A comment about this brilliant actor/comedian in another thread generated a couple quick replies. Thought I'd see if it could stand on its own.

Big Steve Martin fan. Loved his movies, stand-up, and his Saturday Night Live work. Feel free to discuss all things Steve Martin in this thread. If you get a chance, I highly recommend his auto-biography. A quick, but enjoyable read if you have a free evening or two.

"You mean I'm going to stay this color!?!"
"He hates these cans!"

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Spock Jenkins of the Vulcan Jenkins'.

Favorite SM movie! And the cans part is about my favorite scene. Always blown away about the fact that the "The first day was like 13 days. The second day was like 17 days." scene and the "I don't need you! I don't need anything! Except this lamp! And this thermose! But that's all I need" scenes were both improved by Steve. And his delivery is so slapstick-yet-believeable.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

He's been extremely hit or miss for me in the last 15 or so years. Some of his family style movies have been an utter waste of talent. Dunno if its just me, but I think he's trying way way way too hard to tap the laurels he earned with Parenthood.

LA Story was great satire, and while Bringin' Down the House was slightly lower on the browline, I still laughed from beginning to end (with major kudos to Eugene Levy and Latifah).

I haven't seen The Jerk in ages. Honestly, I think the US has become to Politically Cor-rectal to ever have it come to the surface again.

I haven't seen The Jerk in ages. Honestly, I think the US has become to Politically Cor-rectal to ever have it come to the surface again. It was on tv here a month ago.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

I really liked LA Story too. At the time it was in theatres, my wife and I were visiting some friends in LA. Though they are very smart and funny people, they "just didn't get it". I guess a little too close to the subject.

The Jerk is a classic and I must have seen it when Fazor saw it recently. I probably catch it on cable a couple of times a year.

I thought Parenthood was good, but not amazing.

Martin's stand-up was amazing though. And not just the crazy arrow-through-the-head stuff; his observations on language are really funny
"Its like those French have a different word for everything!"

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

There's hope for us yet!

Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but at least it's not as bleak as we may have feared.

Seriously, every time I see it's on tv it amazes me, as it's much more racial-stereotype-illy charged than the normal tv exec tastes go. I think the only thing that saves it is the fact that it's classic Steve Martin, and he's so darn funny.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

By the way, everytime we get a new phonebook, I go running up to my wife screaming "THE NEW PHONEBOOKS ARE HERE, THE NEW PHONEBOOKS ARE HERE". She gives me the standard I-don't-know-what-you-are-talking-about look.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

"I'll have a half double-decaffeinated half-caff with a twist of lemon."
That, and driving to the next door neighbors house both stand out as memorable scenes.

Are you saying concerns over the jungle bunnies eating the eggplants wouldn't go over too well in today's environment?

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Spock Jenkins of the Vulcan Jenkins'.

It's more of a "What have you been smoking?" look for me.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Which is funny, because I maintain there are certain jokes you can only really get if you've lived there. (A fair number of the houses on his "cultural tour of LA" are actually in Pasadena.) I've actually done the "sit there and try to gauge how violent the 'quake is before you bother moving" thing. It was only about a 3.5, so I didn't. On those extremely rare occasions when I get homesick, that's the movie I watch.

For my birthday, some of my friends brought over the "SceneIt" trivia game. (They made me go around the board twice. I still won.) One of the clips was the "he hates these cans!" sequence, and my friends and I all agreed that we hadn't seen that movie in way too long. (The poem he recites in L.A. Story when he's trying to convince Sarah not to go is "Pointy Birds," from The Jerk.)

I won't watch the Cheaper by the Dozen remakes, but that has a lot to do with the fact that they're really bad remakes of an autobiographical story. And my first date with Graham was a double-date to Bringing Down the House.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

That rumbling you hear isn't growling, its Al Sharpton's stomach in the fourth hour of a rally when Dunkin Donuts won't deliver...

I also like the whole elaborate everyone kiss everyone else's cheek sequence in the cafe. And being an ex-tuba player, I like the booming noises bit.

I had to go and check IMDB for memorable quotes and re-discovered a couple I like:

Trudi: Sheila has been studying the art of conversation.
Harris: Oh, you're taking a course in conversation?
Sheila: Yes.
[Long pause]


Harris: Ordinarily, I don't like to be around interesting people because it means I have to be interesting too.
Sara: Are you saying I'm interesting?
Harris: All I'm saying is that, when I'm around you, I find myself showing off, which is the idiot's version of being interesting.


Harris: SanDeE*, your... your breasts feel weird.
SanDeE*: Oh, that's 'cause they're real.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

Oh, while we are kissing up to Martin, don't forget he is a heck of a banjo player. IIRC, his first appearance on TV was not as a comic, but as a band member on the Glen Campbell show.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

A Simple Twist of Fate and Roxanne. They show Martin the Actor. (Of course, the scene in Roxanne where he has to come up with 20 different descriptions for his nose is priceless.)

And, "King Tut," best enjoyed when you can see him do it, but funny just hearing it.

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Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
Isaac Asimov

And of course, a few of the lines in that scene are from the original play.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Oh, forgot about Roxanne, another good movie.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

Isn't it from The Man With Two Brains?

Edited update - Googled it. Yup, The Man With Two Brains.

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I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, was in no way fair comment and was motivated purely by malice. I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you or your family, and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.

Yes, by John Lillison, England's greatest ever one-armed poet.

TMWTB is my favourite - I have used the line "Three years of nursery school and you think you know it all" on my kids more than once (to their utter bafflement).

And any movie with the line, "What are those a*****les doing on the porch?" (Dr Hfuhruhurr looks & replies) "It's not a******les, they're pronounced 'azaleas' " is always going to be high on my list.

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"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

"Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful." - Ian Faith