Friday, June 20, 2008
Ramblin' Man
I just finished reading Born Standing Up, an autobiography by Steve Martin about the difficult years leading up to his success as a comic. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've always been a huge Martin fan. His albums "Let's Get Small" and "Wild and Crazy Guy" were the first comedy albums I owned, and I remember playing them over and over in my basement room. I was about 11 years old in those days. I very much enjoyed that his comedy wasn't mean, but rather it cleverly made fun of himself. Though I'm not a professional comic, I would say that Steve Martin's early comedy influenced my lecture style. That is why when I talk about the Battle of Jericho, I wear bunny ears.
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5 comments:
Martin may have been a good comic, but, for me, no one could come close to Mort Sohl in those great standups he did at the Hungry I.
P.S. Was there a battle of Jericho?
Kenyon dug her behind off there but couldn', find the walls that came "tumbling down".
Honestly, I've never heard of Mort Sohl. I'll check him out. And there were no LB or Iron I fortifications that came a "tumblin' down." Only a few archaeology sites might show evidence of an Israelite destruction as described in Joshua, one of the main ones is Hazor. But that is all VERY controversial.
What no arrow in the head?
Btw, anonymous, Mort's last name is Sahl with an A.
George Carlin has passed on: one of the last of a unique genre of stand up comedians, e.g. Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Hennie Youngman; comedy with great social import.
I loved "Born Standing Up" as well. I've really enjoyed seeing the man transmogrify from stand-up comic to actor to writer.
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