WEBVTT - Introducing: So Many Steves, A New Audiobook from Steve Martin and Pushkin

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<v Speaker 1>Pushkin.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, I'm Malcolm Gladwell, just kidding. It's Steve Martin. But

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<v Speaker 2>like Malcolm, I love audiobook so much so that I

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<v Speaker 2>wanted to make one myself. My audio original, recorded with

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<v Speaker 2>New Yorker writer and my longtime friend Adam Gotnik. In it,

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<v Speaker 2>you'll hear a series of conversations about my career and

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<v Speaker 2>creative life, starting with magic. Get your copy of So

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<v Speaker 2>Many Steve's Afternoons with Steve Martin at Audible. By the way,

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<v Speaker 2>it's a new law now I have to do this.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't like to, but it is my law.

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<v Speaker 2>All comedians must make a financial disclosure.

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<v Speaker 4>This is a clip from Steve's second album, which was

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<v Speaker 4>released in nineteen seventy eight and was called A Wild

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<v Speaker 4>and Crazy Guy.

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<v Speaker 2>Then I figured out a potential concert income.

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<v Speaker 3>If you fill a three thousand seat hall at three

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<v Speaker 3>dollars per ticket, the grosses nine thousand dollars. If you

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<v Speaker 3>fill a three thousand seat hall at seven to fifty

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<v Speaker 3>per ticket, the gross is twenty two thousand, five hundred dollars.

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<v Speaker 3>And just for fun, I figure out if you fill

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<v Speaker 3>a three thousand seat haul at eight hundred dollars a ticket,

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<v Speaker 3>gross's two million, four hundred thousand dollars and this is

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<v Speaker 3>what I'm shooting for.

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<v Speaker 5>One show.

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<v Speaker 1>Goodbye what you've just heard, see Jess.

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<v Speaker 5>What was happening to Steve?

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<v Speaker 4>He went from working in small clubs where he could

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<v Speaker 4>achieve a happy fulfillment of his absurdist manifesto with its

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<v Speaker 4>roots in Vichtenstein's particularism, in Lewis Carroll's logic and all

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<v Speaker 4>the rest, to becoming a kind of rock star of

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<v Speaker 4>comedy in many ways, the first rock star of comedy.

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<v Speaker 4>That was a doubly uncomfortable position for him to find

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<v Speaker 4>himself in, first, because that kind of fame is always

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<v Speaker 4>alienating whomever it falls on, and because Steve's natural insularity

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<v Speaker 4>and somewhat stifled emotions left him doubly alone at a

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<v Speaker 4>time when his fame was peaking.

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<v Speaker 2>The strangest thing for me was in my latter days

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<v Speaker 2>of stand up. It was the least creative I have

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<v Speaker 2>ever been.

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<v Speaker 5>At the same time you were playing stadium.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah right, to come up with something new and try

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<v Speaker 2>to work it in. There was no vehicle for it

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<v Speaker 2>to get it in, to try it, to try a

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<v Speaker 2>little thing. When you're in a club, you could try

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<v Speaker 2>something to move on and going and change the subody.

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<v Speaker 2>But there every word was amplified on a mic. It

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<v Speaker 2>had to be solid, had to be heard, had to

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<v Speaker 2>be delivered.

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<v Speaker 5>You were really at the end. They're doing rock concerts.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it was. Yeah. If I had under stood that,

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<v Speaker 2>I would have been better off, because I kept thinking,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm doing a comedy show, you know, I want them

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<v Speaker 2>to laugh, not cheer. Right, I was just completely at

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<v Speaker 2>a dead end.

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<v Speaker 5>Chapter three movie star.

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<v Speaker 4>Steve's career as an actor in the movies took three

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<v Speaker 4>very distinct and different paths. I guess I'd been aware

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<v Speaker 4>of them over the years, but becoming closer to Steve

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<v Speaker 4>in the course of these conversations gave me a different

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<v Speaker 4>kind of insight into them. The first path involved the

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<v Speaker 4>movies he made while he was still a working comedian,

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<v Speaker 4>where he took that absurdist data persona, the one that

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<v Speaker 4>had made him famous on stage, and he took it

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<v Speaker 4>to the screen in The Jerk, his first film, It's

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<v Speaker 4>all about the rise of a naive idiot to wealth

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<v Speaker 4>and fame.

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<v Speaker 5>The new phone look.

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<v Speaker 4>There, the new phone bok there.

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<v Speaker 2>I wish I could get that excited about fucking are

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<v Speaker 2>you kidding?

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<v Speaker 4>Billions of people look at this book every day.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the kind of spontaneous.

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<v Speaker 4>Publicity, your name in print that makes.

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<v Speaker 2>People I'm in print.

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<v Speaker 4>That movie set the tone for wonderfully funny and I

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<v Speaker 4>think original films like Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid and

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<v Speaker 4>The Man with Two Brains. In the late eighties, Steve

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<v Speaker 4>worked with one of the most successful directors of the

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<v Speaker 4>entire late twentieth century, John Hughes. Their collaboration, the movie Planes,

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<v Speaker 4>Trains and Automobiles still delights families year in and out,

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<v Speaker 4>and it stands as one of the few Thanksgiving movies.

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<v Speaker 4>In the Cannon, Steve plays a wonderful grump trying to

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<v Speaker 4>get home for the holiday. His unwanted companion in this

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<v Speaker 4>adventure is played by the late and incomparable John Candy.

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<v Speaker 5>You're not a very tolerant person.

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<v Speaker 2>Held you like a mouthful of teeth.

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<v Speaker 4>But to me, this middle period of Steve's film career

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<v Speaker 4>is best defined by his attempts to create person comedies,

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<v Speaker 4>and that effort produced what, to my mind, were by

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<v Speaker 4>far the two best films he ever made, Roxanne and

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<v Speaker 4>La Story, both of them not coincidentally with scripts written

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<v Speaker 4>by Steve.

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<v Speaker 2>You heard me, big nose, flat faced, flat nosed, flat.

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<v Speaker 4>Food, the wacky Weekend Winner. And then finally, the third

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<v Speaker 4>act or path of his movie career involved some giant,

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<v Speaker 4>obviously commercial and blockbuster films, The Father of the Bride

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<v Speaker 4>series and then the Cheaper by the Dozen series.

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<v Speaker 2>Do You Night, mister Banks.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, you can call him George or Dad. George will

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<v Speaker 1>defind me.

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<v Speaker 4>I should add at once that I do not mean

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<v Speaker 4>to condescend to those films. They gave my kids a

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<v Speaker 4>huge delight when they were younger, but they were clearly

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<v Speaker 4>not the works of art that Roxanne and La Story

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<v Speaker 4>aspired to be. And I've always been puzzled, intrigued by

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<v Speaker 4>Steve's reluctance or inability to go forward in the movies

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<v Speaker 4>in that very personal and poetic direction. It's one of

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<v Speaker 4>the things I most want to talk.

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<v Speaker 5>To him about today.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, when I first started in movies, I had one vision, which.

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<v Speaker 1>Was the jerk.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's you another bottle of yes, but no more nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>sixty six.

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<v Speaker 5>Let's blurge.

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<v Speaker 2>Bring us some fresh wine, the freshest you've got this

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<v Speaker 2>Year's no more.

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<v Speaker 1>Of this old stuff.

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<v Speaker 5>Wait, monsieur.

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<v Speaker 2>He doesn't realize he's dealing with sophisticated people.

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<v Speaker 5>Here.

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<v Speaker 2>Its vision was last Jokes, and the subsequent movies were

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<v Speaker 2>last jokes. That's what I wanted to last joke. But

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<v Speaker 2>it wasn't the vision of a movie. It's a vision

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<v Speaker 2>of something else, of just putting comedy on screen. And

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<v Speaker 2>I'm you know, I'm learning how to act. And I

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<v Speaker 2>remember saying, you know, I think, oh, this is gonna

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<v Speaker 2>be an easy transition. I've done a million things on stage,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, I've done sketches, I've done Saturday Night Live,

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<v Speaker 2>I've done. This is going to be a natural. And

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<v Speaker 2>then the first thing he has to do is sit

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<v Speaker 2>down with a glass in your hand and put it

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<v Speaker 2>on a table.

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<v Speaker 5>That's the shot.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think, so do I sit first and then

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<v Speaker 2>put the glass over it? Or do I put it

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<v Speaker 2>down as I'm putting the day? And really you realize,

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<v Speaker 2>oh my god, this is this is more complex than

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<v Speaker 2>I thought.

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<v Speaker 5>And it doesn't have a lot to do with being

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<v Speaker 5>a performer on stage.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, No, it's just something else. And there's all the mechanics,

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<v Speaker 2>which I love, mechanics of not putting the glass down

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<v Speaker 2>while someone else is talking because you hear a clunk

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<v Speaker 2>on their line and then they have to loop it.

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<v Speaker 2>But my goal make a lot of movies. And here's

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<v Speaker 2>the reason. In order to get five good movies, you

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<v Speaker 2>have to make forty because they're just unwieldy. You can't perfect.

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<v Speaker 2>I couldn't perfect a movie from the get go. You

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<v Speaker 2>can't say this is going to be wonderful. I thought

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<v Speaker 2>every movie was going to be wonderful.

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<v Speaker 3>Are you awake.

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<v Speaker 5>Good?

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<v Speaker 3>It's something I want to say that's always been very

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<v Speaker 3>difficult for me to say.

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<v Speaker 2>I slid the sheet, the sheet, I slid, and on

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<v Speaker 2>the slitted sheet, I said now.

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<v Speaker 4>Steve's first movie, The Jerk, was directed by Carl Reiner,

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<v Speaker 4>an American comic master of a significantly older generation than Steve's.

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<v Speaker 4>Carl Reiner had first become famous in the nineteen fifties

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<v Speaker 4>as a kind of all purpose straight man on the

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<v Speaker 4>legendary Sid Caesar Your Show of Shows. He could be

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<v Speaker 4>seen interrogating Sid's mad German professors, and then he became

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<v Speaker 4>even more famous in the nineteen sixties as mel Brooks

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<v Speaker 4>straight man on those beautiful, astounding two thousand year old

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<v Speaker 4>Man records.

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<v Speaker 3>In two thousand years, the greatest thing mankind ever devised

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<v Speaker 3>that I think, in my humble opinion, it's Sarahan rap.

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<v Speaker 5>You equate this with Man's discovery of space. That was good,

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<v Speaker 5>that was good.

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<v Speaker 4>But Carl Reiner was far more comic mench and master

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<v Speaker 4>than just a straight man. He had everyone agreed an

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<v Speaker 4>absolute knowledge of how to set off a comic riff.

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<v Speaker 4>He was universally respected for his unique mix of comedy,

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<v Speaker 4>savvy and personal generosity, all unwrapped in a deep well

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<v Speaker 4>of show business knowledge.

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<v Speaker 2>Carl Reiner he told me this. He said, I think

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<v Speaker 2>it's important to have refrigerator laughs. And I said, what's

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<v Speaker 2>a refrigerator laugh? He says, well, you see the movie,

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<v Speaker 2>and now you're home and you're getting something out of

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<v Speaker 2>your refrigerator.

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<v Speaker 4>And that's when you laughed at it when you remember it,

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<v Speaker 4>when you remember it.

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<v Speaker 2>And I've always found that, you know, Mike told me once,

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<v Speaker 2>he said, I always think we should have one thing

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<v Speaker 2>in our movies where we say, can we do that?

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<v Speaker 4>Mike is Mike Nichols, the immensely accomplished director behind The

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<v Speaker 4>Graduate and Carnal Knowledge and many other classics.

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<v Speaker 2>I have found over time that those little moments when

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<v Speaker 2>you're thinking should be this is not very clear that

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<v Speaker 2>those are the ones that people pick out and remember.

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<v Speaker 2>Like in Rock Sane, it wasn't scripted, but it was

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<v Speaker 2>starting to be dusk, and I asked the director. I said, uh,

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<v Speaker 2>I said, I have an idea. There was a newspaper wreck,

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<v Speaker 2>and so I went over to it was just one shot.

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<v Speaker 2>I went over to it, put the quarter in, pulled

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<v Speaker 2>out the newspaper, started to walk away, read the headline,

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<v Speaker 2>started screaming, went back to the thing, put another quarter

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<v Speaker 2>in and through the newspaper.

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<v Speaker 5>And closed it. And that was improvised. On the it

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<v Speaker 5>was improvised.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I didn't evenell him what I was gonna do.