I thought I knew Steve Martin’s story: a comedian who became famous, got SNL, and leveraged that into acting. But the more I read, the more I realized I had it backwards. Steve didn't set out to become an actor. He climbed to the peak of comedy, saw the next peak, and started climbing again. He's been doing this his entire life.
But something didn’t make sense: why does someone reach the peak and walk away?
I found the answer hiding in plain sight, in the very next line of a poem Steve spent a decade trying to understand.
Listen to the episode:
In 1977 Steve Martin played Nassau Coliseum to 45,000 people - the biggest concert comedy event in history. Then he just stopped performing stand-up. He had spent ten years puzzling over one line of E.E. Cummings' poetry. But the very next line - the one he never mentions - explains why he kept starting over from zero, and why mastery is the direction, not the destination.
In this letter:
The hidden Cummings line that reframes Steve's entire career
The moment a magician's trick taught Steve that laughter could come from absence
What his father said on his deathbed, and the truth Steve kept to himself
"What if there were no punch lines?" - the question that changed everything
The night the audience wouldn't leave, and Steve became the act
Listen:
If you see yourself in Steve’ story, here's something you can do this week: what's the thing you've been curious about but keep dismissing as trivial? Give it an hour. Not as a career move, just as curiosity.
Bill
P.S. If you think Steve should hear this letter, you can help me deliver it. Send him this episode. His site is stevemartin.com and he's @stevemartinreally on Instagram.