I saw Steve Martin at Virginia Tech in either late 1975 or early 1976. I had never heard of the guy and was skeptical of his comedic talent based on the posters around campus showing some nutjob with a fake arrow on his head and a twisted animal balloon in his hand: not my idea of comedy, for sure. In the end, I went to show because I got a free ticket.

We were no sooner seated, staring up at an empty stage with two huge speakers, one on each side of the stage, when this guy walks out. The lights dim, as I recall, and a spotlight hits the guy...all to be expected. Suddenly the guy bolts for safety behind one of the speakers! As he pokes his head out, the spot hits him again, and he ducks back behind the speaker. Then he makes a break for it, sprinting across the stage, the spot chasing him, until he is safely ensconced behind the other speaker. Finally, he is running around the stage trying to elue the spotlight.

I was already in tears. Maybe you had to be there. But I was crying with laughter. I had NEVER seen anything like this before in my young life.

Much of what followed is familiar to Martin' fans. There is one thing, though, that I have always remembered from that show for reasons that have been obscure to me for all of this time: at one time he says, in his sometimes pompous and affectatious way (and I paraphrase), "In my business, you have to be good with the English language. And let's face it, some people have a way with words while others just, oh, I don't know...not have way."

It is unfair probably to rate comedians over the years, and there is no need to do it, in any event, but I will do it anyway: as much as I admire Lenny Bruce and love George Carlin, Steve Martin and Robin Williams stand above the crowd, with Williams getting the nod as greatest of all time.

I have not yet read the book but look forward to it with most happy feet!

I was born in 1981 and therefore was not there to witness Steve Martin when his act was cutting edge, so I've never gotten it. I understand it intellectually as counterpoint to the more angry, socially conscious comedy at the time. However, cartoons and Monty Python did absurdism that's still funny. I find extremely few of the moments in his books and comedy albums hold up.

case in point:

I'm an actor, always looking for good audition material. I came across "Cruel Shoes" at a salvation army and thought I'd hit the jackpot. I bought it, brought it home, read it furiously and was incredibly dissapointed to find it was almost all nonsense. None were funny enough to be comedy monologue, none were interesting enough to be character pieces.

Martin's brand of comedy was appropriated by many performers and writers who made it better and more timeless. I appreciate how he changed the form, just as I appreciate Lenny Bruce. But neither of them are funny to me.

Martin's comedy wasn't really a counterpoint to "socially angry" comedy, it was more a comedic changing of the guard that began with Martin, SCTV and SNL (and was later perfected by Letterman), that sort of ironic, physical, self-conscious send up of show business itself. It was very cathartic.

You're probably right that the material doesn't hold up as well, but that's true of most stand-up comedy. It's a temporal thing, you have to kind of have the tensions of the time built into it. You wind up just appreciating the style of each comedian, and you can see the particular joy Martin brought to his performances.

given the topicality of the references in most comedians' acts, but particularly, Lenny Bruce. I wouldn't expect a person born in 1981 to have much appreciation at all for either Bruce or Steve Martin, but you were a good sport to even try. I'm a Baby Boomer and I'm left cold, or was as a younger person, by the comedy of people like Henny Youngman, Rodney Dangerfield, and all those old Borscht Belt Yiddisher comedians. I'm also the only person I know in my generation who doesn't appreciate George Carlin. Am curious, though: what do you think of Robin Williams?

I believe Steve's response would be:

WELL, EXCUUUUUUSE ME!!!!!!!

:)