Growing Up Laughing_ My Story and the Story of Funny - Marlo Thomas [85]
Marlo: But your work is so different from theirs. How did you find your style?
Steven: I started listening to the way Woody Allen structured jokes. Then I got into surrealistic painting. I loved the way the artists combined different realities that couldn’t be combined in the real world. Years later, when I started writing jokes, I did the same kind of thing.
Marlo: That’s really interesting. Sid Caesar and other comics have talked about comedy in terms of music, but no one has talked about it in terms of painting.
Steven: Well, I’ve always been very visually stimulated. Drawing helps my comedy, because when you draw something, you examine it in a much closer way. Like, if you’re drawing a table that has a wine bottle on it, and a wineglass beside the bottle, not only do you see the glass and the bottle, you also see the shape in between them. Exercising that part of my mind helped me with my comedy, because it taught me to notice things more closely than I normally would.
“I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms
from the statues that are in all the other museums.”
—Steven Wright
Marlo: Were you the funny guy in school?
Steven: I was always joking around with my buddies and making them laugh. I wouldn’t make the whole class laugh, because I was a shy kid and didn’t want the attention.
Marlo: What’s a Steven Wright joke, circa junior high?
Steven: I made up a joke that made my friends laugh, about a flock of false teeth. I remember thinking that, even though there was no such thing, the words were assembled in a funny way.
Marlo: So what did your flock of false teeth do?
Steven: I have no idea. Just fly by, I guess . . .
“I was at my uncle’s funeral and I was looking at the coffin and
thinking about my flashlight and the batteries in my flashlight. And I
told my aunt, ‘Maybe he’s not dead, he’s just in the wrong way.’ ”
—Steven Wright
Marlo: Okay, so here’s this kid in school who knows he’s funny, and has his own craft. What was your first professional gig like?
Steven: When I did my first open mike, I tried about three minutes of jokes, and the audience laughed at, like, half of it. I thought it was a failure because they didn’t laugh at all of it. One of the other comedians pulled me aside and told me that I was pretty good for never having done it before.
Marlo: After that, did you think you’d make it?
Steven: You never know what’s going to happen. I wanted to try stand-up. I wanted to give it a shot. And I didn’t want to wonder my whole life about what would’ve happened if I had tried it. I’ve had this whole career and this whole life because I took that initial risk.
“I went to a restaurant that serves ‘breakfast at any time.’
So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.”
—Steven Wright
Marlo: Last question: Have you ever owned a comb?
Steven: Used to as a boy.
Marlo: What happened to it?
Steven: I think I lost it.
“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.”
—Steven Wright
ANOTHER STORY FROM BOB NEWHART
There was a comic who called himself Professor Backwards. His name was actually Jimmy Edmondson. In his act, people in the audience would call out their state or city, then Jimmy would instantly pronounce it backwards. He was probably dyslexic, but he made a small living from the act.
Jimmy was always hard up for funds, so during the era of person-to-person telephone calls, he figured out a way to avoid paying for calls to his agent. Whenever he needed to know when his next club date would be—and what he’d be paid—he’d speak in code to his agent, through the operator.
“Person-to-person call from Jimmy Edmondson,” the operator said on one occasion.
“He’s not in right now,” the agent answered.
“Do you know where I can