Claire Conger

When I saw Steve Martin on the cover of Parade Magazine with the caption “Even in tough times you can afford to laugh,” I thought He’s a millionaire, what could he know about hard times?

Plenty, it turns out. Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life details the poverty of his fifteen years spent perfecting his act before he became famous. He worked himself into a depression performing one-night stands. Like most successful people, his dedication to his career affected his personal life.

Now he says “I got better at life the way I got better at the banjo. I just stuck with it.”*

Knowing what you’re doing is important, too.

In a very telling segment of Born Standing Up, Mr Martin describes his confusion upon graduating to the big time and filling stadiums instead of night clubs. How could he make his act work when the viewers were so far away? He realizes in retrospect that the people filling the concert halls were going to a party; he was the host and his act was secondary. Had he understood this at the time, he’d have had a lot more fun.

So while you’re sticking with it, whatever you do, keep asking yourself What am I doing?

* Parade Magazine Sunday 25 January 2009 “Steve Martin: Laugh and Life Goes On” by Jeanne Wolf