Comments on: Steve Martin’s Vanderbilt epiphany

By: Rob Robinson

Rob Robinson — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:56:37 +0000

Your comment made me giggle, Sue. I’m so glad you took your friend’s advice to go to that show.

By: Sue

Sue — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:03:23 +0000

I worked at the Exit/Inn while going to Vanderbilt back then (see above) and remember my introduction to Steve Martin so well. Employees could attend shows for free and a friend was trying to convince me to go in and see one of Steve Martin’s sets. I said no, arguing that comedians are never all-the-way funny, meaning they either miss the mark altogether or are funny so intermittently that it’s more painful than fun. But he promised that this guy was different and we went in. The show was sold out so we stood leaning against the sound booth. Within two minutes I was literally doubled over in that rare and wonderful state of uncontrollable laughter. (Remember Mary Tyler Moore at Chuckles the Clown’s funeral?) His brilliance was glaringly obvious, from his surprising non-sequiturs and offbeat observations to his ridiculous props and the way he moved. All that brainpower and that amazing face combined to create the comedy equivalent of Dolby Surround-Sound. He came at you from all sides and on so many levels that you were powerless to resist him — and that was what made him so incredibly funny, I think. You were laughing at yourself for laughing at him even though he knew you knew he was being ridiculous.

By: Rob Robinson

Rob Robinson — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:14:47 +0000

That’s really cool, Jeff. It must have been something to see his career take off knowing that you’d spoken to him right before he made the big time.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:26:30 +0000

I was not only at the Vanderbilt show, but I interviewed him on WRVU, the campus radio station, after the gig. I still have the recording. The fact that his show that night (not the interview) was a turning point in his career creates a great memory for me.

By: Rob Robinson

Rob Robinson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:53:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing these great memories, Don!

By: Don

Don — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:33:49 +0000

It was 1973. I was there. I’d be surprised if there were as many as a hundred present. Vanderbilt has a performance space called the Different Drummer underneath the Carmichael Towers where they usually had musical performers, although I once saw an awful mime there, too. The night he’s rtalking about was a fun night, although I had somewhere else to go and didn’t follow in line to the swimming pool. We knew the show was over, but he kept being funny, and the way he responded to us, we assumed this happened to him all the time. I had no idea it was the first time that had happened to him.

He was not as popular then, although I had seen him on the Smothers Brothers years before in odd bits so knew who he was. He came back to Nashville the next year and and was already much more popular. He played the Exit Inn. which was just off campus and held several hundred people. It was a sign of his growing popularity that it was sold out by the time I went over for a ticket, several hours before the show was supposed to start. Apparently he remembered Vanderbilt as a place where the audience followed him around and he encouraged it in that performance, and had this huge crowd following him down Elliston Place. The next time he came to Nashville I had graduated but he played the new Opry House which held thousands. I wanted to drive up to Nashville from Chattanooga but my friends couldn’t get tickets. I think soon after that he stopped stand-up because he wanted to focus on acting.

By: You’re A Shining Star, No Matter Who You Are « A Natural Deficiency Of Moral Fiber

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:29:46 +0000

[...] Steve Martin’s Vanderbilt Epiphany – Thinktrain [...]

By: Jackson

Jackson — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:53:40 +0000

There was another ExitIn show (or it could have been the same one I guess) where he had the audience follow him out into the street. They walked up and down the block and then Steve went back into the club for the second show. It was not only really funny but also cleared the house for the second show in record time.

By: fke

fke — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:34:14 +0000

Recently, I heard my brother and former wife, who lived here in the early 70s, speaking of going to see him at the ExitIn. People were waiting to get in and the word came that he had not arrived. So while standing in line, they heard someone behind them saying: Does anyone see him? What does he look like? etc. They turned around and it was Steve being one of the in-line folks.

By: Rob Robinson

Rob Robinson — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:01:00 +0000

Thanks, Mike. That is too funny. I would love to have seen Martin wandering around campus in person.

By: S-townMike

S-townMike — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:53:41 +0000

It was the early 70s. I worked at Vandy a few years ago and one of my supervisors often spoke fondly about his early days at Vandy where he witnessed Martin leading students around campus.