thing or the Marty Short thing where you're performing in your bedroom for yourself.

From Steve Martin

I was very interested in vaudeville. It was the only sort of discipline that was a five-minute act on stage, which is what I really enjoyed and saw myself doing. And I bought books on it.

From Steve Martin

Nothing I do is done by popular demand.

From Steve Martin

I actually credit Twitter with fine-tuning some joke-writing skills. I still feel like I'm working at it.

From Steve Martin

Steve Martin

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