In 1981, he decided to retire from stand-up, content with the evolution of his routine, and suspecting that it had gone as far as it could. The career lasted for eighteen years in the final four of them, Martin enjoyed fame. At first, he drew minuscule audiences, failed (but learned) often, and garnered mixed reviews. The most rewarding aspect of this experience was that it motivated Martin to take the risk to begin a career in stand-up. Martin characterizes his early working life as meandering and often depressing. At Disneyland, he sold magazines, which netted him only two cents per sale. Though he was unable to fully heal from the psychological wounds inflicted by his parents’ abuses and silences, he obtained enough closure to be content.Īfter high school, Martin went to work at two theme parks in Southern California: Knott’s Berry Farm, and the ubiquitous Disneyland. Later in the memoir, Martin recalls how he eventually reconnected with both of his parents, and that his sister did the same with him by placing a phone call when they were well into adulthood. He suggests that these “psychological debts” bled into his future preferences for solitude and dysfunctional friendships and romantic relationships. Despite the trauma he endured, Martin expresses regret that he did so little to repair his relationship with his father, and by association, his sister and mother. In the latter years of Martin’s childhood, he and his father barely spoke, and he rejected most social engagements with him. His father readily resorted to corporal punishment using a paddle, a relic of his own childhood in Texas. Martin’s mother feared her husband, often speaking under her breath and cautioning Martin and his sister, Melinda, not to repeat her words. He postulates that it was a combination of his floundering real estate career, his family’s financial difficulties, and his forgone hope of entering show business. Due to some psychological problem inexplicable to Martin, his father seemed to dislike him increasingly as he got older. Martin begins his memoir with an ambivalent reflection on his early childhood, a time characterized by abuse from his father. The memoir reached a large popular audience, mostly due to Martin’s high visibility as an actor in the year of its publication. Martin, who quit his first passion, stand-up, in 1981, explains what motivated him to move on, and his philosophy that no career path should dictate one’s ultimate life course. Martin uses these formative experiences to contextualize his later years at the Bird Cage Theatre, his friendships and romantic relationships, and his ascent to stardom. In his memoir, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life (2007), American comedian, actor, and screenwriter Steve Martin looks back on his early life, from early childhood through a day job at Disneyland, various odd jobs, and his first forays into comedy.
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