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Steve Martin Filmography
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Steve Martin: Becoming a household name
In the mid-1970s he made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson. That exposure, together with appearances on NBC's Saturday Night Live
(SNL), led to his first of four comedy albums, Let's Get Small
. The album was a huge success; one of its tracks, Excuse Me, helped establish a national catch phrase.
His next album, A Wild and Crazy Guy, was an even bigger success reaching the number two spot on the chart, and spawning another catch phrase, this time based on an SNL skit where Martin and
Dan Aykroyd played a couple of bumbling Czechoslovakian playboys. A top 40 hit King Tut, from the album, released in 1978, was backed by the Toot Uncommons (better known as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). Both were million sellers.
Both albums won Grammys for
Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978.
In these and his two other albums, Martin's stand-up comedy was self-referential, sometimes self-mocking. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden spurts of "happy feet", deft banjo playing with balloon depictions of concepts like venereal disease. His style is off kilter and ironic, and sometimes makes fun of stand-up comedy traditions. A typical gag might be interrupted for a sip from a glass of water, and just as he was about to speak again, he forcefully spits the water onto the floor.
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Latest Film News
Latest news on Steve Martin
LiteratureDisneyland home movie from 1956 makes Library of Congress's National Film Registry
Molly sez, "Robbins Barstow's film Disneyland Dream was included in this year's National Film Registry (25 films selected by the Library of Congress annually). He is a tireless advocate for amateur film and a great supporter of Home Movie Day. Steve Martin wrote to Robbins Barstow after the news of Disneyland Dream being selected for the Film Registry. Martin appears in the home movie, he's 11 years old and worked selling guidebooks. Go home movies!" We've blogged Robbins's amazing home movies here before. The man's a hero of the medium. Well-deserved congratulations indeed. From the Library of Congress?s press release: Disneyland Dream (1956) The Barstow family films a memorable home movie of their trip to Disneyland. Robbins and Meg Barstow, along with their children Mary, David and Daniel were among 25 families who won a free trip to the newly opened Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., as part of a ?Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape? contest sponsored by 3M. Through vivid color and droll narration (?The landscape was very different from back home in Connecticut?), we see a fantastic historical snapshot of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Catalina Island, Knott?s Berry Farm, Universal Studios and Disneyland in mid-1956. Home movies have assumed a rapidly increasing importance in American cultural studies as they provide a priceless and authentic record of time and place. The film, along with 15 other Barstow Travel Adventure titles, is available for viewing and downloading at the Internet Archive. Robbins Barstow?s ?Disneyland Dream? Named to National Film Registry, Steve Martin and Disneyland Dream (Thanks, Molly!) Previously:Robbins Barstow's spectacular amateur films - Boing Boing Home movie of contest-winning family vacation to Disneyland in ......
Published: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:20:48 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the article
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