Stand-up comedy Late night In 1967, his former girlfriend Nina Goldblatt, a dancer on
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, helped Martin land a writing job with the show by submitting his work to head writer
Mason Williams. Williams initially paid Martin out of his own pocket. Along with the other writers for the show, Martin won an
Emmy Award in 1969 at the age of twenty-three. Martin opened for groups such as
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (who returned the favor by appearing in his 1980 television special
All Commercials),
The Carpenters, and
Toto. He appeared at
The Boarding House, among other venues. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on
Van Dyke and Company in 1976. In the mid-1970s, Martin made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and
NBC's
Saturday Night Live (
SNL).
SNL audience jumped by a million viewers when he made guest appearances, and he was one of the show's most successful hosts. While on the show, Martin grew close to several cast members, including
Gilda Radner. On the night she died of
ovarian cancer, a tearful Martin hosted
SNL and featured footage of himself and Radner together in a 1978 sketch.
Comedy albums In the 1970s, his television appearances led to the release of comedy albums that went
platinum. The song came out during the
King Tut craze that accompanied the popular traveling exhibit of the Egyptian king's tomb artifacts. Both albums won
Grammys for
Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Martin performed "King Tut" on the April 22, 1978,
SNL program. Decades later in 2012,
The A.V. Club's head writer,
Nathan Rabin, described Martin's unique style and its effect on audiences: On his comedy albums, Martin's stand-up is self-referential and sometimes
self-mocking. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden spurts of "happy feet",
banjo playing with balloon depictions of concepts like
venereal disease, and the "controversial" kitten juggling (he is a master juggler; the "kittens" were
stuffed animal toys). His style is off-kilter and ironic and sometimes pokes fun at stand-up comedy traditions, such as Martin opening his act (from
A Wild and Crazy Guy) by saying: Or: "Hello, I'm Steve Martin, and I'll be out here in a minute." In one comedy routine, used on the
Comedy Is Not Pretty! album, Martin claimed that his real name was "Gern Blanston". The riff took on a life of its own. There is a Gern Blanston website, and for a time a rock band took the moniker as its name. Martin's show soon required full-sized stadiums for the audiences he was drawing. Concerned about his visibility in venues on such a scale, Martin began to wear a distinctive
three-piece white suit that became a trademark for his act. Martin stopped doing stand-up comedy in 1981 to concentrate on movies and did not return for thirty-five years.
Return to standup In 2016, Martin made a low-key comeback to live comedy, opening for
Jerry Seinfeld. He performed a ten-minute stand-up routine before turning the stage over to Seinfeld. Also in 2016 he staged a national tour with
Martin Short and the
Steep Canyon Rangers, which yielded a 2018 Netflix comedy special,
Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life. The special received four
Primetime Emmy Award nominations with Martin receiving two nominations for
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and
Outstanding Music and Lyrics for "The Buddy Song".
Acting career 1970s By the end of the 1970s, Martin had acquired the kind of following normally reserved for rock stars, with his tour appearances typically occurring at sold-out arenas filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans. But unknown to his audience, stand-up comedy was "just an accident" for him; his real goal was to get into film. His first substantial film appearance was in a
short titled
The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977). The seven-minute-long film, also featuring
Buck Henry and
Teri Garr, was written by and starred Martin. The film was nominated for an
Academy Award as
Best Short Film, Live Action. He made his first substantial feature film appearance in the musical ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', where he sang
The Beatles' "
Maxwell's Silver Hammer". In 1979, Martin starred in the comedy film
The Jerk, directed by
Carl Reiner, and written by Martin, Michael Elias, and
Carl Gottlieb. The film was a huge success, grossing over $100 million on a budget of approximately $4 million.
Stanley Kubrick met with him to discuss the possibility of Martin starring in a screwball comedy version of
Traumnovelle (Kubrick later changed his approach to the material, the result of which was 1999's
Eyes Wide Shut). It emboldened Martin to try his hand at his first serious film,
Pennies from Heaven (1981), based on the
1978 BBC serial by
Dennis Potter. He was anxious to perform in the movie because of his desire to avoid being
typecast. To prepare for that film, Martin took acting lessons from director
Herbert Ross and spent months learning how to
tap dance. The film was a financial failure; Martin's comment at the time was "I don't know what to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy."
1980s Martin was in three more Reiner-directed comedies after
The Jerk: ''
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in 1982, The Man with Two Brains in 1983 and All of Me in 1984, his most critically acclaimed performance up to that point. Martin was by now requesting almost $3 million per film, but Plaid
and Two Brains
both failed at the box office like Pennies
, endangering his young career. In 1986, Martin joined fellow Saturday Night Live veterans Martin Short and Chevy Chase in ¡Three Amigos!, directed by John Landis, and written by Martin, Lorne Michaels, and singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It was originally entitled The Three
Caballeros and Martin was to be teamed with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. In 1986, Martin was in the movie musical film version of the hit Off-Broadway play Little Shop of Horrors
(based on a famous B-movie), playing the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello. The film was the first of three films teaming Martin with Rick Moranis. In 1987, Martin joined comedian John Candy in the John Hughes movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
That same year, Martin starred in Roxanne, the film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, which he co-wrote and won him a Writers Guild of America Award. It also garnered recognition from Hollywood and the public that he was more than a comedian. In 1988, he performed in the Frank Oz film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a remake of Bedtime Story, alongside Michael Caine. Also in 1988, he appeared at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center in a revival of Waiting for Godot directed by Mike Nichols. He played Vladimir, with Robin Williams as Estragon and Bill Irwin as Lucky. Martin starred in the Ron Howard film Parenthood'' with Rick Moranis in 1989. Also in the 1980s, Martin worked in behind-the-scenes roles on a few television shows that were not commercial successes. These included a role as co-creator and executive producer of
Domestic Life (1984), a prime-time television sitcom starring friend
Martin Mull; executive producer, occasional writer, and director (of one episode) of
George Burns Comedy Week (1985), an anthology of stand-alone comedic stories; and co-creator, executive producer, and director (of one episode) of
Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills (1986), a sitcom starring
Harvey Korman and
Valerie Perrine. The two directorial credits represented here (along with a segment of the 1979 comedy special
Homage To Steve) remain the only directorial credits of Martin's career.
1990s He later re-teamed with Moranis in the
Mafia comedy
My Blue Heaven (1990). In 1991, Martin starred in and wrote
L.A. Story, a romantic comedy, in which the female lead was played by his then-wife
Victoria Tennant. Martin also appeared in
Lawrence Kasdan's
Grand Canyon, in which he played the tightly wound Hollywood film producer, Davis, who was recovering from a traumatic robbery that left him injured, which was a more serious role for him. Martin also starred in a remake of the comedy
Father of the Bride in 1991 (followed by a
sequel in 1995) and in the 1992 comedy
Housesitter, with
Goldie Hawn and
Dana Delany. In 1994, he starred in
A Simple Twist of Fate; a film adaptation of
Silas Marner. In
David Mamet's 1997 thriller
The Spanish Prisoner, Martin played a darker role as a wealthy stranger who takes a suspicious interest in the work of a young businessman (
Campbell Scott). In 1998, Martin guest starred with
U2 in the 200th episode of
The Simpsons titled "
Trash of the Titans", providing the voice for sanitation commissioner Ray Patterson, and also voiced Hotep in the animated film
The Prince of Egypt. In 1999, Martin and Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970
Neil Simon comedy,
The Out-of-Towners, and Martin went on to star with
Eddie Murphy in the comedy
Bowfinger, which he also wrote. He also appeared in Disney's
Fantasia 2000 to introduce the segment
Pines of Rome, along with
Itzhak Perlman.
2000s By 2003, Martin ranked fourth on the box office stars list, after starring in
Bringing Down the House (2003) and
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. That same year, he also played the villainous Mr. Chairman in the animation/live action blend,
Looney Tunes: Back in Action. In 2005, Martin wrote and starred in
Shopgirl, based on his own novella (2000), and starred in
Cheaper by the Dozen 2. In 2006, he starred in the box office hit
The Pink Panther, as the bumbling
Inspector Clouseau. He reprised the role in 2009's
The Pink Panther 2. When combined, the two films grossed over $230 million at the box office. In the comedy
Baby Mama (2008), starring
Tina Fey and
Amy Poehler, Martin played the founder of a health food company. Martin also appeared as a guest star in
30 Rock as Gavin Volure in the episode
Gavin Volure. He was nominated for an
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. The following year he starred in
Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy ''
It's Complicated (2009), opposite Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. In 2009, an article in The Guardian'' listed Martin as one of the best actors never to receive an Oscar nomination.
2010s at the
Peabody Awards in 2016 During the 2010s, Martin sparsely appeared in film and television. In 2011, he appeared with
Jack Black,
Owen Wilson, and
JoBeth Williams in the birdwatching comedy
The Big Year directed by
David Frankel. The film was criticized for its lightweight story and was a box office bomb. After a three-year hiatus, Martin returned in 2015 when he voiced the villainous Captain Smek in the
DreamWorks animated film
Home alongside
Jim Parsons and
Rihanna. The film received mixed critical reception but was a financial success. In 2016, he played a supporting role in
Ang Lee's war drama ''
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk''. He also appeared as himself in
Jerry Seinfeld's Netflix series
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2016. He also appeared in the taped version of
Oh, Hello on Broadway (2017) as the guest. He also starred in the
Netflix comedy special
An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life with
Martin Short in 2018.
2020s In 2020, Martin reprised his role as George Banks in the short
Father of the Bride Part 3(ish). Martin is an executive producer of
Only Murders in the Building, a
Hulu comedy series in which he stars with
Martin Short and
Selena Gomez, and which he created alongside
John Hoffman. In August 2022, Martin revealed that the series will likely be his final role, as he does not intend to seek out roles or cameos for other shows or films once the series ends.
Writing Books Martin's first book was
Cruel Shoes, a collection of comedic short stories and essays. It was published in 1979 by
G. P. Putnam's Sons after a limited release of a truncated version in 1977. Throughout the 1990s, Martin wrote various pieces for
The New Yorker. In 2002, he adapted the
Carl Sternheim play
The Underpants, which ran
Off Broadway at
Classic Stage Company, and in 2008 co-wrote and produced
Traitor, starring
Don Cheadle. He has also written the novellas
Shopgirl (2000) and
The Pleasure of My Company (2003), both more wry in tone than raucous. The film premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival in September 2005 and was featured at the
Chicago International Film Festival and the
Austin Film Festival before going into limited release in the US. In 2007, he published a memoir,
Born Standing Up, which
Time magazine named as one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007, ranking it at 6, and praising it as "a funny, moving, surprisingly frank memoir." In 2010, he published the novel
An Object of Beauty. Beginning in 2019, Martin has collaborated with cartoonist
Harry Bliss as a writer for the syndicated single-panel comic
Bliss. Together, they published the cartoon collection
A Wealth of Pigeons. In 2022, they collaborated again for Martin's illustrated autobiography,
Number One is Walking.
Plays In 1993, Martin wrote his first full-length play,
Picasso at the Lapin Agile. The first reading of the play took place in
Beverly Hills, California at his home, with
Tom Hanks reading the role of
Pablo Picasso and
Chris Sarandon reading the role of
Albert Einstein. Following this, the play opened at the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, and played from October 1993 to May 1994, then went on to run successfully in Los Angeles, New York City, and several other US cities. In 2009, the school board in
La Grande, Oregon, refused to allow the play to be performed after several parents complained about the content. In an open letter in the local
Observer newspaper, Martin wrote:
Broadway Inspired by
Love has Come for You, Martin and Edie Brickell collaborated on his first musical,
Bright Star. It is set in the
Blue Ridge Mountains of
North Carolina in 1945–46, with flashbacks to 1923. The
musical debuted on
Broadway on March 24, 2016.
Charles Isherwood of
The New York Times praised its score by Martin and Brickell writing, "The shining achievement of the musical is its winsome country and bluegrass score, with music by Mr. Martin and Ms. Brickell, and lyrics by Ms. Brickell...the songs — yearning ballads and square-dance romps rich with fiddle, piano, and banjo, beautifully played by a nine-person band — provide a buoyancy that keeps the momentum from stalling." The musical went on to receive five
Tony Award nominations including
Best Musical. Martin himself received Tony nominations for
Best Book of a Musical and
Best Original Score and received the
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and the Outstanding Critics Circle Award for Best New Score. He also received a
Grammy Award for
Best Musical Theater Album. Martin's next work as a playwright was the comic play
Meteor Shower which opened at
San Diego's
Old Globe Theatre in August 2016, and went on to
Connecticut's
Long Wharf Theatre later the same year. The play opened on Broadway at the
Booth Theatre on November 29, 2017. The cast featured
Amy Schumer,
Laura Benanti,
Jeremy Shamos and
Keegan-Michael Key, with direction by
Jerry Zaks. Critic Allison Adaot of
Entertainment Weekly wrote, "
Meteor Shower is a very funny play. Keening-like-a-howler-monkey funny. Design-a-new-cry-laughing-emoji funny...In the confident hands of writer and comedy maestro Steve Martin, the premise is polished to sparkling."
Hosting Martin hosted the
Academy Awards solo in
2001 and
2003, and with
Alec Baldwin in
2010. In 2020, Martin opened the
92nd Academy Awards alongside
Chris Rock with comedy material. They were not previously announced as that year's hosts, and joked after their opening monolog, "Well we've had a great time not hosting tonight". In 2005, Martin co-hosted
Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, marking the park's anniversary. Disney continued to run the show until March 2009, which now plays in the lobby of
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. A fan of
Monty Python, in 1989 Martin hosted the television special,
Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python.
Music career Banjo music Martin first picked up the banjo when he was around 17 years of age. Martin has stated in several interviews and in his memoir,
Born Standing Up, that he used to take 33 rpm
bluegrass records and slow them down to 16 rpm and tune his banjo down, so the notes would sound the same. Martin was able to pick out each note and perfect his playing. Martin learned how to play the banjo with help from
John McEuen, who later joined the
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. McEuen's brother later managed Martin as well as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Martin performed his stand-up routine opening for the band in the early 1970s. He had the band play on his hit song "King Tut", being credited as "The Toot Uncommons" (as in
Tutankhamun). The banjo was a staple of Martin's 1970s stand-up career, and he periodically poked fun at his love for the instrument. In 2009, Martin released his first all-music album,
The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo with appearances from stars such as
Dolly Parton. The album won the
Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen produced the album. Martin made his first appearance on The
Grand Ole Opry on May 30, 2009. In the
American Idol season eight finals, he performed alongside
Michael Sarver and Megan Joy in the song "Pretty Flowers". Martin is featured playing banjo on "I Hate Love" from
Kelly Clarkson's tenth studio album
Chemistry . It was released as a promotional single on June 2, 2023.
Alison Brown co-wrote
Foggy Morning Breaking with Martin in 2023, and
Wall Guitar in 2024.
Steep Canyon Rangers In June 2009, Martin played banjo along with the
Steep Canyon Rangers on
A Prairie Home Companion and began a two-month U.S. tour with the Rangers in September, including appearances at the
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival,
Carnegie Hall and
Benaroya Hall in
Seattle. In November, they went on to play at the
Royal Festival Hall in London with support from
Mary Black. In 2010, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers appeared at the
New Orleans Jazzfest, Merlefest Bluegrass Festival in
Wilkesboro, North Carolina, at
Bonnaroo Music Festival, at the ROMP Bluegrass Festival in
Owensboro, Kentucky, at the
Red Butte Garden Concert series, and on the BBC's
Later... with Jools Holland. Martin performed "Jubilation Day" with the Steep Canyon Rangers on
The Colbert Report on March 21, 2011, on
Conan on May 3, 2011, and on BBC's
The One Show on July 6, 2011. Martin performed a song he wrote called "Me and Paul Revere" in addition to two other songs on the lawn of the
Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., at the "Capitol Fourth Celebration" on July 4, 2011. While on tour, Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers occasionally performed Martin's 1978 novelty hit song "King Tut" live in a bluegrass arrangement. One of these performances was released on the 2011 album
Rare Bird Alert. In 2011, Martin also narrated and appeared in the
PBS documentary "Give Me The Banjo" chronicling the history of the banjo in America.
Love Has Come for You, a collaboration album with
Edie Brickell, was released in April 2013. The two made musical guest appearances on talk shows, such as
The View and
Late Show with David Letterman, to promote the album. The title track won the
Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song. Starting in May 2013, he began a tour with the
Steep Canyon Rangers and Edie Brickell throughout the United States. In 2015, Brickell and Martin released
So Familiar as the second installment of their partnership. In 2017, Martin and Brickell appeared in the multi-award-winning documentary film
The American Epic Sessions directed by
Bernard MacMahon. Recording live
direct-to-disc on the first
electrical sound recording system from the 1920s, they performed a version of "
The Coo Coo Bird" a traditional song that Martin learned from the 1960s folk music group
The Holy Modal Rounders. The song was featured on the film soundtrack,
Music from The American Epic Sessions released on June 9, 2017. The prize includes a US$50,000 cash award, a bronze sculpture created by the artist
Eric Fischl, and a chance to perform with Martin on
Late Show with David Letterman. Recipients include
Noam Pikelny of the
Punch Brothers band (2010),
Sammy Shelor of
Lonesome River Band (2011),
Mark Johnson (2012),
Jens Kruger (2013),
Eddie Adcock (2014),
Danny Barnes (2015),
Rhiannon Giddens (2016),
Scott Vestal (2017),
Kristin Scott Benson (2018), and Victor Furtado (2019). ==Personal life==