Steve Martin-The Midnight Special

[@RickTBL]

This must be about 1974. By the first time he hosted SNL, in 1976, his hair was grey, and he was wearing a white suit AND a tie, looking truly iconic. By '76, everything had gelled, and he was at the top of his game. Before Steve, comedy was more socially relevant, Steve cleverly threw all of that out, and just became silly, a brilliant innovation that put him way ahead of everyone else, and began a comedy revolution. Then he became truly huge.

[@firesoftheempyrean]

I love anachronistic humor. Electric hand dryers had to be invented SOME time and someone had to make a joke about it somewhere! hilarious!

[@UncleJim46]

A lot of you folks who were not around to enjoy Steve Martin's cutting edge comedy back in the 1970s need to do some research. Read his books, listen to his early comedy, watch his movies, most of which he wrote and enjoy his early banjo music.

[@phunnyguy]

havent seen thhis since i was a small kid......wow....thanks....he is my idol....my 1st record i ever got was a steve martin record and i knew i wanted to make people laugh....this was nice to see as many have said not much of his live performances are around from back in the day....followed him almost all my life...

[@MichaelMullenax]

Apparently our two year old daughter loves Steve Marten's stand up here because she never sits through anything and she loved this, she even started dancing around like him!

[@MsLarryjo]

Dance routine near the end is hysterical!!

[@UncleJim46]

He has ALWAYS played banjo and often used it as a constant companion on-stage even when he didn't play an entire song. Steve Martin worked as a teenage at Knott's Berry Farm in So California, did magic, told jokes and played banjo. He is an American treasure. Yeah, comedy is different today than 40 years ago. A LOT is different. Study up so you can discuss things with some knowledge.

[@porflepopnecker4376]

I got to see him live in the late 70s and it was an hour and a half of that. It was awesome.

[@jkoff76]

Ahead of the curve.... in so many ways!!!

[@smagnanamus]

Wow! Those guys a pretty good.

[@goPistons06]

Steve Martin can talk about anything and make it funny.

[@trulynot]

Very likable guy.

[@fariethesun]

Love it...

[@rburnsiv]

That part right in the middle of the act where he says, "here's something you don't often see...AAAAHHHH", was so funny. I had to watch it like 5 times.

[@cowboysfan782008]

I bought the king tut album when I was 10 or 11. He seemed the same for a long time, but when I saw him in the movie with meryl streep and alec baldwin, I realized how fast we all age. By and large I think he is probably THE most "all around" comedic talent's of our time!

[@s922918]

Wow! He sure do make those girls down there crazy! I can't tell whether they are laughing or screaming.

[@debstrzelecki8805]

I never thought I'd say I miss the 70s, but, after watching this, I do.

[@nacki612]

i've always wondered why he gets big movies when i was a kid. now i know. he's one of my favorites now.

[@poetcomic1]

He perfected jerk humor. At the end he does comic dancing - a venerable tradition going back to the great Groucho moves.

[@JoyGrenade]

To have that much confidence onstage is staggering.

[@MissVelvetElle]

He is so incredibly cute to me! He's the best out there!

[@bongodrumms]

If anyone's ever read Steve's autobiography "Born Standing Up", it explains about how he figured out a way to do stand up comedy differently from everyone else. Very interesting read and it makes complete sense when you see it onstage. I love this man

[@lifrson]

Wow, I had a Maxima in 1982 that said, key in the ignition, lights are on, ect. 9 years after this performance. Weird lol. I still love Steve Martin to this day.

[@ithastobecatchy]

What. A. Hottie.

[@badmuthahubbard]

If you don't like Steve's comedy... WELL EXCUUUSE... MEEEE!

[@marieinvienna]

Needed this laugh this morning. Great clip.

[@corneiid]

You can rent - Steve Martin Live - it's an hour long, it's in one of those football stadiums and it's amazing.

[@crazyvitod]

The funniest man to have ever lived.

[@SethHesio]

The correct comedic entity in a time of weed, cocaine and disco

And how interesting that he continued to evolve as a comediant and made great things like LA Story, which is very funny, but also very romantic. He´s a decent actor and, yes, made some stupid summer movies, but it´s clear that he is not just a funny man, but a very intelligent guy.

[@tommyhaynes521]

I'm in tears

[@trylonperisphere]

Robin Williams in the audience...taking notes.

[@Ronsanality]

The Funny Stuff ...Classic Legend !

[@karlaanne]

god that dance routine. it kills me.

[@DocHallux]

oh, the good ol' days, haha. and i'm only 21 years old.

[@Pimp-Master]

I just finished reading the book--it's great. His great secret is that he never stopped performing and just figured it out himself. Back then there were no comedy clinics, improv classes, or books on stand up. You just went out and bombed for 20 years if that's what it took. He was not very funny until 1977, when just the right persona of his connected with the audience's funny bone. Money Python and SNL were just underway as well, so he fit in with the absurdist thing he always did.

[@njrobinson95]

those new fangled inventions like "electric hand dryers" "seat belts"

[@n1kkri]

When was this. In 1978 the bride and I were on our honeymoon. Aug. 1978, we went to the midnight special in CA, with Steve Martin. I am wondering if this is the one my wife and I were at? Ken

[@atomicinjun]

"Well, here's something you don't often see!"

[@samgub]

Steve Martin is a comedy genius, no-one does clever idiocy like him...

[@maddymud]

he also has a pitch perfect ear to mimic the sound of show bizness that had become stale. The tics, the fake voices of the announcers. As a kid, that way he decimated Vega$ style entertainment rang so true to me. Old Dinasours in venal setting jamming a bunch of shit down your throats hoping you would gamble all your $$ away. Now, of course, I pine for those old lounge acts.

[@AndrewGorny]

yeah that was frakin gr8

[@burnsybaby1987]

The last five minutes are total insanity...

[@wandalee5010]

Where is the it’s impossible to shove a Cadillac up your nose skit? It’s in my head!

[@kick678]

man that audience is loving him... theyre COKED UP

[@catrashoo]

I liked when he talked about the hand dryers lol

[@1tkeela625]

By the looks of many of them, probably not coffee. In the 70's and early 80's, coke and speed were used frequently and more socially acceptable as compared to today.

[@jayahjayah]

He's a personal friend of my... personal trainer!

[@r4b32t11]

Ruprecht I love you xxxxx

[@rogueangel2k]

tis the way it was back then... 100% part of his shtick... 100% funny... period.

[@Jac2Mac]

And did the 1984-85 Chevy Caprice Classic wagon with red interior use that same scary buzzer used in the 1979 Impala Wagon?

[@barbieoquinn7657]

Yes!!!

[@tuxguys]

A Star in the Embryo. ("Midnight Special" was NBC's answer to ABC's much more music-specific "In Concert.") This footage is so old that Martin's hair hasn't even started to gray yet... ...and, while his burlesquing of "BigTimeShowBidness" may have a somewhat dated quality, it must be remembered that almost no one else was doing this, then: By my reckoning, the first season of SNL was at least two or three years in the future.

[@maddymud]

and the white suit had a plaid shirt under it, with 70s plunging neckline

[@RatPfink66]

I kept thinking he was gonna put a foot through that banjo.

[@ProlificDecibel]

yes!! always thought he looked like harrison ford.

[@rshcry24]

My goodness, he's hilarious.

[@guitarmande]

This was actually funny when I first heard it when it first came out.

[@SeungYeonFan]

He's a friend of mine too but I don't let him get "personal." I don't swing that way.

[@oliverwolfson]

At his best here.

[@franklanguage]

"Now here's something you don't often see"

[@estrblmkr]

i like this bugger

[@MrJokerit91]

He looks like John Fogerty:)) so much

[@LowJumpinJeff]

He says it's a prestige car....a 65 Greyhound Bus.

[@gman8471]

The jokes about "new" electric hand driers shows how long ago this was. That and seeing Steve without any grey hairs (unless he dyed them)

[@mediagod2004]

I have one of the only replicas of the REAL "Cruel Shoes". They are evil incarnate. God help us all.

[@dreamyfilmz]

That's exactly what I thought too!!!(:

[@alittlepale]

@zackpliskin Yup-the scene where he and John Candy are walking away from their dead car and it lights on fire kills me.

[@EtrenX]

haha all these things are so old!

[@fearsomepirate]

Who disables embedding? Champions, that's who.

[@adsilcott]

Steve Martin: the greatest dancer in the history of goofy white guys

[@news4usunshine]

Apparently you haven't listened to his comedy albums... almost every bit he does in this set is on one of his albums.

[@woodbutcherjohn]

@naaz08 Now that you mention it, yeah, he kinda does!

[@odiumsfist1]

funniest guy ever!!!!!

[@maddymud]

funny -- he changes that bit to "The hills are alive ... with the sound of MONEY" on his album.

[@sketto]

Look at his eyes. How high do you think he is?

[@south2nd]

So you've never seen him host the Oscars, appear on Letterman, Kimmel, The Tonight Show, SNL. Never heard of any of the 40 or so movies he's done?

[@woogiathin]

steve looks like harrison ford in this video.

[@RatPfink66]

A Burt Sugarman Production.

[@MattMunoz]

@franklanguage Totally lost it there...haha...

[@FlamingoKicker]

What was it about the '70s where guys didn't know how to button their shirts?

[@maddymud]

Listen to the audience. They sound like they're on ether. NO standup ever before, or ever since had that ability to sustain the humor, when there was no joke. It was almost like a weird high. It wasn't joke, release, joke, release. People were giddy, in between punch-lines.

[@XxAnony0mousxX]

Ha, he left his banjo

[@zackstein]

Eddie Murphy stole this bit - about the talking car. So... nice.

[@tubegucker1]

looks like John Fogerty

[@JuanLeg]

How many people have cats ?

[@maddymud]

well, there doing something down south in Mexico that MAKES ME SICK

[@11304800]

Someone wrote than Steve Martin was Harrison's Ford alter ego--or was it the other way?? Steve was before Jim Carey--but there is a resemblance in the way they preform???

[@maddymud]

@pmacj yeah, I dunno about that. I think it's the fact that they have NO idea what's coming that keeps them on edge. He's so unlike the traditional stand-ups of the day ...

[@ErichBProductions]

did he pay that audiance?..

[@Kazootheclown]

XD 2:39 - 2:44 lmao!

[@boku45]

girl at 1:05 is tripping harddd

[@goldstandardpersonalgrowth]

I wonder what sort of character he was like in person..

[@jkoff76]

Frank Sinatra .....Personal Friend of Mine!!

[@yessroman]

first half shit, even then, because I remember. Second half Real funny.

[@skapouma]

He looks like Harrison Ford!

[@todosbien]

Yes, anachronistic humour is good isn't it!

[@computersshot]

@gtrrobster the works lol.. missed "Fart" would of been nice :)

[@guitarofbakugan]

2:41 LOL

[@naaz08]

is it me or does steve martin looks like harrison ford when he was han solo lol :).

[@boku45]

that girl at 1:04 looks like she's tripping REAL hard.

[@crazyclownn]

i'd pay 3 dollars to see him less than a coffee

[@Mikeyworld23]

That's Hans Solo's cousin.... who the hell is @pettyjones?