If you haven't had the opportunity to read Steve Martin's wonderful autobiography Born Standing Up you can still read a bit about his life in the February issue of Smithsonian Magazine. In the article Being Funny he talks about his early days as a comedian and how he became the biggest comedy act in the nation.
From the story:
A skillful comedian could coax a laugh with tiny indicators such as a vocal tic (Bob Hope's "But I wanna tell ya") or even a slight body shift. Jack E. Leonard used to punctuate jokes by slapping his stomach with his hand. One night, watching him on "The Tonight Show," I noticed that several of his punch lines had been unintelligible, and the audience had actually laughed at nothing but the cue of his hand slap.
These notions stayed with me until they formed an idea that revolutionized my comic direction: What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation. This type of laugh seemed stronger to me, as they would be laughing at something they chose, rather than being told exactly when to laugh.
For me, Steve Martin's always been an inspiration. He made me want to write comedy. He made me want to be a good dad (due to his role in "Parenthood" which now sounds like a silly admission but it's true). He made me want to perform (I've done a few small plays here and there and have written a couple comedies as well). Anyway, he's great. So great, enjoy this vintage clip of him and balloon animals...
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