John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

An unexpected pairing: Steve Martin and Edie Brickell

I learned this morning that Steve Martin and Edie Brickell have collaborated on an album that will be released later this month on Rounder Records. Love Has Come For You is focused on banjo and music supplied by Martin, and lyrics and vocals supplied by Brickell. 

The other surprise: it's not, evidently, bluegrass, which has been one of the non-comic obsessions of Martin for many years. 

There's more to be learned from this publicity video, which features scenes from the shoot for the album cover. 

Dr. Sadist meets Mr. Masochist

I mentioned earlier about Little Shop of Horrors, particularly hearing the late Levi Stubbs again as the voice of the bloodthirsty plant.

This scene is a hoot, featuring Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist who meets his match in Bill Murray, the pain-loving patient. 

 

Steve Martin and King Tut, revisited

Why? Because after three decades, it still makes me laugh. And, at the time, I would have loved being able to watch this sketch whenever I wanted.With a splashy exhibit opening in Toronto later this month, it seems timely to enjoy this chestnut.

Steve Martin and Roz Chast

So that's what she looks like ... and sounds like, too. I started reading The New Yorker in the late Seventies and early Eighties, around the same time that Roz Chast's frantic, funny and (yep, that word) neurotic cartoons were showing up. Here's a video from the New Yorker Festival of Steve Martin interviewing Chast about her work. A must for cartooning fans.

The once and future wild and crazy guy

Steve Martin is hosting Saturday Night Live on, well, Saturday night. It will extend his record-setting stint as a guest host, with his 14th appearance on the show, and his first in a decade or so. (I think.)

There are two sides to the Steve Martin ledger. On the one side (and it's hefty), there are his first couple of albums, his SNL appearances, his better movies and especially his writing. On the other (and it's heftier than it should be), his weaker movies, especially the family-friendly fare that he's been taking to pay the bills. I like both the wackiness of Let's Get Small and the dapper prose of Pure Drivel and Shopgirl, not to mention the elegance of Roxanne and inspired cameos like the dentist from Little Shop of Horrors. My world would not be lessened if, say, Cheaper By the Dozen and the like disappeared. I have little interest in seeing the Pink Panther remake, although I'd be delighted if my suspicions were proved wrong.

I'm looking forward, though, to seeing Martin in his prime.

And Prince is the musical guest. Should be interesting.

Comedy awards are not pretty

It was a long way from Let's Get Small to Pure Drivel; either way, I've been a fan of Steve Martin's comedy, from arrow-through-the-head wackiness to the button-down, letter-perfect style of his New Yorker essays. Either way, Martin has been given the Mark Twain Prize for his contributions to comedy.

From Steve to Johnny

My thanks to Bill Doskoch for bringing this one to my attention: a gentle tribute from Steve Martin to Johnny Carson, appearing in Tuesday's New York Times in the form of a letter. (Subscription is likely required.)

Martin and Carson made people laugh with stand-up routines; both also showed a talent for the written word. Both wrote stingingly funny (and short) essays for the New Yorker. I can only recall reading one by Carson, but Martin's have been quite good, and were collected in the book Pure Drivel. Ideal bedside or airport reading.