I've just been reading Steve Martin's autobiography - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. Although I knew that he was a funny guy, I wasn't aware how alternative his act was back in the 70's, or how creative his writing. When he began his career, the traditional comedian's template "setup, punch line, laugh" was something that had been around for years and years.
Back then the urge to do something different was widespread and most comics, particularly in the politically riotous days of the Sixties, were following the line of Lenny Bruce - they were harsh, sharp and angry. But the political stuff wasn't for Steve. He wanted to do something original and fresh and, having studied philosophy, developed what can best be described as an absurdist point of view and started writing gags that were almost avant-garde.
His idea was to change the traditional comic format. If the audience's laughter was formed by a building of tension leading to an expected release, Martin wanted to change the paradigm. "What if there were no punch lines? What if I created tension and never released it? What would the audience do with all that tension?" If there was no punch line, Martin theorised, the audience would pick its own place to laugh. As he says in the book, "Sometimes it wasn't the line or the joke that got the laugh, but it was the tip of my finger," he said. "I discovered I could get laughs with silence. I would stand and stare at the audience with mock disdain, and on a good night it would strike us all as funny."
Martin's act, with his banjo and balloons, was based on childlike innocence and illogic. He wore a suit. He had short hair. He came across as kind of wild and crazy accountant. He was an ordinary guy who had completely lost the plot.
And then he started doing something that caught people by surprise.
Aside from the tricks and the zany non-sequiturs, at the end of the show he took to drawing the audience together as a group and leading them out of the theatre. The first time, he led them into an empty swimming-pool and "swam" lengths as they held him aloft. Once, he took them all to McDonald's and ordered 274 burgers, at the last moment changing his order to "one fry to go". Most often he'd take the audience out onto the street and take them for a walk around a nearby park, or a stroll around a shopping mall.
As Steve says in the book, "Often I went to bed feeling I had entered new comic territory. My show was becoming something else, something free and unpredictable, and the doing of it thrilled me, because each new performance brought my view of comedy into sharper focus."
News of this radical comic soon spread. But, as with anything new, some people struggled to understand it. The TV host Johnny Carson was incensed when Steve came onto the show and read names from the phone book and told jokes to dogs watching at home.
In Florida one night, Steve was able to take the audience outside into the street and roam around in front of the club, making wisecracks. He didn't quite know how to end the show. First he started hitchhiking and a few cars passed him by. Then a taxi came by. Steve hailed it and got in. He went around the block, returned and waved at the audience, still standing there, then drove off and never came back.
The next morning he received one of the most crucial reviews of his life. John Huddy, the respected entertainment critic for the Miami Herald, devoted his entire column to Steve's act. Without qualification, he raved in paragraph after paragraph, starting with HE PARADES HIS HILARITY RIGHT OUT INTO THE STREET, and concluded with: "Steve Martin is the brightest, cleverest, wackiest new comedian around."
Oh, and the next night, the club owner made sure all tabs had been paid before Steve took the audience outside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9xKU8eYCFk
John Fountain is a copywriter.
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Twitter: @fountainjohn
