Improv Inspiration: Born Standing Up
Posted by Brary | Filed under The Brary, Uncategorized
I’m just about to finish Steve Martin’s autobiographical account of his early stand-up comedy days. It’s called “Born Standing Up.” I must say, even though our very own Tuck enjoyed it and recommended it, I was a little wary. Through the years, I’ve loved many Steve Martin movies. “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” and “Three Amigos” being near the top of the list. His appearances on SNL have always been a delight. And heck, I thought he was pretty good going dramatic in Mamet’s “The Spanish Prisoner.” But in the “Cheaper By the Dozen/Bringing Down the House” Steve Martin era, I have found him a bit soft. To be fair, I haven’t seen “Novocaine,” a supposedly dark comedy. Nor have I read or seen “Shopgirl,” which I hear is funny and sad — a combo I usually go in for.
But anyway, back to the book. Reading about a really bad teenage comedian/magician/musician struggling in small theaters while working at Disneyland was fascinating and inspirational. The one thing in particular I enjoyed was Martin’s overwhelming desire to try something new. He wanted to be different. He observed the successful comedians that came before him and decided he needed to attempt to blaze his own trail. He wanted to avoid the traditional setup and punch line format of telling a joke. This inspired him to develop a technique of giving the audience nothing but setup and not giving any punch line. In other words, he wanted to take away those unspoken cues comedians give audiences, letting them know it’s okay to laugh. So, he would stand before an audience, spouting off non-sequiturs, wearing something stupid, allowing for long pauses, making the audience uncomfortable. His goal was for the laughter to come in new places and in new ways. Eventually it did. But it was a long road for him to develop his style and gain confidence in it. I loved reading about this decade’s long development of him figuring this out and trying increasingly strange and provocative things in his act. Often, he would have the entire audience follow him out onto the street. Once, he brought a crowd of 300 people into a McDonald’s and ordered 300 hamburgers to go. Or he might conduct part of his act on the mic in the light booth.
Other than being a fascinating exposé of the life of a comedian, I found a lot of inspiration in terms of improv. What am I trying that’s new? How quickly am I giving up on it or sticking with it? How patient am I when it comes to building my own confidence as a performer? After reading (or nearly finishing) this book, I felt a new love of the craft of improv. Tuck was right. “Born Standing Up” is a great book.
