Steve Martin hasn’t done stand-up since 1981. In *Born Standing Up*, the celebrated actor, writer and comedy genius muses on his early career, revealing the tricks and techniques that took him from vaudeville to fame on Saturday Night Live. This thought-provoking and honest autobiography captures the changing mood of the ’60s and ’70s, and doesn’t avoid the bad reviews and broken hearts that accompanied the career highs and life in Laurel Canyon and Aspen. It also reveals the source of Martin’s trademark poignancy: his frosty and long-unresolved relationship with his father. The book ends with the beginning of Steve Martin’s life in movies, his stand-up years brought to a close by the exhaustion and loneliness of a crazy working schedule promoting 'not just your ordinary banjo magic act’.