Sagi’s Reviews > Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life > Status Update

Steve Martin briefly dates Linda Ronstadt, learns that being consistently good is the hardest part of entertaining, and begins to zero in on what makes his act Funny.

Steve Martin starts appearing on talk shows and booking hotel residencies, opening for Ann-Margret.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ends. Mention of the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour & his desire to get into 19th-20th century American art collecting.

"These notions stayed with me for months, 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 & 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?" - pg 111

AND he calls Carol Burnett an "affable genius". <3

Steve becomes a TV writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour alongside greats like Rob Reiner and Bob Einstein. It's the late 60s, and politically-driven folk music abounds. Life is full of contradictions on the spectrum from sad & serious to happy & humorous.