Martin’s most important audience
Steve Martin could never satisfy his dad, says Emma Brockes in the London Guardian. The comedian was a performer from an early age; as a teenager, he did magic tricks up to 12 hours a day at Disneyland, near his California home. But his father was unimpre
Steve Martin could never satisfy his dad, says Emma Brockes in the London Guardian. The comedian was a performer from an early age; as a teenager, he did magic tricks up to 12 hours a day at Disneyland, near his California home. But his father was unimpressed. In retrospect, Martin thinks he was driven to perform by a need to get his attention. “Bad psychoanalysis would say I enjoyed pleasing people, which is probably related to my father in some way,” he says. Martin also thinks that his father, a frustrated actor who ended up in real estate, was secretly jealous. “I don’t think I really blame him; I think he was under duress when I was an adolescent. I think he found himself in a place he didn’t want to be.” In the 1970s, Martin developed into the most successful stand-up comedian in the country. Still, he couldn’t win the approval of his old man, who dismissed his work as silly. When one of his friends praised his performance in his first movie, The Jerk, the elder Martin replied, “Well, he’s no Charlie Chaplin.” On his deathbed, Martin’s father finally told his son he loved and admired him. “You did everything I wanted to do,” his father said. Martin replied, “I did it for you.” He admits today his response was incomplete. “I didn’t say the more complicated truth, I did it because of you.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Wall Street tumbles on poor tech results
Speed Read US markets had their worst day since 2022 as Tesla and AI stocks dropped
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Salt Lake City named host of 2034 Winter Olympics
Speed Read The Winter Games are returning to the US for the first time in 32 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Netanyahu makes controversial address
Speed Reads Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress denounced Gaza war protestors
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published