All language subtitles for Masterclass Steve Martin Teaches Comedy - 5. Developing a Comedic Persona

What you're doing on stage is creating

an artistic image of yourself

determined by the things you put in, the

things you leave out, uh its level of

intellect, high or low.

um

the use of language, everything is

determining

who you are as an artistic being on the

stage. That's a very lofty way to think,

you know, when you're just trying to get

some material together. But ultimately,

as it gets more sophisticated and starts

to shape, you realize you're creating a

human being. And that's what these great

comedians did. Uh if you look at Chris

Rock for example, he's created

something. He created something from the

sum total of his energy and his routines

and his observations into a whole

artistic state.

And that of course is the ultimate but u

and it's kind of beautiful.

Once I was on a on an airplane and I was

in my 20s, something like that and there

was a very pretty girl on the airplane.

I was talking with her and I said, "What

do you do?" And she said, "Um, I'm an

actress."

And I said, "Oh." And we started talking

and she said, "I'm an actress." And she

says, "It's very hard, you know, when I

go into auditions to decide what to be."

Uh, she said, "I don't know whether to

be upbeat or kind of low-key or or

artistic." And I said, "Why don't you

just be yourself?" And she said,

"I'll try that."

And I thought, "You have to try to be

yourself, but I've changed my opinion

because I often hear, well, just be

yourself."

But who knows what their self is? I

don't. I mean, maybe I have a little

more now, but when you're starting out,

you don't know what yourself is. You can

be what you choose to be, and you can

define a personality for yourself within

reason, of course, and become that on

stage. You already have a persona.

E even if you're mildly interested in

show business,

uh

you have some shape to your personality,

but it it is something that will emerge

if you pay attention to yourself and pay

attention to what's coming out

naturally.

Imagine

yourself one night lying in bed. Just

imagine yourself self at your best.

Think what would that be if I were at my

best? What is that image

that comes into your head? And it's

going to be very vague,

but once you plant that image in your

head,

it's subconsciously something you're

aiming for. Like you say,

what will I be at my best? Will I be

totally in charge? Will I pace the

stage? Will I be aggressive? Will I be

witty?

Kind of kind of uh more subtle? Will I

be obvious? What do I want the

audience's response to be?

And I think it will lead you to, you

know, to creating your shape and your

form and your personality is to have

some kind of vague image of where you'd

like to be ultimately. Now, the fact is

your act is going to be created as you

go along. Bits, they work, they don't

work. thing you put them together and

it's it it is really built in a

practical framework but it's also I

think very smart to have an overriding

image of yourself that you can aspire to

of of your own greatness say if I were

great what would it look like

there's this overriding word called

likability and I remember actually

thinking, "Oh, I'm gonna I'm going to

make myself likable." And I thought of

ways and I don't I don't remember what I

did, you know, but if you think about

likability, which is a a a dangerous

word because you on one hand you have

Carol Bernett. She's so likable. She's

so funny. You like her and you like all

these other people, but you also like

Hannibal Lectar at the end of Silence of

the Lambs when you're saying, "I think I

have a Keianti." You're going going,

"Yeah, go eat him." So likability

can be you can be a villain and be

likable. Yeah. I was thinking in that

moment if you started conversing with a

really close friend and you said,

"What's my best quality?" And they said,

"Blah, you're kind to people. What's my

worst quality? You're messy." I'd say go

with the worst quality. Develop that.

You're establishing

um yourself by what you wear too. And it

may be that you want to wear a t-shirt

and jeans and it that may be your your

show. Maybe that you want to like Jerry

Seinfeld looks beautiful in a in a great

suit. He feels very authoritative

up there. And some guys are cool. You

remember Eddie Murphy in his red suit

and Richard Prior.

So

obviously you're going to think about

what you're going to wear on stage.

Maybe you should think about it a little

bit more.

I had a friend when I was first starting

out. His name was Fats Johnson and he

had played guitar and sang and he wore

diamond rings on his fingers and

everything and and I said Fats I said

what should I what should I wear on on

stage? I don't know what to wear. And he

just said I he said I said what's your

philosophy? He said always look better

than they do.

I thought okay I got I got a plan now.

When I first started shaping my act

together I started to realize that what

I was doing was a parody of show

business. And looking back I think yeah

that's what a young person has to think

about. like what

what can they parody? And you know, at

that time in the late 60s, early '7s,

show business was a very defined thing.

And that's kind of what my act became, a

guy who thought he was in show business.

Okay.

Hey, I'm not trying to be a big shot or

anything like that, but uh I get my

drinks half price.

That's right. For every one you buy, I

get two.

Okay.

You know when I heard

as I was developing my act, I I always

thought it was funny to talk to people

who would say, you know, I'm just a nut.

And they they somehow could see that in

themselves and I could look at them and

say, you're not a nut. You know, you

like to think you're a nut. Say, you

know, I'm just crazy. And I just put

that together one day that it fit and I

understood that it fit my stage persona

perfectly to say I'm wild and crazy. Uh

thinking it's some kind of uh compliment

I'm giving myself that I'm just too

nutty, you know, like Bill Murray

actually is wild and crazy, you know?

And uh my act I was such a straight

ahead personality wearing a white suit

with a black tie and a short haircut.

And uh to define myself that way was

already dumb.

Sorry, I just lost my mind just

but that's okay for me.

I am wild and

there was another phrase at the time.

And they know they were the Almond

Brothers and they had a a

hit song called Ramblin Man. And I uh

and I was my

stage appearance. So not a Rambling Man.

There was Ramblin Jack Elliot who was a

country singer and he wore a vest and a

cowboy hat. And I was so not that guy

that I just started applying it to

myself. And I like the idea of someone

who was thinking they were that guy,

that they were something to contend with

in a strange way. Uh that they're

slightly better uh uncontrollable.

I'm a Remlin guy.

Well, actually, I'm here for nine days.

So I guess for this nine days I'm a

stationary guy. Oh no.

Oh, I'm stationary. A stationary guy. Oh

yeah.

Stationary out here in Los Angeles,

one of my favorite towns. I studied a

lot about Los Angeles and it's great to

be here in the capital of California.

L A N G L O S.

Okay, everybody. Oh,

are you people tired or something?

Can't sing along.

Okay, this half of the room. Good. We've

got it now. Okay, now that guy.

Good.