Surley the comedic tank has filled back up in the last 20 years -- we'd love to see you do stand-up again.

Never in comedic history has a comedian more effortlessly put a heckler in his place than Steve Martin did, when a voice from the back of the audience, referencing an old routine, yelled, "Hey, Steve! What's you're mood watch say?"

A long pause, and then the perfect riposte, "Yeah, I remember my first beer."

Martin with his banjo, white suit and "wild and crazy guy" persona kept my teen years rolling with laughter. Although he's an accomplished actor and a terrifyingly good musician and a multi-talented genius, I still miss him as a stand-up performer. He had the intellect of Carlin, the good looks and timing of Carson, and an outlook that was sheer Steve Martin. There are many good comics, even great comics like Jerry Seinfeld, who aren't talented enough to step into Martin's white shoes.

I dont know. I dont get it. I was born in 1971 and cant say I was too exposed to the 'genius comic Steve', but why is a guy who is supposedly a comic genius so comfortable putting out such horribly unfunny movies?

My guess is that Andy Kaufman would have never stooped to that level, but who knows.

I think there was a big falloff around the time of The Jerk (1979) and his work has become progressively more unfunny since. Or maybe his work has always been very mediocre and funny to the masses and his standup schtick gets too much credit.

Can anyone answer this...why can't a comic genius create ANYTHING funny in almost 30 years? And don't respond until you have seen 'Bringin Down the House'

When I spoke of his genius, I was tying it only to his standup routines and his virtuouso ability on the banjo (he's won a Grammy for performing with legendary banjoist Earl Scruggs). His movies have been only so-so -- I liked "Pennies from Heaven," "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid," and "The Jerk," but those were all sort of move extensions of his standup act. He did yeoman work in "Grand Canyon," and was pretty good in "Bowfinger." A lot of the more family-oriented stuff has been pretty much a turnoff for everyone, but I'm sure it paid well.

I'd still like to see him dust off his standup act and do some more. I'm roughly 10 years older than you, but see if you can find the albums "Steve Martin, a Wild and Crazy Guy," or "Let's Get Small." Classic stuff.

Kaufmann was interesting too, but he had made himself unemployable by the time he died.

Having seen Steve Martin on TV when he was virtually unknown, I think he's one of the greatest comedians ever. See the Youtube stuff the author linked to and more, there wasn't anything like that before him.

On Andy Kaufman, see the Slate article by Harry Shearer:

I'm an admirer of Jim Carrey and Milos Forman, I enjoyed Flynt as well, but mother nature hasn't made enough wild horses to get me to see a movie about Andy Kaufman. Having both seen him as an audience member and shared stages with him, I became convinced that he was--how shall we put this gently?--mentally ill, and that charging money to see him alternately irritate and infantilize his audiences was the modern equivalent of Bedlam. Why the posthumous cult of Andy in Hollywood? Here's a theory: Kaufman acted out, in arguably "interesting" ways, the hostility toward the audience that most people in show business feel but try (with varying degrees of success) to conceal.

I like Andy too, but it was hard to know if it was an act or not. After he died I saw that Tony Clifton was still appearing in nightclubs and I thought Andy might have faked his own death so he could disappear inside a different persona. Turned out not to be true, but it sure seemed possible.

Bringing Down the House is probably one of the 10 worst films I've ever seen. Even as a rental I was stunned at how bad it was. Stereotype white guy meets stereotype black woman--equal opportunity to offend!

But, all his movies haven't been bad and even some of the the criticisms in the article were off base. For example, it pokes fun at the original Father of the Bride. I remembered that being pretty decent, so I checked out Rotten Tomatoes and saw it scored a 74%. Just because the sequel was bad doesn't mean the original was.

What I have been a bit surprised at watching Martin's later career is how he somehow missed out on the sorts of roles Bill Murray has excelled at recently. Martin has shown the ability to do more dramatic parts, but seems to shy away from them in favor of stuff like The Pink Panther.

Another good Steve Martin line :

Smoker: "Mind if I smoke ?"

Steve: "Not at all. Mind if I fart?"

The Pink Panther may not have been high art in the Steve Martin version, but it wasn't bad. Discounting Peter Sellers (the "real" Cluseau), Martin is the third or fourth actor to take on the role of the bumbling inspector from the Surete'. While maybe not perfect, his is certainly the best since Sellers. Alan Arkin fell completely flat when he tried the same role -- in part because he basically impersonated Sellers. Martin at least brought some of himself to the role.

I wouldn't mind seeing Martin tie into a more dramatic role, a non-comedic role or something a little dark (like Bill Murray has done). I think he probably avoids those roles because his "real life" outlook is pretty dark, and he finds it more enjoyable to do light movies.

To the list of Martin movies I had above, I should also add "The Man with Two Brains" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" as being good outlets for Martin's talents -- he's also better than adequate as the evil dentist in "Little Shop of Horrors."

But I still miss his standup routines. Eddie Murphy's, too.

I agree he wasn't bad as the Pink Panther. That was a bit of a no-win role in terms of how critics were going to judge it: Look anything at all like Sellers and get panned for it; do something completely different than Sellers and get panned for it.

I loved him and Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The bit where he plays the disabled brother with the eye patch is hilarious.

I'd forgotten "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" -- that's a comedy that is great in every way a comedy can be great.

trapdoor wrote the following post at 12/04/2007 8:13 AM: The Pink Panther may not have been high art in the Steve Martin version, but it wasn't bad.

Are you kidding me? "High art"?!

I understand the guy needs to pay his bills, but I don't care how smart he is, or how funny he was thirty years ago, there is no way Martin can be forgiven for his version of the Pink Panther.

I really don't agree. I don't see that there was a compelling reason to do a new Pink Panther film. Blake Edwards more than completed the series with the lame, post-Peter Sellers sequels -- some of which didn't include the Clouseau character.

With that in mind IF you were going to make a Pink Panther film, you'd want comedic talent, a couple of straight men to play off the comedic talent, and a sexy woman to play the lead. Kevin Kline and Jean Reno were great in the straight-man roles, and Beyonce clearly has the chops as a sexy lead. I thought Martin was good as Clouseau -- not as good as Sellers, just in my view, but good. If you want to blame Martin for a bad performance in a worse comedy, pick "Sgt. Bilko" which was so bad as to be indescribable.

I don't think those roles necessarily detract from my view of Steve Martin as an original comic talent -- Peter Sellers was also unable to save the comedy in his later work as Clouseau.

Agree that Martin's movies, pre LA Story were spinoffs of his act, or at least his invention. Who else would fall in love with a brain? To further the case, other mediums in which he showcased his talent during the '70s and '80s still retain his unique genius. The novella Cruel Shoes stands out as a tiny jewel of comedic mastery along with Woody Allen's Getting Even. The aforementioned album Wild and Crazy Guy contains King Tut, Martin's crack anthem to sarcophagi. In a made for TV special - Comedy Is Not Pretty - Martin executed a series of skits including an homage to Marty Robbin's soaring western ballad - El Paso.

Unfortunately, post 1990 Martin has chosen movie vehicles contrived by minds other than his own, hence Father of the Brides and Cheaper by the Dozens, which try very hard to portray him as a normal father figure. Or perhaps, those are roles Martin chooses for himself in his father-less 60s.

By the way, his natural affinity for dancing was as astounding as his banjo abilities. He'd walk away with first prize if ever attempting Dancing with the Stars.