1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:15,796 Speaker 1: Pushkin. 2 00:00:21,676 --> 00:00:25,756 Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Malcolm Gladwell, just kidding. It's Steve Martin. But 3 00:00:25,916 --> 00:00:28,956 Speaker 2: like Malcolm, I love audiobook so much so that I 4 00:00:28,996 --> 00:00:32,396 Speaker 2: wanted to make one myself. My audio original, recorded with 5 00:00:32,516 --> 00:00:36,836 Speaker 2: New Yorker writer and my longtime friend Adam Gotnik. In it, 6 00:00:36,916 --> 00:00:39,636 Speaker 2: you'll hear a series of conversations about my career and 7 00:00:39,716 --> 00:00:43,876 Speaker 2: creative life, starting with magic. Get your copy of So 8 00:00:43,996 --> 00:00:52,156 Speaker 2: Many Steve's Afternoons with Steve Martin at Audible. By the way, 9 00:00:52,356 --> 00:00:54,156 Speaker 2: it's a new law now I have to do this. 10 00:00:54,996 --> 00:00:57,196 Speaker 3: I don't like to, but it is my law. 11 00:00:57,236 --> 00:00:59,636 Speaker 2: All comedians must make a financial disclosure. 12 00:01:00,796 --> 00:01:03,996 Speaker 4: This is a clip from Steve's second album, which was 13 00:01:04,036 --> 00:01:07,436 Speaker 4: released in nineteen seventy eight and was called A Wild 14 00:01:07,596 --> 00:01:08,596 Speaker 4: and Crazy Guy. 15 00:01:09,356 --> 00:01:12,876 Speaker 2: Then I figured out a potential concert income. 16 00:01:12,876 --> 00:01:14,716 Speaker 3: If you fill a three thousand seat hall at three 17 00:01:14,756 --> 00:01:18,636 Speaker 3: dollars per ticket, the grosses nine thousand dollars. If you 18 00:01:18,716 --> 00:01:20,836 Speaker 3: fill a three thousand seat hall at seven to fifty 19 00:01:20,876 --> 00:01:24,796 Speaker 3: per ticket, the gross is twenty two thousand, five hundred dollars. 20 00:01:25,556 --> 00:01:27,076 Speaker 3: And just for fun, I figure out if you fill 21 00:01:27,076 --> 00:01:31,036 Speaker 3: a three thousand seat haul at eight hundred dollars a ticket, 22 00:01:31,356 --> 00:01:35,556 Speaker 3: gross's two million, four hundred thousand dollars and this is 23 00:01:35,596 --> 00:01:36,556 Speaker 3: what I'm shooting for. 24 00:01:38,396 --> 00:01:38,956 Speaker 5: One show. 25 00:01:39,396 --> 00:01:51,956 Speaker 1: Goodbye what you've just heard, see Jess. 26 00:01:52,116 --> 00:01:53,276 Speaker 5: What was happening to Steve? 27 00:01:53,836 --> 00:01:56,516 Speaker 4: He went from working in small clubs where he could 28 00:01:56,516 --> 00:02:01,036 Speaker 4: achieve a happy fulfillment of his absurdist manifesto with its 29 00:02:01,156 --> 00:02:05,276 Speaker 4: roots in Vichtenstein's particularism, in Lewis Carroll's logic and all 30 00:02:05,316 --> 00:02:07,676 Speaker 4: the rest, to becoming a kind of rock star of 31 00:02:07,716 --> 00:02:11,156 Speaker 4: comedy in many ways, the first rock star of comedy. 32 00:02:12,316 --> 00:02:15,596 Speaker 4: That was a doubly uncomfortable position for him to find 33 00:02:15,636 --> 00:02:19,556 Speaker 4: himself in, first, because that kind of fame is always 34 00:02:19,676 --> 00:02:24,956 Speaker 4: alienating whomever it falls on, and because Steve's natural insularity 35 00:02:25,156 --> 00:02:29,356 Speaker 4: and somewhat stifled emotions left him doubly alone at a 36 00:02:29,396 --> 00:02:31,316 Speaker 4: time when his fame was peaking. 37 00:02:32,316 --> 00:02:35,956 Speaker 2: The strangest thing for me was in my latter days 38 00:02:35,996 --> 00:02:39,276 Speaker 2: of stand up. It was the least creative I have 39 00:02:39,436 --> 00:02:39,996 Speaker 2: ever been. 40 00:02:40,876 --> 00:02:42,716 Speaker 5: At the same time you were playing stadium. 41 00:02:42,396 --> 00:02:45,476 Speaker 2: Yeah right, to come up with something new and try 42 00:02:45,516 --> 00:02:48,636 Speaker 2: to work it in. There was no vehicle for it 43 00:02:48,716 --> 00:02:50,476 Speaker 2: to get it in, to try it, to try a 44 00:02:50,476 --> 00:02:52,516 Speaker 2: little thing. When you're in a club, you could try 45 00:02:52,596 --> 00:02:55,276 Speaker 2: something to move on and going and change the subody. 46 00:02:55,316 --> 00:02:59,276 Speaker 2: But there every word was amplified on a mic. It 47 00:02:59,356 --> 00:03:01,516 Speaker 2: had to be solid, had to be heard, had to 48 00:03:01,556 --> 00:03:03,036 Speaker 2: be delivered. 49 00:03:03,556 --> 00:03:05,796 Speaker 5: You were really at the end. They're doing rock concerts. 50 00:03:06,036 --> 00:03:09,716 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. Yeah. If I had under stood that, 51 00:03:09,836 --> 00:03:12,476 Speaker 2: I would have been better off, because I kept thinking, 52 00:03:12,756 --> 00:03:16,196 Speaker 2: I'm doing a comedy show, you know, I want them 53 00:03:16,196 --> 00:03:22,756 Speaker 2: to laugh, not cheer. Right, I was just completely at 54 00:03:22,756 --> 00:03:23,276 Speaker 2: a dead end. 55 00:03:26,276 --> 00:03:28,276 Speaker 5: Chapter three movie star. 56 00:03:30,996 --> 00:03:33,836 Speaker 4: Steve's career as an actor in the movies took three 57 00:03:34,116 --> 00:03:37,796 Speaker 4: very distinct and different paths. I guess I'd been aware 58 00:03:37,796 --> 00:03:40,356 Speaker 4: of them over the years, but becoming closer to Steve 59 00:03:40,436 --> 00:03:43,076 Speaker 4: in the course of these conversations gave me a different 60 00:03:43,156 --> 00:03:46,836 Speaker 4: kind of insight into them. The first path involved the 61 00:03:46,876 --> 00:03:50,236 Speaker 4: movies he made while he was still a working comedian, 62 00:03:50,716 --> 00:03:54,116 Speaker 4: where he took that absurdist data persona, the one that 63 00:03:54,156 --> 00:03:57,276 Speaker 4: had made him famous on stage, and he took it 64 00:03:57,316 --> 00:04:00,636 Speaker 4: to the screen in The Jerk, his first film, It's 65 00:04:00,676 --> 00:04:03,076 Speaker 4: all about the rise of a naive idiot to wealth 66 00:04:03,116 --> 00:04:03,516 Speaker 4: and fame. 67 00:04:04,036 --> 00:04:05,076 Speaker 5: The new phone look. 68 00:04:04,996 --> 00:04:06,476 Speaker 4: There, the new phone bok there. 69 00:04:06,876 --> 00:04:09,916 Speaker 2: I wish I could get that excited about fucking are 70 00:04:09,996 --> 00:04:10,516 Speaker 2: you kidding? 71 00:04:10,756 --> 00:04:13,116 Speaker 4: Billions of people look at this book every day. 72 00:04:13,436 --> 00:04:15,836 Speaker 2: This is the kind of spontaneous. 73 00:04:15,036 --> 00:04:18,356 Speaker 4: Publicity, your name in print that makes. 74 00:04:18,156 --> 00:04:21,196 Speaker 2: People I'm in print. 75 00:04:22,076 --> 00:04:24,876 Speaker 4: That movie set the tone for wonderfully funny and I 76 00:04:24,916 --> 00:04:27,396 Speaker 4: think original films like Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid and 77 00:04:27,476 --> 00:04:31,636 Speaker 4: The Man with Two Brains. In the late eighties, Steve 78 00:04:31,716 --> 00:04:34,276 Speaker 4: worked with one of the most successful directors of the 79 00:04:34,436 --> 00:04:39,716 Speaker 4: entire late twentieth century, John Hughes. Their collaboration, the movie Planes, 80 00:04:39,796 --> 00:04:43,796 Speaker 4: Trains and Automobiles still delights families year in and out, 81 00:04:44,116 --> 00:04:46,756 Speaker 4: and it stands as one of the few Thanksgiving movies. 82 00:04:46,756 --> 00:04:50,876 Speaker 4: In the Cannon, Steve plays a wonderful grump trying to 83 00:04:50,916 --> 00:04:53,916 Speaker 4: get home for the holiday. His unwanted companion in this 84 00:04:53,996 --> 00:04:57,716 Speaker 4: adventure is played by the late and incomparable John Candy. 85 00:04:57,956 --> 00:04:59,436 Speaker 5: You're not a very tolerant person. 86 00:04:59,756 --> 00:05:01,716 Speaker 2: Held you like a mouthful of teeth. 87 00:05:02,476 --> 00:05:05,836 Speaker 4: But to me, this middle period of Steve's film career 88 00:05:06,276 --> 00:05:10,316 Speaker 4: is best defined by his attempts to create person comedies, 89 00:05:10,636 --> 00:05:13,796 Speaker 4: and that effort produced what, to my mind, were by 90 00:05:13,876 --> 00:05:17,596 Speaker 4: far the two best films he ever made, Roxanne and 91 00:05:17,796 --> 00:05:21,796 Speaker 4: La Story, both of them not coincidentally with scripts written 92 00:05:21,916 --> 00:05:22,436 Speaker 4: by Steve. 93 00:05:22,876 --> 00:05:27,796 Speaker 2: You heard me, big nose, flat faced, flat nosed, flat. 94 00:05:27,476 --> 00:05:34,316 Speaker 4: Food, the wacky Weekend Winner. And then finally, the third 95 00:05:34,436 --> 00:05:37,956 Speaker 4: act or path of his movie career involved some giant, 96 00:05:38,156 --> 00:05:42,076 Speaker 4: obviously commercial and blockbuster films, The Father of the Bride 97 00:05:42,116 --> 00:05:44,396 Speaker 4: series and then the Cheaper by the Dozen series. 98 00:05:44,436 --> 00:05:45,396 Speaker 2: Do You Night, mister Banks. 99 00:05:45,396 --> 00:05:48,356 Speaker 1: Oh, you can call him George or Dad. George will 100 00:05:48,356 --> 00:05:48,836 Speaker 1: defind me. 101 00:05:50,476 --> 00:05:53,196 Speaker 4: I should add at once that I do not mean 102 00:05:53,236 --> 00:05:56,196 Speaker 4: to condescend to those films. They gave my kids a 103 00:05:56,396 --> 00:05:59,516 Speaker 4: huge delight when they were younger, but they were clearly 104 00:05:59,596 --> 00:06:02,716 Speaker 4: not the works of art that Roxanne and La Story 105 00:06:02,756 --> 00:06:06,836 Speaker 4: aspired to be. And I've always been puzzled, intrigued by 106 00:06:06,916 --> 00:06:11,036 Speaker 4: Steve's reluctance or inability to go forward in the movies 107 00:06:11,236 --> 00:06:14,796 Speaker 4: in that very personal and poetic direction. It's one of 108 00:06:14,796 --> 00:06:16,196 Speaker 4: the things I most want to talk. 109 00:06:16,076 --> 00:06:19,556 Speaker 5: To him about today. 110 00:06:19,716 --> 00:06:23,836 Speaker 2: Well, when I first started in movies, I had one vision, which. 111 00:06:23,636 --> 00:06:24,196 Speaker 1: Was the jerk. 112 00:06:24,476 --> 00:06:28,716 Speaker 2: Let's you another bottle of yes, but no more nineteen 113 00:06:28,836 --> 00:06:29,476 Speaker 2: sixty six. 114 00:06:29,556 --> 00:06:30,476 Speaker 5: Let's blurge. 115 00:06:30,836 --> 00:06:34,196 Speaker 2: Bring us some fresh wine, the freshest you've got this 116 00:06:34,636 --> 00:06:35,636 Speaker 2: Year's no more. 117 00:06:35,476 --> 00:06:36,596 Speaker 1: Of this old stuff. 118 00:06:37,876 --> 00:06:38,516 Speaker 5: Wait, monsieur. 119 00:06:39,716 --> 00:06:42,036 Speaker 2: He doesn't realize he's dealing with sophisticated people. 120 00:06:42,036 --> 00:06:42,236 Speaker 5: Here. 121 00:06:42,996 --> 00:06:46,476 Speaker 2: Its vision was last Jokes, and the subsequent movies were 122 00:06:46,556 --> 00:06:48,716 Speaker 2: last jokes. That's what I wanted to last joke. But 123 00:06:48,796 --> 00:06:51,676 Speaker 2: it wasn't the vision of a movie. It's a vision 124 00:06:51,716 --> 00:06:55,436 Speaker 2: of something else, of just putting comedy on screen. And 125 00:06:55,476 --> 00:06:57,876 Speaker 2: I'm you know, I'm learning how to act. And I 126 00:06:57,916 --> 00:07:00,796 Speaker 2: remember saying, you know, I think, oh, this is gonna 127 00:07:00,796 --> 00:07:03,156 Speaker 2: be an easy transition. I've done a million things on stage, 128 00:07:03,236 --> 00:07:05,756 Speaker 2: you know, I've done sketches, I've done Saturday Night Live, 129 00:07:05,796 --> 00:07:07,916 Speaker 2: I've done. This is going to be a natural. And 130 00:07:07,956 --> 00:07:11,476 Speaker 2: then the first thing he has to do is sit 131 00:07:11,596 --> 00:07:13,556 Speaker 2: down with a glass in your hand and put it 132 00:07:13,596 --> 00:07:14,316 Speaker 2: on a table. 133 00:07:15,636 --> 00:07:16,276 Speaker 5: That's the shot. 134 00:07:16,676 --> 00:07:22,156 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, so do I sit first and then 135 00:07:22,236 --> 00:07:24,436 Speaker 2: put the glass over it? Or do I put it 136 00:07:24,476 --> 00:07:29,316 Speaker 2: down as I'm putting the day? And really you realize, 137 00:07:29,396 --> 00:07:32,236 Speaker 2: oh my god, this is this is more complex than 138 00:07:32,276 --> 00:07:32,676 Speaker 2: I thought. 139 00:07:32,756 --> 00:07:34,436 Speaker 5: And it doesn't have a lot to do with being 140 00:07:34,436 --> 00:07:35,796 Speaker 5: a performer on stage. 141 00:07:35,956 --> 00:07:38,556 Speaker 2: Right, No, it's just something else. And there's all the mechanics, 142 00:07:38,556 --> 00:07:40,636 Speaker 2: which I love, mechanics of not putting the glass down 143 00:07:40,636 --> 00:07:42,916 Speaker 2: while someone else is talking because you hear a clunk 144 00:07:43,196 --> 00:07:45,116 Speaker 2: on their line and then they have to loop it. 145 00:07:45,876 --> 00:07:49,356 Speaker 2: But my goal make a lot of movies. And here's 146 00:07:49,396 --> 00:07:53,916 Speaker 2: the reason. In order to get five good movies, you 147 00:07:53,956 --> 00:07:59,356 Speaker 2: have to make forty because they're just unwieldy. You can't perfect. 148 00:07:59,516 --> 00:08:03,076 Speaker 2: I couldn't perfect a movie from the get go. You 149 00:08:03,076 --> 00:08:04,796 Speaker 2: can't say this is going to be wonderful. I thought 150 00:08:04,836 --> 00:08:06,276 Speaker 2: every movie was going to be wonderful. 151 00:08:06,796 --> 00:08:07,876 Speaker 3: Are you awake. 152 00:08:10,116 --> 00:08:10,876 Speaker 5: Good? 153 00:08:12,076 --> 00:08:14,076 Speaker 3: It's something I want to say that's always been very 154 00:08:14,156 --> 00:08:15,356 Speaker 3: difficult for me to say. 155 00:08:17,996 --> 00:08:19,876 Speaker 2: I slid the sheet, the sheet, I slid, and on 156 00:08:19,876 --> 00:08:21,996 Speaker 2: the slitted sheet, I said now. 157 00:08:22,076 --> 00:08:25,956 Speaker 4: Steve's first movie, The Jerk, was directed by Carl Reiner, 158 00:08:26,396 --> 00:08:30,596 Speaker 4: an American comic master of a significantly older generation than Steve's. 159 00:08:33,396 --> 00:08:36,636 Speaker 4: Carl Reiner had first become famous in the nineteen fifties 160 00:08:36,756 --> 00:08:38,916 Speaker 4: as a kind of all purpose straight man on the 161 00:08:38,996 --> 00:08:42,796 Speaker 4: legendary Sid Caesar Your Show of Shows. He could be 162 00:08:42,796 --> 00:08:46,836 Speaker 4: seen interrogating Sid's mad German professors, and then he became 163 00:08:46,956 --> 00:08:49,916 Speaker 4: even more famous in the nineteen sixties as mel Brooks 164 00:08:49,916 --> 00:08:53,796 Speaker 4: straight man on those beautiful, astounding two thousand year old 165 00:08:53,836 --> 00:08:54,476 Speaker 4: Man records. 166 00:08:54,636 --> 00:08:58,676 Speaker 3: In two thousand years, the greatest thing mankind ever devised 167 00:08:58,676 --> 00:09:01,836 Speaker 3: that I think, in my humble opinion, it's Sarahan rap. 168 00:09:02,036 --> 00:09:05,556 Speaker 5: You equate this with Man's discovery of space. That was good, 169 00:09:07,676 --> 00:09:08,276 Speaker 5: that was good. 170 00:09:08,396 --> 00:09:11,756 Speaker 4: But Carl Reiner was far more comic mench and master 171 00:09:11,956 --> 00:09:15,116 Speaker 4: than just a straight man. He had everyone agreed an 172 00:09:15,276 --> 00:09:18,236 Speaker 4: absolute knowledge of how to set off a comic riff. 173 00:09:18,796 --> 00:09:22,876 Speaker 4: He was universally respected for his unique mix of comedy, 174 00:09:22,956 --> 00:09:27,756 Speaker 4: savvy and personal generosity, all unwrapped in a deep well 175 00:09:27,956 --> 00:09:29,196 Speaker 4: of show business knowledge. 176 00:09:30,036 --> 00:09:33,556 Speaker 2: Carl Reiner he told me this. He said, I think 177 00:09:33,596 --> 00:09:37,356 Speaker 2: it's important to have refrigerator laughs. And I said, what's 178 00:09:37,356 --> 00:09:39,636 Speaker 2: a refrigerator laugh? He says, well, you see the movie, 179 00:09:40,236 --> 00:09:43,196 Speaker 2: and now you're home and you're getting something out of 180 00:09:43,196 --> 00:09:44,716 Speaker 2: your refrigerator. 181 00:09:44,116 --> 00:09:46,556 Speaker 4: And that's when you laughed at it when you remember it, 182 00:09:46,756 --> 00:09:47,636 Speaker 4: when you remember it. 183 00:09:48,036 --> 00:09:50,996 Speaker 2: And I've always found that, you know, Mike told me once, 184 00:09:51,036 --> 00:09:52,876 Speaker 2: he said, I always think we should have one thing 185 00:09:53,236 --> 00:09:55,516 Speaker 2: in our movies where we say, can we do that? 186 00:09:56,636 --> 00:10:00,796 Speaker 4: Mike is Mike Nichols, the immensely accomplished director behind The 187 00:10:00,876 --> 00:10:03,716 Speaker 4: Graduate and Carnal Knowledge and many other classics. 188 00:10:04,196 --> 00:10:08,276 Speaker 2: I have found over time that those little moments when 189 00:10:08,316 --> 00:10:11,236 Speaker 2: you're thinking should be this is not very clear that 190 00:10:11,276 --> 00:10:13,756 Speaker 2: those are the ones that people pick out and remember. 191 00:10:14,196 --> 00:10:19,316 Speaker 2: Like in Rock Sane, it wasn't scripted, but it was 192 00:10:19,476 --> 00:10:24,316 Speaker 2: starting to be dusk, and I asked the director. I said, uh, 193 00:10:24,636 --> 00:10:26,476 Speaker 2: I said, I have an idea. There was a newspaper wreck, 194 00:10:27,036 --> 00:10:29,796 Speaker 2: and so I went over to it was just one shot. 195 00:10:29,996 --> 00:10:34,276 Speaker 2: I went over to it, put the quarter in, pulled 196 00:10:34,316 --> 00:10:36,916 Speaker 2: out the newspaper, started to walk away, read the headline, 197 00:10:37,236 --> 00:10:43,236 Speaker 2: started screaming, went back to the thing, put another quarter 198 00:10:43,276 --> 00:10:44,916 Speaker 2: in and through the newspaper. 199 00:10:44,596 --> 00:10:49,876 Speaker 5: And closed it. And that was improvised. On the it 200 00:10:49,916 --> 00:10:50,476 Speaker 5: was improvised. 201 00:10:50,516 --> 00:10:51,956 Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't evenell him what I was gonna do.