NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Steve Martin has long marveled at the many phases of his life. There鈥檚 his youth as a Disneyland performer, surrounded by vaudeville performers and magicians. A decade as a stand-up before the sudden onset of stadium-sized popularity. An abrupt shift to movies. Later, a new chapter as a banjo player, a father and, a comedy act, .
It鈥檚 such a confounding string of chapters that Martin has typically only approached his life piecemeal or schizophrenically. He titled an audiobook His memoir, covered only his stand-up years. In it, he wrote that it was really a biography 鈥渂ecause I am writing about someone I used to know.鈥�
鈥淢y life has many octopus arms,鈥� Martin says, speaking from his New York apartment.
People participate in documentaries for all kinds of reasons. But Martin may be unique in making a film about his life with the instruction of: 鈥淪ee if you can make sense of all THAT.鈥� Morgan Neville, the documentary filmmaker of 鈥淲on鈥檛 You Be My Neighbor鈥� and took up the challenge.
Yet Neville, too, was hesitant about any holistic view of Martin. The resulting film is really two. premiering Friday on Apple TV+, splits Martin鈥檚 story in two halves. One depicts Martin鈥檚 stand-up as it unfolded, with copious contributions from journal entries and old photographs. The other captures Martin鈥檚 life as it is today 鈥� riding electric bikes with Short, practicing the banjo 鈥� with reflections on the career that followed.
It鈥檚 an attempt to synthesize all the Steve Martins, or at least line them up next to each other. The 鈥淜ing Tut鈥� guy with the arrow through his head. The 鈥渨ild and crazy guy.鈥� The 鈥淛erk.鈥� The Grammy-winner. The novel writer. And the self-lacerating comic who says in the film: 鈥淚 guarantee I had no talent. None.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 going to say something very immodest: I have a modesty about my career,鈥� Martin says, chuckling. 鈥淛ust because you do a lot of things doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檙e good. I know that time evaluates things. So there鈥檚 nothing for me to stand on to evaluate my efforts. But an outsider can make sense of it.鈥�
Neville, who joined the video call from his home in Pasadena, California, didn鈥檛 set out to make two films about Martin. But six months into the process, it crystalized for him as the right structure. Through lines emerged.
鈥淲hen I look at the things Steve鈥檚 done in his life 鈥� playing banjo, magic, stand-up 鈥� these are things that take great effort to master,鈥� Neville says. 鈥淏ut in a way, it鈥檚 the constant working at it. Even seeing Steve pick up a banjo, it鈥檚 never, 鈥業 nailed it.鈥� It鈥檚 always: 鈥業 could do that a little better.鈥欌��
Looking back hasn鈥檛 come naturally to Martin. He鈥檚 long resisted the kind of life-story treatment of a film like 鈥淪TEVE!鈥� But Martin, 78, grants he鈥檚 now at that time of life where you can鈥檛 help it. Even if reliving some things smarts.
鈥淭he first part, that鈥檚 what I really have a hard time watching," Martin says. 鈥淲hen I鈥檓 on black-and-white homemade video being so not funny.鈥�
Martin grew up in Orange County in awe of Jerry Lewis, Laurel and Hardy and Nichols and May. His first job, as an 11-year-old, was selling guide books at Disneyland. He drifted toward the Main Street Magic Shop. Stage performers like Wally Boag became his idols.
When Martin, after studying philosophy in college and writing for 鈥淭he Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,鈥� began stand-up, he drew copiously from Boag and others, filtering the showmanship of vaudeville into an avantgarde act, just with balloon animals and an arrow through his head. Donning the persona of, as he says in the film, 鈥渁 comedian who thinks he鈥檚 funny but isn鈥檛,鈥� his routine moved away from punchlines and toward an absurd irony with 鈥渇ree-form laughter.鈥�
Martin鈥檚 act was groundbreaking and, in the 1970s, when most comics were doing political material, it became wildly popular. 鈥淗e鈥檚 up there with the most idolized comedians ever,鈥� Jerry Seinfeld says in the film. Now, Martin doesn鈥檛 see much from those years that makes him laugh.
鈥淭hen there are these moments that I think of as performance glory, but they last a minute or two minutes. It was all so new. It was exciting because it was new to the audience and to me.鈥�
Martin tends to be hard on himself. In one late scene in 鈥淪TEVE!鈥� he and Short are going over possible jokes, but most don't make the cut for Martin.
It鈥檚 tempting to assign some of this nature to Martin鈥檚 famously critical father, Glenn, a real-estate salesman who had his own unrealized ambitions in show business. At dinner after the premiere of 鈥淭he Jerk," he pronounced his son 鈥渘o Charlie Chaplin.鈥� But Martin disagrees.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think so,鈥� says Martin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to be hard on yourself. It鈥檚 just the way I do it. I just want to go over it and go over it. I realize it鈥檚 all in the details. It鈥檚 all in the timing.鈥�
That makes Martin think of a joke that he and Short have considered for their act but thus far deemed too esoteric.
鈥淚 say, 鈥榊ou know, Marty, some comedians say funny things. And some comedians say things funny. And you just say 鈥� things,鈥欌�� says Martin, laughing. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 a truth in saying funny things and saying things funny. You walk the line. Our lives now are saying funny things and it used to be saying things funny.鈥�
It鈥檚 a line, typically exact in its wording, that perfectly represents the irony of Martin鈥檚 own life. In 1981, Martin quit stand-up, he thought for good. The act had run its course and he was happy to transition to movies. It wasn't until decades later, when Martin prepared to tour as a banjo player, that a friend convinced him audiences were going to want a little banter in between songs.
鈥淪o I had this terror and I started working on material,鈥� Martin says. 鈥淓ventually I became what I grew up with, which is a folk music act with a funny monologist, making funny intros to songs.鈥�
That鈥檚 bled into Martin鈥檚 unexpected return to stand-up. Martin and Short, friends since the 1986 comedy 鈥淭hree Amigos!鈥� have become the premier double act of today, starring on the acclaimed Hulu series 鈥淥nly Murders in the Building鈥� and performing on the road. They cuttingly but affectionately volley quip after quip with the finesse of Grand Slam champions.
The irony isn't lost on Martin. The no-punchline comedian has become a lover of punchlines.
鈥淚鈥檝e morphed into a person who really appreciates the joy of telling jokes,鈥� shrugs Martin. 鈥淢arty and I in our show is joke after joke after joke.鈥�
It鈥檚 not the only reversal Martin never expected. After spending most of his life not wanting children, Martin and his wife of 17 years, Anne Stringfield, have an 11-year-old daughter. She鈥檚 seen only as a cartoon in 鈥淪TEVE!鈥� to protect her privacy.
Even more confounding for Martin: After a life riddled by anxiety he's strangely content. Maybe even happy. 鈥淵es, I hate to say it,鈥� Martin says shaking his head.
Martin likes to say he has a 鈥渞elaxed mind鈥� now. He's peeled away a lot 鈥� competitiveness, people or situations who brought him grief 鈥� and has narrowed his life down to things that matter most to him.
鈥淚 have this thing that I鈥檝e noticed," Martin says. "As we age, we either become our best selves or our worst selves. I鈥檝e seen people become their worst selves and I鈥檝e seen people who were tough, difficult people early on become better selves.鈥�
In the film, Martin puts it: 鈥淚 look back and go, 鈥榃hat an odd life.' My whole life was backwards.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
