Steve Martin

Martin's debut from 1977 is still as bizarre and hilarious as it was back in the day. The actor/comedian/author plays banjo like a madman, makes ridiculous jokes that barely make sense, and creates bizarre scenarios that draw you into some hip, '70s Edward Lear-inspired world of absurdity. Getting small never sounded so good.

Steve Martin has become the comedic rage by the usual means: introducing a couple of
readily imitable phrases into the vernacular (excuse me if I don't repeat them). More than
that, his characterizations have made being an asshole fashionable again; all he lacks is a
lampshade. For this, he deserves a humanitarian award. Now, when you do stupid things
people think you're being paid for it. Unfortunately, the least deliberately absur... More >

Martin's style of tastelessness is refreshing--you know he'd do a blue routine or a moron joke if he could come up with one that was funny. But it's not true that he's unsullied by topicality; his definitively post-hip humor is as bound to time and place as Mort Sahl's, less "pure" than Bill Cosby's or Jerry Lewis's (not to mention Buster Keaton's). And having listened to this record shortly after making his acquaintance in concert, I find that most of it doesn't wear especially well. Pardon me. (Grade - B)