Steve Martin names every single one of his comedy heroes: “There were so many sources”
To most of today’s audience, Steve Martin is the kindly white-haired comedy icon behind Only Murders in the Building, and the beloved star of family franchises like Cheaper by the Dozen and Father of the Bride.
When Martin first took the world of stand-up comedy by storm in the ’70s, though, his style was so absurd, off-kilter, and unique that he was in a category unto himself. Amazingly, his conceptual style, which was simultaneously philosophical, self-referential, and downright silly, made him one of the first true rock stars of comedy, and he regularly sold out stadiums years in advance.
Of course, Martin’s comedy style didn’t arrive fully formed, and it wasn’t created and honed in a vacuum. Like every comedian, Martin grew up pulling inspiration from different sources before funnelling it all through his personal “wild and crazy guy” lens. Who were the comedy giants who first fired a young Martin’s synapses, though, and what was it about their acts that he absorbed into his own style?
According to Martin, his first comedy influences came in the early ’50s when his family purchased their first television. The young boy, who was born in 1945, hadn’t even seen a movie before that TV became a fixture of their household, and he soon began watching as many funny pictures as he could. Pretty soon, the young lad was laughing himself silly over The Little Rascals, and then he discovered Laurel and Hardy, who made a seismic impression.
“If you haven’t heard of them or haven’t seen them, they’re comedy geniuses,” Martin gushed in the Introduction to his comedy Masterclass. “They were very gentle. One was tall and, you know, one was kind of overweight, and one was thin. They’re still revered in the comedy world, and I really think they influenced me quite a bit.”
For Martin, the thing that jumped out the most about Laurel and Hardy was their brilliance with physical, slapstick comedy. As he got older, he also became a huge fan of the similarly madcap Jerry Lewis, who performed on stage and starred in motion pictures, including the original The Nutty Professor film. “They had such delicate moves,” Martin recalled of his comedy heroes. “Some were just extravagant, like Jerry Lewis, and some were extremely subtle, like Oliver Hardy. I think I incorporated both those styles.”
In terms of Martin’s verbal comedy skills, which are second to none, he revealed that he took inspiration from Jack Benny, a former vaudeville star who became one of America’s most popular radio and TV comedians in the ’30s, and was still a fixture right up until he died in 1974. The Martin family would listen to Benny’s miserly, vain, yet also self-deprecating act on the radio as they drove from Texas to California. “I realise today how much of those qualities of Jack Benny crept into my modern-day performing,” Martin mused.
Ultimately, this incredible synthesis of zany, exaggerated physical comedy with sharp-tongued, acerbic verbal humour went on to define Martin’s act, and he has Laurel, Hardy, Benny, and Lewis to thank for their pioneering work in those styles.
“There were so many sources of comedy,” Martin smiled, remembering a lifetime of laughter. “And what these people did, whether they directly influenced me or indirectly influenced me, they made me love comedy and making people laugh.”
