Steve Martin’s Standup Life

I got Steve Martin’s new book Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life for Christmas and plowed through it in 2 days. It is a good quick read about Steve Martin’s early life and standup career. The most interesting part for me was hearing about how hard he worked at developing his craft. He did a routine 4 times a day, 5 days a week while also attending college. He is a very smart guy and spent every waking minute from age 18-30 working on his material and trying to get better. While doing this, he became known in the industry and used those connections to eventually “make it.” Performing on stage (magic and comedy) was a passion for him and he consumed it wholeheartedly. It’s no wonder he became successful. It’s the same with any profession. If you live it and breathe it and work intelligently on it, you’ll be successful and this book is just another example of that.

I never knew Steve Martin during his standup days, but apparently he was incredibly popular – selling out arenas of 40,000 people at his peak. I was exposed to him only after he had moved on to movies (The Jerk, Father of the Bride, etc.). Towards the end of his standup career, he described how the success was bittersweet, isolating and resulted a less enjoyable life. It’s too bad that this is often the case for the uber-famous. It sounds exhausting. For better or worse, i’ll never have this problem but i can certainly sympathize with him as it does sound like a big pain in the ass. He does write, “Many celebrities are ridiculed for wanted fame only when it is convenient for them and not any other time. This is absolutely true.”

It’s a good book and recommend it to anyone who likes Steve Martin or standup.

Top Phrases of 2006

Here are the top phrases – some ironic, some funny, and some just great in the way that your grandfather is great. Not because he’s cool, just because he is.

1. A tie with “Double-True” and “I’m dropping Hamiltons like my name is Aaron Burr” from the best video of 2006, SNL’s Lazy Sunday. Which just goes to show that the internet is where it’s at. Remember these guys began on the internet doing funny stuff on thelonelyIsland.com, then got hired by SNL and made a kickass video which showed on TV where nobody watched it and then it only became famous when it want BACK on the internet. They came full-circle.
2. “It was very hot, I think that was the only explanation for the water. Or maybe it was because the beer I had last night.” -Floyd Landis in Cycling News which reminds me of another great quote: “Son, when you participate in sporting events, it’s not whether you win or lose: It’s how drunk you get.” – Homer Simpson
3. “Keep in mind Brian McBride is playing with titanium plates in his face.” John Harkes discussing McBride’s condition while the states were playing World Cup champion Italy.  McBride broke his face in the first game when the US lost a shocker to Poland and then with a lot of grit and heart they tied the eventual champs 1-1.
4. “Join Bode” from a huge marketing campaign from Nike for the 2006 Olympics. It fell flat on its face when Bode fell flat on his ass and didn’t win any metals.
5. “I think it’s better to buy real estate than say, a yellow and purple Corvette or an elephant that can speak sign language. My parents help me out a lot with that stuff. They don’t want to see me when I’m 30, dead broke, selling bootleg tapes of my snowboard movies on the side of the freeway.” — Olympic gold medalist Shaun White on how he spends his endorsement money. Unlike Bode, he won a few. My take on Snowboarding in the Olympics is here although this is helping me possibly change my mind.
6. “I enjoy Cocaine because it’s a fun thing to do.” – Representative Robert Wexler. Said on the Colbert Report in mid-July by the Boca Raton representative, who was running unopposed for reelection. He played along with Colbert’s “Say Anything, You Can’t Lose” game and jokingly expressed his fondness for cocaine, and it was genuinely hilarious. Colbert then came under attack from the morning shows and responds in typical Colbert fashion
   
7. “I’m sick and tired of these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane” said by Samuel L in Snakes on a Plane one of the most anticipated and ironic movies to come out in a long, long time.
8. “Little 8 lb 6 oz baby jesus, i’d like to thank you for….” – Ricky Bobby saying grace before dinner.
9. “I had one margarita (and) was starving because I had not eaten all day. Maybe I was speeding a little bit and I got pulled over. I was just really hungry and I wanted to have an In-N-Out Burger.” – Paris Hilton, establishing herself as a professional name-dropper.

Kramer’s Racial Tirade

This is an insane video of Michael Richards – Kramer from Seinfeld – doing a pretty racist and rough standup show.   This is definitely worth checking out…

Other link: http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp?mode=1&pmmsid=1772645

Rita Rudner Quotes

Some good quotes by Rita:

• Before I met my husband, I’d never fallen in love. I’d stepped in it a few times.
• I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
• Marriages don’t last. When I meet a guy, the first question I ask myself is: is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with?
• My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can’t decide whether to ruin our carpet or ruin our lives.
• When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea that his first name was Always.

Happy Mother’s Day

To all the mothers out there (especially mine): you rock. This video is for you:

Best Juggling Ever

I was forward this juggling act performed by Chris Bliss today. I must say its amazing. Check it out.

Chris dropped out after his third year of college (dean’s list at Northwestern) to become a professional juggler. After becoming the best damn juggler ever, he became a standup comic – and is actually pretty funny.

Grizzly Man Comments

I recently watched the documentary Grizzly Man, which was great. At first i wasn’t sure how pysched i’d be to watch an entire movie that’s all about a guy hanging out in a National Park with bears. But from the moment it began i was mesmerized. This guy is a total nut-job and the movie goes on trying to make him a hero. The bear scenes are amazing too. I have yet to see a National Geographic special that has as good footage as this does. The bear scenes are incredible. But lets focus on the guy being completely insane.

The Sports Guy has some good comments too:

It’s the first documentary since “American Movie” that ranks a perfect 100 on the Unintentional Comedy Scale. First of all, it’s directed by Werner Herzog, who (incredibly) decided to narrate the movie even though he sounds like he’s auditioning for a Hans & Frans sketch. Second, the Grizzly Man guy is an absolute maniac and can’t be described even remotely. You just have to see him in action. He’s surpassed Mark Byars (from “Paradise Lost”) and Mark Borchardt for me, and I never thought I would say that. Third, there are so many ridiculously funny moments (like when Grizzly Man claims that he lost out to Woody Harrelson as Coach’s replacement on “Cheers,” or when he’s playing with the bear poop) that you can’t even believe it’s happening as it’s happening. I kept thinking that this was like the “Blair Witch Project,” some sort of elaborate hoax by the creators of “Mr. Show.” But it’s not. And fourth, this is the first movie that I can remember that glorifies someone who’s completely insane. I mean, COMPLETELY. Utterly and totally.