Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • Magazines

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Biographies
  3. Arts and entertainment

Read and listen for free for 14 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
3.8(30)

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

Steve Martin's riveting, mega-bestselling, beloved and highly acclaimed memoir of a life, a vocation, and an era—named one of the ten best nonfiction titles of the year by Time and Entertainment Weekly.

In the mid-seventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the story of “why I did stand-up and why I walked away.”

Emmy and Grammy Award–winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, and a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Martin has always been a writer. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written.

At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes.

Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and originality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times—the era of free love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies.

Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Up is a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time.


Author:

  • Steve Martin

Narrator:

  • Steve Martin

Format:

  • Audiobook
  • E-book

Duration:

  • 4 h 3 min
  • 135 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Biographies
  • Arts and entertainment

3.8

30 ratings

Jörgen

2024-09-08

Lite långrandig men stundtals intressant.

Boris

2023-01-23

Varm, roligt och tänkvärd

To write a review you need to download the app


More by Steve Martin

Skip the list
  1. Time Management

    Steve Martin

    book
  2. Shopgirl

    Steve Martin

    audiobook
  3. Pure Drivel

    Steve Martin

    audiobook
  4. Self Discipline & Time Management

    Steve Martin

    book
  5. Self Discipline

    Steve Martin

    book

Others have also read

Skip the list
  1. George Harrison : The Reluctant Beatle

    Philip Norman

    audiobookbook
  2. Lay It on the Line : A Backstage Pass to Rock Star Adventure, Conflict, and Triumph

    Rik Emmett

    audiobook
  3. I Must Say : My Life As Humble Comedy Legend

    Martin Short

    audiobook
  4. Maybe You Never Cry Again

    Bernie Mac

    audiobook
  5. Unvarnished : A Gimlet-eyed Look at Life Behind the Bar

    Eric Alperin, Deborah Stoll

    audiobook
  6. A Life in Parts

    Bryan Cranston

    audiobookbook
  7. Whiskey Bottles and Brand New Cars: The Fast Life and Sudden Death of Lynyrd Skynyrd

    Mark Ribowsky

    audiobook
  8. The Whole Story : Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism

    John Mackey

    audiobook
  9. Growing Up Urkel

    Jaleel White

    audiobookbook
  10. Black Cat Weekly #98

    Adam Meyer, Phyllis Ann Karr, Dharma Kelleher, Jack Halliday, Philip Jose Farmer, John W. Campbell, Joseph Payne Brennan, Hal Charles, Frank Gruber, Alan Le May

    book
  11. Leslie Nielsen's The Naked Truth

    Leslie Nielsen

    audiobook
  12. The Letters, Volume 1

    Cicero

    book

  • 6 books

    Steve Martin

    Steve Martin is one of today's most talented performers. He has had huge success as a film actor, with such credits as Cheaper by the Dozen, Father of the Bride, Roxanne, Parenthood, L.A. Story, and many others. He has won Emmys for his television writing and two Grammys for his comedy albums. In addition to his bestselling novel The Pleasure of My Company and a collection of comic pieces, Pure Drivel, he has also written a play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile. He lives in Los Angeles.

    Read more

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5