Steve Martin Quotes
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.
Quotes to Explore
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I started getting really interested in comedy when I was in middle school.
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I've been in the public eye now for about 15 or 16 years, and I'm very aware that fame is not a given. I have to maintain it. It's not just something that will always be there. But I've always been a worker. I've never expected be given anything.
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First off, no one award-wise ever rewards comedy, which is... whatever. I don't care about that.
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Fame is ultimately about the cycles of desire and how to do away with them or manage them well.
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Comedy requires a lot of energy.
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I'm a student of comedy in general, so I've always loved Billy Crystal. But I'm a different type of showman. I'm a clown and a jester.
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When I was a kid, I used to make up all these characters. I love comedy a lot, and I don't get to do it often. Somewhere in the middle, I shifted into doing drama.
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Comedy was why I got into acting the first place. Peter Sellers was a huge influence on my wanting to act. I grew up with him and found him hysterical. The Pink Panther films were an inspiration, from my earliest childhood days, when I was watching them with my brother and my dad.
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I didn't read comic books; that's not something that was really available to me as a child. We watched more cartoons and movies.
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I'd like to classify my life as a romantic comedy. Unfortunately I feel it's probably more like a TV reality show.
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I feel like there is something about having a copacetic world POV that helps in making a comedy. Like, David Wain has such a particular way of looking at the world. It helps when everyone can see behind his eyes, you know?
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I love physical comedy. I love Oscar Wilde, I love Shakespeare comedies, I love improv.
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So my humor, I'd say, comes from a mixture of lowbrow comedy shows and highbrow theater. It's an interesting mix.
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I think when you dissect a joke too much, you have ruined whatever there is in comedy.
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Because comedy is cheap to put on: if you've got a play or an opera, there's a whole load of people and a set, but comedy is just one man or woman. And because TV has learned to love comics - there's so many more around now than when I started out.
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I will say you could always look at 'Looney Tunes' and learn about writing. I think you can learn a lot about the beats of comedy. I think you can find out about awkward pauses, because I think they did those well.
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I think it helped that 'Fleabag' had such a dramatic arc to it, even though it was disguised as a comedy.
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I first started as an actor, but there was no money in it, which is why I drifted into comedy.
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I feel that if I retire today, I've done enough. I've achieved everything in comedy... I feel I don't need anything else. It's already built.
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I tell you what, I was so shocked because I didn't think the ball had enough to get out. It's an absolutely incredible feeling. I can honestly say I did it.
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There are certain images that always haunt me.
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Music has to keep moving. But I was lucky. For me there was always something around the corner.
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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.
