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I realized that comedians of the day were operating on jokes and punch lines. The moment you say the punch line, the audience either laughs sincerely or they laugh automatically or they don't laugh. The thing that bothered me was that automatic laugh. I said, that's not real laughter.

Steve Martin

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Steve Martin
Age: 79
Born: 1945
Born: August 14
Actor
Art Collector
Banjoist
Comedian
Film Actor
Film Producer
Musician
Performing Artist
Playwright
Screenwriter
Street Artist
Waco
Texas
Steve Glenn Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin
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Comedian
Automatic
Audience
Realized
Comedians
Moment
Laughter
Punch
Moments
Jokes
Operating
Real
Laugh
Laughs
Thing
Line
Automatically
Laughing
Bothered
Either
Sincerely

More quotes by Steve Martin

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I didn't come from a wealthy family. I had no money. Maybe it goes back to naivete which is your greatest asset when you're young. If I was starting in comedy today and if it didn't work the first time, I'd probably quit. But I kept at it, kept at it.
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I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.
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I think I meant that, given the circumstances of my childhood, I had the illusion that it's easier to be alone. To have your relationships be casual and also to pose as a solitary person, because it was more romantic. You know, I was raised on the idea of the ramblin' man and the loner.
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Private companies have a lot of capital. They can run things efficiently and get projects built.
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... you're nuts but you're welcome here.
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To have someone play off and be with a band is more pleasurable.
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I love animated films when they are good, because they do bring a lot of emotion and heart that's very difficult to get in a live action film.
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The environment changed with Martha Stewart and Enron.
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I knew I could only play Cyrano if he were Americanized. I had no intention of writing the script myself. I was afraid of it. You're playing with fire when you tamper with a classic. So I went looking for a writer. But it was such a personal idea, and anyone I would give it to would make it his own. It's hard to ask Neil Simon to write your idea.
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Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way.
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I've decided to take up smoking, my doctor said I wasn't getting enough tar.
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A friend of mine once asked how to make it in show business and I said Be so good that they can't ignore you. She thought I was being flip but it's true. The challenge is trying to live up to the opportunities given me.
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I cringe at backstory. Because it never quite explains or gets into some psychological thing that is never quite right and never quite the truth and who knows why someone is someway.
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I like what a third man brings. A kind of oblique vision, seeing something in the material that you didn't know was there. As a comedian, I'm always listening to the audience. And in movies, sometimes the only audience you have is the producer and the director. I like having someone else's opinion, especially if you're on the same wavelength.
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Lord loves a workin' man don't trust whitey
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The Matisse seemed to respond to the decreasing light by increasing its own wattage. Every object in the room was drained of color, but the Matisse stood firm in the de-escalating illumination, its beauty turning functionality inside out, making itself a more practical and useful presence than anything else in sight.
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So, while fitting in, she was like a wicked detail standing out against a placid background.
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What means the most to me changes through the years. There was a time when movies meant the most. But when I'm concentrating on a project, that's what means the most to me.
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I really enjoy finding the right word, creating a good, flowing sentence. I enjoy the rhythm of the words.
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I was very interested in vaudeville. It was the only sort of discipline that was a five-minute act on stage, which is what I really enjoyed and saw myself doing. And I bought books on it.
Steve Martin