He might’ve spent over 50 years making people laugh, but still, Steve Martin has a way of telling jokes and saying things that sound so fresh.
‘Be so good they can’t ignore you’
People kept insisting on asking Martin for advice on how to break into show business, and probably assumed he’d have some kind of clever trick. Maybe something about agents, maybe something about auditions. But no. He just said, ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.’
Martin explained the idea later on during an interview with Charlie Rose and said that success advice usually ignored the actual work. It became such a popular quote that the line’s all over motivational posters. He’s just that good.
‘Comedy is not pretty’
It’s not like Martin was trying to say a famous slogan or anything, he just did it. It was during his hosting of The Tonight Show in the 1970s when a joke didn’t exactly land the way he was hoping. But he didn’t get embarrassed or anything. No, he just said, ‘Comedy is not pretty.’
That was a line that Martin later used for the title of his 1979 comedy album and a 1980 NBC special. It really suited his act. He wasn’t exactly a guy who was interested in behaving properly anyway, after all.
‘I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either’
There’s no correct way to accept an award, and Martin knew that. So he made sure to make his 2015 AFI Life Achievement Award speech a memorable one, and he said, ‘I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either.’
It wasn’t originally his joke, though, he actually credited Jack Benny before delivering it. But still, Martin told the joke in a way that really made it seem like it was his. Only he’d turn an achievement like this into a punchline.
‘The worst thing a person can think about themselves is that they’re beloved’
Part of what makes Martin’s routines so special is that he really knows how people work, maybe a little too much. He once said during a 2020 interview with Martin and Martin Short, ‘The worst thing a person can think about themselves is that they’re beloved.’
Short responded by saying that he was beloved, of course, and Martin replied that he wasn’t. Martin managed to get them talking with just a single line. What a genius.
‘It’s good to be hard on yourself’
Not every self-improvement one-liner needs to be about being kind to yourself. Steve Martin understood that. Yes, he said during the 2024 documentary STEVE! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces, ‘It’s good to be hard on yourself.’
It was during a scene when he was going through possible jokes with Martin Short, and Steve Martin rejected quite a few of them. He’s still pretty rigorous about his jokes, even after decades of success, as he knows a joke doesn’t get a free pass just because he wrote it. It needs more.
‘I think if I had any guidance, nothing would’ve happened for me’
Steve Martin’s early comedy act was pretty different from the rest of the stuff he’d become known for. He’d mix magic with banjo playing, and philosophy with props, nothing like his later stuff. He didn’t regret any of it, though.
He actually said, ‘I think if I had any guidance, nothing would’ve happened for me,’ because he understood how proper guidance could’ve stopped the whole thing from happening. Sounds weird, but he had a point. A sensible mentor could’ve made him remove half the act.
‘There is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration’
There’s a reason that Martin included this line in his 2007 memoir, Born Standing Up. It was just that good of a line. He was talking about the years when success still seemed way too far away, and he said, ‘There is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration.’
He gets that your career doesn’t always move in one smooth direction, and he gets that there are going to be diversions. There’re going to be weak shows, and long drives, along with stretches when you have to believe you’re going to get somewhere. You do, eventually.
‘I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a by-product’
That’s not all for Born Standing Up. Martin took the time to break his stand-up career into 18 years, with 10 years learning, and four years improving the act. He’d spent another four at the top. It’s all because he understood the importance of having an original kind of comedy.
He said, ‘I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a by-product.’ That’s kind of an understatement because his hosting spots on Saturday Night Live weren’t exactly accidental or anything. He’d spent years rebuilding his act, he’s just too humble to admit that.
‘I was not self-destructive, though I almost destroyed myself’
Being self-destructive is one thing. Destroying yourself is another. Steve Martin understands that, and it’s why he once said the line ‘I was not self-destructive, though I almost destroyed myself.’ He understood the damage that working so much was having on him.
It’s part of the reason he quit doing solo stand-up. He was filling arenas and recording hit albums, sure, but it wasn’t sustainable. Moving from city to city at such a fast pace just wasn’t working out for him. So he gave it up.
‘I thought I was alone. And that was uplifting’
One of the things that really attracted Martin about the original cast of Saturday Night Live was the other performers. Namely, how they were making the same kind of loose and rule-bending comedy that he’d become really interested in.
He said, ‘I thought I was alone. And that was uplifting.’ Martin didn’t think that anyone else could share his little corner of comedy, but they did. It didn’t take long for him to become one of the show’s most frequent and recognizable hosts. He was hardly alone anymore.
‘One day, it will be forgotten. And so I just did what I was going to do.’
The white suit, the fake arrow, the catchphrases, Martin became obsessed with all of those at one point. It wasn’t exactly easy to move on from that kind of image. Most people had come to expect those sorts of jokes from him, so it was difficult for him to know what to do.
He wasn’t sure whether to stick to the image people had of him, or work on something entirely new. That’s when he realized something. He said, ‘One day, it will be forgotten. And so I just did what I was going to do,’ and realized that it was better to make the work you want to make. Doing what other people want you to do doesn’t go well.
‘You can’t make something beautiful by trying to make something beautiful’
During a 1993 New Yorker profile, Martin discussed the arts. He said that his problem with some of it came from trying too hard to look lovable, and he said, ‘You can’t make something beautiful by trying to make something beautiful.’
Take acting, for example. A character could become more lovable because they’re furious. They could be a way more interesting individual since they’re completely unaware of themselves, not because they’re begging to be liked. Martin is a guy who understands all that.
‘When the story’s working, I don’t have to be constantly funny’
A strong story. That’s all you need to stop chasing a laugh in every scene, just a good story that people are genuinely interested in. It’s why he said, ‘When the story’s working, I don’t have to be constantly funny.’
Having a good story means you’ve got the room to quit worrying about whether or not you’re being funny. You just get to be that way. It’s truly a liberating experience.Â
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
11 quotes from Mel Brooks that capture his comedic gifts
Mel Brooks has a way of turning a childhood memory or an awkward studio meeting into something absolutely hilarious, and he did it all with a few words.
