Book: Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

I got a recommendation for this book on Quora. I don’t even remember what was the question about, but I usually mark some books to read when I get these “books you should read” questions.

I had low expectations about this one and it surprised me. :)

It was great to follow Steve’s career from a broke comedian to a famous one. The struggles to start, the glorious days, and the decline.

Here are my raw notes about the book:

  • If the light is thrown on the spectators, they don’t laugh
  • “Once she told the ventriloquist to get his dummy closer to the microphone”
  • I was sad one day and mentioned that my high School girlfriend broke up with me. He said: “Oh, that will happen a lot”
  • When doing standup, the jokes are now about you. It’s not a guy that entered in a bar, it was you.
  • Most jokes have a punchline and cues. Sometimes there are cues as gestures
  • Do you mind if I smoke? No! Do you mind if I fart? — 💭 LOL
  • How many people never raised the hand before?
  • There was a time I couldn’t convince the audience that the show was over. They were thinking it was all part of the show — 💭 LOL
  • “I’m a celebrity now. Normal rules of social interaction no longer apply”