Steve Martin

Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, musician, and composer born in Waco, Texas and raised in Garden Grove, California.

Early years

Martin, of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent, worked at the Bird Cage Theater in Knott's Berry Farm and at the Magic Shop at Disneyland as a teenager, where he developed his talents for magic, juggling, playing the banjo, and creating balloon animals.

Related Topics:
English - Irish - Scottish - Welsh - Knott's Berry Farm - Disneyland - Magic - Juggling - Banjo

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Martin majored in philosophy at California State University, Long Beach, but dropped out. Nevertheless, his time there changed his life:

Related Topics:
Philosophy - California State University, Long Beach

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:"It changed what I believe and what I think about everything. I majored in philosophy. Something about non sequiturs appealed to me. In philosophy, I started studying logic, and they were talking about cause and effect, and you start to realize, "Hey, there is no cause and effect! There is no logic! There is no anything!" Then it gets real easy to write this stuff, because all you have to do is twist everything hard—you twist the punch line, you twist the non sequitur so hard away from the things that set I up, that it's easy... and it's thrilling."

Related Topics:
Non sequitur - Logic - Cause and effect - Punch line

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Martin's girlfriend in 1967 was a dancer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and helped Martin land a job as a writer for the program. Along with the other writers for that show, Martin won an Emmy Award in 1969. Martin also wrote for John Denver (a neighbor of his in Aspen, Colorado at one point), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. He also appeared on these shows, and numerous others, in numerous comedy skits.

Related Topics:
1967 - The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour - Emmy Award - 1969 - John Denver - Aspen - Colorado - The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour - The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour

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Martin also performed his own material, sometimes as an opening act for groups such as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and The Carpenters. He appeared at San Francisco's The Boarding House among other locations. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on Van Dyke and Company in 1975.

Related Topics:
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - The Carpenters - San Francisco - 1975

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