He emerged with something exciting and new, the jerky “wild and crazy guy” with his put-ons, sly gags, corny schtick and so stupid-it’s-hip personality. Martin made fun of the artificiality of suit-and-tie stand-up and utilized elements of both Carlin and Mull’s style, in addition to his own. Martin Mull exaggerated and satirized the whole “o-kayyy, we’re really havin’ fun” attitude” of show-biz phonies. Crafty veteran George Carlin learned to soothe them, talk down to them, make a lot of funny faces, catch their attention with jokes about dirty words and bodily functions.
Old fashioned nightclubs were out-dated and with no comedy clubs around, comedians sometimes risked their lives taking the only venues available, opening for pop and rock singers. At the time, stand-up was not particularly popular and young performers were having trouble getting ahead. He quit Campbell’s show to pursue his own career in stand-up. At 21 he found a lucrative career as a staff writer on comedy/variety shows, knocking out gags for Sonny and Cher, Pat Paulsen, The Smothers Brothers and Glen Campbell. Growing up in Orange County, California, Martin eventually got jobs playing the banjo and doing magic tricks at Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm. He remembered the effect of a good fall: “Crash! It was like intentionally embarrassing yourself…My comedy has never been about someone else slipping on a banana skin and laughing at them…making yourself look stupid seems much more human…”
Just as people couldn’t explain why they enjoyed playing with Silly Putty or a yo-yo, Martin’s wildly enthusiastic supporters couldn’t explain why they loved watching him grin idiotically with a corny fake arrow through his head or make balloon animals, or deliberately utter a line so goofy and devoid of wit that it was hilarious.īorn in Waco, Texas, Steve played the banjo, juggled, and sometimes did Red Skelton pratfalls to amuse his classmates. So did the human equivalent, “wild and crazy guy” Steve Martin, who become a stand-up comedy phenomenon in the late 70’s. Silly Putty, yo-yos, and the frisbee all had fad appeal.
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