Early_career:_stand-up Steve_Martin

steve martin, 1976

in mid-1970s, martin made frequent appearances stand-up comedian on tonight show starring johnny carson., , on gong show, hbo s on location, muppet show, , nbc s saturday night live (snl). snl s audience jumped million viewers when made guest appearances, , 1 of successful snl hosts. martin appeared on 27 saturday night live shows , guest-hosted 15 times, bested in number of presentations host alec baldwin (who has hosted 17 times of february 2017). on show, martin popularized air quotes gesture, uses 4 fingers make double quote marks in air. while on show martin became close several of cast members, including gilda radner. radner died of ovarian cancer on saturday, may 20, 1989; visibly shaken martin hosted snl night , featured footage of himself , radner in 1978 sketch.

in 1970s, tv appearances led release of comedy albums went platinum. track excuse me on first album, let s small (1977), helped establish national catch phrase. next album, wild , crazy guy (1978), bigger success, reaching no. 2 spot on u.s. sales chart, selling on million copies. wild , crazy guy became of martin s known catch phrases. album featured character based on series of saturday night live sketches martin , dan aykroyd played festrunk brothers; georgi , yortuk (respectively) bumbling czechoslovak would-be playboys. album ends song king tut , sung , written martin , backed toot uncommons , members of nitty gritty dirt band. later released single, reaching no. 17 on u.s. charts in 1978 , selling on million copies. song came out during king tut craze accompanied popular traveling exhibit of egyptian king s tomb artifacts. both albums won grammys best comedy recording in 1977 , 1978, respectively. martin performed king tut on edition of april 22, 1978, of snl.

decades later, in 2012, a.v. club described martin s unique style , impact on audiences:

[martin was] both consummate entertainer , glib, knowing parody of consummate entertainer. @ once hammy populist uncanny, unprecedented feel tastes of mass audience , sly intellectual goofy shtick cunningly deconstructed stand-up comedy.

on comedy albums, martin s stand-up self-referential , self-mocking. mixes philosophical riffs sudden spurts of happy feet , banjo playing balloon depictions of concepts venereal disease, , controversial kitten juggling (he master juggler; kittens stuffed animals). style off-kilter , ironic , pokes fun @ stand-up comedy traditions, such martin opening act (from wild , crazy guy) saying, think there s nothing better person come , same thing on , on 2 weeks. enjoy, m going same thing on , on , on [...] m going same joke on , on in same show, ll new thing. or: hello, m steve martin, , ll out here in minute. in 1 comedy routine, used on comedy not pretty! album martin claimed real name gern blanston . riff took on life of own. there gern blanston website, , time rock band took moniker name.

martin stopped doing stand-up comedy in 1981 concentrate on movies , did not return 35 years. decision, states, act conceptual. once concept stated, , understood it, done. [...] coming end of road. there no way live on in persona. had take fabulous luck of not being remembered that, exclusively. know, didn t announce stopping. stopped.

in 2016, martin made rare return comedy, opening jerry seinfeld. performed 10-minute routine before turning stage on seinfeld. later in 2016 returned stand-up comedy, staging national tour martin short , steep canyon rangers.