History Creator / SteveMartin

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas) is an American comedian, author, and musician who first became famous as a writer for ''Series/TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour'' and as a frequent guest on ''Series/TheTonightShow''. After appearing on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' as a guest host, he [[ColbertBump quickly became]] (and still is) one of the most popular comedians in the United States. Since the 1980's, he has focused more on acting than stand-up comedy. Martin is also well known as an accomplished banjo player and would often play the instrument during stand-up comedy shows in the 1970s. He has released five albums of bluegrass music and he has won more Grammys as a musician than he has for his comedy albums. He has recently returned to touring, but instead of stand-up comedy, it's with the bluegrass band Music/SteepCanyonRangers.

These days he’s mostly retired from acting to focus on his music. He says he’s not actively pursuing any new roles but he’d be willing to give the right role a look should it come along.

He was never a cast member of ''SNL'' ([[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer a common misconception]])--he was a cast member on Lorne Michaels' failed ABC prime-time sketch series ''The New Show'', but was only a frequent host on ''SNL''--but Martin still became very close with several of the cast members, including Creator/GildaRadner. On the day Radner died from ovarian cancer in 1989, Martin was to host ''SNL''; after introducing a video clip of him and Radner appearing in a 1978 sketch, he became [[ManlyTears overcome with grief and started to cry.]]

Martin has guest-hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' 15 times. When he made his 11th appearance in 1989, he surpassed Buck Henry as the most frequent host in the history of the show, a title he held for 22 years until Creator/AlecBaldwin overtook him in 2011 with 16.

** He was the second choice for the part of the Genie in ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' before the casting of Creator/RobinWilliams.

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, author, and musician who first became famous as a writer for ''Series/TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour'' and as a frequent guest on ''Series/TheTonightShow''. After appearing on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' as a guest host, he [[ColbertBump quickly became]] (and still is) one of the most popular comedians in the United States. Since the 1980's, he has focused more on acting than stand-up comedy. Martin is also well known as an accomplished banjo player and would often play the instrument during stand-up comedy shows in the 1970s. He has released five albums of bluegrass music and he has won more Grammys as a musician than he has for his comedy albums. He has recently returned to touring, but instead of stand-up comedy, it's with the bluegrass band Music/SteepCanyonRangers.

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, author, and musician who first became famous as a writer for ''Series/TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour'' and as a frequent guest on ''Series/TheTonightShow''. After appearing on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' as a guest host, he [[ColbertBump quickly became]] (and still is) one of the most popular comedians in the United States. Since the 1980's, he has focused more on acting than stand-up comedy. Martin is also well known as an accomplished banjo player and would often play the instrument during stand-up comedy shows in the 1970s. He has released five albums of bluegrass music and he has won more Grammys as a musician than he has for his comedy albums. He has recently returned to touring, but instead of stand-up comedy, it's with the bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers.

* ''The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo'' (2009) (with the Steep Canyon Rangers) - First album entirely of songs, Grammy Award winner for Best Bluegrass Album.

* ''The Long Awaited Album'' (2017) (with The Steep Canyon Rangers)

* MayDecemberRomance: Martin and his wife Anne Stringfield, who's nearly thirty years his junior. At 67 he became a father the first time when she gave birth to their daughter.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]]He auditioned for the British version of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway''. Oddly enough, the producers turned him down.

* ''Series/PenniesFromHeaven'' (1981)m

* ''Series/PenniesFromHeaven'' (1981)

* ''Love the Coopers'' (as the voice of Rags the dog)

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, author, and musician who first became famous as a writer for ''Series/TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour'' and as a frequent guest on ''Series/TheTonightShow''. After appearing on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' as a guest host, he [[ColbertBump quickly became]] (and still is) one of the most popular comedians in the United States. Since the 1980's, he has focused more on acting than stand-up comedy. Martin is also well known as an accomplished banjo player and would often play the instrument during stand-up comedy shows in the 1970's. He has released two albums of bluegrass music: 2009's ''The Crow: New Songs for the 5 String Banjo'' (for which he won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album) and 2011's ''Rare Bird Alert''. He has recently returned to touring, but instead of stand-up comedy, it's with the bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers.

* ''The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo'' (2009) - First album entirely of songs.

* OneOfUs: One of his conditions for ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' was the presence of a [[Series/DoctorWho Dalek.]]

He was never a cast member of ''SNL'' ([[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer a common misconception]])--he was a cast member on Lorne Michaels' failed ABC prime-time sketch series ''The New Show'', but was only a frequent host on ''SNL''--but Martin still became very close with several of the cast members, including Gilda Radner. On the day Radner died from ovarian cancer in 1989, Martin was to host ''SNL''; after introducing a video clip of him and Radner appearing in a 1978 sketch, he became [[ManlyTears overcome with grief and started to cry.]]

* UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardsCeremonies: Hosted the show on 3 occasions, to great acclaim. Although he never earned a competitive nomination for his work as an actor or writer (despite some saying he could have for ''Film/AllOfMe'' or ''Film/{{Roxanne}}''), he was eventually given an Honorary Oscar of his own in 2013.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: One of his TV specials had a short film of Martin acting out the storyline from Marty Robbins' song "El Paso" with all the other characters played by chimps.
* FunnyForeigner: He and Creator/DanAykroyd played Georg and Yortuk Festrunk, Czech immigrants and swinging bachelors, in a series of early ''SNL'' sketches. Steve also carried over the voice to his stand-up.

* MisaimedFandom: Besides his natural shyness, another of the reasons why he's become a ReclusiveArtist is because he noticed that the people he talked to in social settings would very often take everything he said as a joke and laugh even at what he meant seriously.

* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: [[invoked]]As mentioned above, Steve Martin was never a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (contrary to popular belief), but he hosted so many times and was a memorable part of the show in its early days that he could have been one of them. Martin ''was'' on LorneMichaels failed prime-time sketch show ''The New Show'' (which was such a critical and ratings failure that it made Lorne Michaels consider coming back to ''SNL'' after leaving the show from 1980 to 1985).

* ''[[Film/ThePinkPanther2006 The Pink Panther]]'' (2006)

* OneOfUs: One of his conditions for LooneyTunesBackInAction was the presence of a [[Series/DoctorWho Dalek.]]
* {{Punchline}}: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Along with Creator/MontyPython, Martin was one of the first comedians on the 1970s comedy scene who experimented with comedy that had no punchlines, making him an early example of what would eventually become "alternative" comedy. In his autobiography, he described it as not allowing the audience the release of tension which came with a designated cue to laugh, keeping them on their toes and making sure they clung to his every word.

* ''So Familiar'' (2015) (with Edie Brikell) - Later adapted into the Broadway show ''Bright Star''.

* OneOfUs: One of his conditions for LooneyTunesBackInAction was the presence of a [[DoctorWho Dalek.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]]He auditioned for the British version of ''WhoseLineIsItAnyway''. Oddly enough, the producers turned him down.

** Nor was he in the American footage from ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters''.