Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
by Steve Martin
Narrated by Steve Martin
Why Listen to This Audiobook?
Steve Martin quit stand-up at the peak of his fame, and hearing him explain why — in his own voice — is quietly devastating.
- Great if you want: an honest look at ambition, loneliness, and creative obsession
- Listening experience: short, reflective, surprisingly melancholic for a comedy memoir
- Narration: Martin reads with wry restraint — no performance, just reckoning
- Skip if: you expect nonstop laughs or a feel-good Hollywood rise
About This Audiobook
Born Standing Up is Steve Martin's memoir of his decade in stand-up comedy, from his early years working Disneyland's magic shop through his extraordinary rise to the largest concert audiences in stand-up history, and his decision in 1981 to walk away from the form entirely. Martin writes with a novelist's precision and candor, examining the discipline and isolation that the work required and the personal costs it extracted.
Martin narrates his own memoir, and the combination of his literary sensibility and the stand-up's trained timing gives the audiobook an unusual quality. He is funny but not performing, candid but not confessional, and the relatively brief runtime reflects his instinct for economy. Hearing Martin describe the practice that made him Martin is one of the more illuminating audio experiences in show business memoir.