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From the Vault...
11/12/2000
#707 |
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info
Steve Martin
"A Wild And Crazy Guy"
© Warner Bros. Records
Year of Release: 1978
Rating:
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track listing
I'm Feelin' It
Philosophy/Religion/
College/Language
Creativity In Action/
I'm In The Mood
For Love
A Wild And Crazy Guy
A Charitable
Kind Of Guy
An Exposé
Cat Handcuffs
You Naive Americans
My Real Name
King Tut
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Steve Martin
"A Wild And Crazy Guy"
It's been over 20 years (!!) since the release of Steve Martin's best
comedy album, A Wild And Crazy Guy, and being a fan of comedy albums,
this album brings back a lot of memories for me during high school. I
practically memorized nearly the entire second side of this album (vinyl was
big back then), from his sketch called "A Wild And Crazy Guy" on.
And, Steve Martin had a huge hit single at the time, "King Tut."
Thanks to his popularity on the TV show Saturday Night Live, he became
an overnight sensation with his "wild and crazy guy" oversexed character he
portrayed with fellow SNL member Dan Aykroyd.
The first side of the album (tracks 1-3) can easily be compared to routines
he recorded on his previous album, Let's Get Small, where he would discuss
various common-day thoughts. "I'm Feelin' It" sets the beginning of this,
as he discusses his books he had written (or were they really written
by him?):
| How To Get Along With Everyone |
| Bad Banana on Broadway |
| Ceremony For A Fat Lip |
| Renegade Nuns On Wheels |
| Nights On Fire |
| How To Make Money Off The Mentally Ill |
| How I Turned A Million In Real Estate Into 25 In Cash |
| Minds Gone Haywire |
| I'll Take The Alpha-Bet |
| Trouble In Doggyland |
| Howdy Doody: Man Or Myth |
| The Apple Pie Hub-Bub |
Note: Steve Martin did write one book called Cruel Shoes.
"Philosophy/Religion/College/Language" features where you die and
go to heaven and find out that everything they told you when you were alive
about heaven is true. And at the pearly gates, they do a search on you, and
find out that you used the lord's name in vain, 6 million times, and Steve
then says "Jesus Chr..." Another common phrase heard in this sketch is "I juggle
in my mind... oops!" And Steve suggests to play a trick on a 3-year old: Talk
wrong -- "ma'am mama dogface bananapatch?" -- "give that kid a special test, get
him outta here..." And with Language, he refers to the French, and how
their language is so different than English.
"Creativity In Action" goes back similarly to his famous quote in
"Let's Get Small," "Excuuuuse Me!" -- the "don't care attitude," and
Steve's interest in music, banjo playing. An old music standard, Steve does
his own version of the song "I'm In The Mood For Love." (unique, of
course)...
The title sketch ("A Wild And A Crazy Guy") defines the crazy,
oversexed shirt-opened character portrayed on Saturday Night Live with Dan
Aykroyd. One part that's funny is the audience participation, where Steve
has the audience repeat what he says...
I promise to be different!
I promise to be unique!
I promise not to repeat things other people say...
Hilarious!
He also does the famous sketch where he knows how to "read women" -- knowing how to
satisfy them sexually. And how to have his own unique, individual odor, by
wearing a tuna fish sandwich under each arm.
"A Charitable Kind Of Guy" starts out with how the money for his
concert would go to charity, which most entertainers do. However, Steve's charity
was announced to be for unwed mothers. Steve also discusses a certain event
that is disturbing to him, Cat Juggling, where people use cats to juggle --
poor cats...
"An Exposé" discusses some events that would have everyone talking.
Steve announces how he used to smoke marijuana, and where Bill Clinton never
inhaled, Steve only used in the early-to-mid-late evening hours. He met a woman
who was taught to sing from her diaphram, and another woman who had the best
pussy (but the audience, thinking sexually, goes wild). But Steve was really
talking about the woman's cat. Steve gets upset on how people take certain
words in the wrong context, and ends this sketch by saying, "That cat was the
best f*** I ever had..."
And speaking of cats, Steve has a problem with his cat, and how he has
to get a pair of "Cat Handcuffs" due to the fact that his cat was
embezzling $3,000 in cat toys, by wearing a Steve Martin disguise to the
bank (with arrow through its head, and bunny rabbitt ears; two props that
Steve Martin was famous for at the time). Steve complains that the toys
could not be returned because they had cat spit all over them.
"Naive Americans" returns to his "wild and crazy guy" character again,
and how he deals with breaking up with someone -- Simply say, "Break with me,
break with me, break with me," then pour dog poop on their shoes. Afterwards,
he and his brother goes to the swinging singles bar, and look for the girls with
the dog poop on their shoes. Also, he likes to meet women with no necks -- so
when he takes her out somewhere, every head will turn... except her's, because
she has no neck!
Most celebrities change their name for show business. Steve explains his
name was changed also, and tells the audience "My Real Name" by taking
his index finger and babbling it against his lips. His sister's name sounds
like something Mortimer Snerd would say.. "hurl hurl hurl"... Even though his
childhood was normal, things were quite funny when he and his sister would be
called, like say to the dinner table by name. Steve also explains he was a
quarterback in football, and how he quit, because the coach always called the
shots, and not him, and how he would want to punt on the first down. So he
joined the cheerleading squad, and had fun with that, except that the other
cheerleaders were jealous of Steve's writing ability of cheers.
The album ends with his hit single, "King Tut," a great comedy
song, and it was very popular and became a Top Twenty hit.
Steve Martin was an up-and-coming comedian in 1979, and he would later become
more popular in movies. Comedy albums are always a treat, especially good ones
like A Wild And Crazy Guy, as it gets you listening to a comedian who
wants to make everyone laugh. And Steve Martin does just that on this album,
and you can't help but want to imitate his "wild and crazy guy" character.
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