Let's Get Small
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Let's Get Small 
 
Studio album by Steve Martin 
Released 1977 
Recorded 1977
The Boardinghouse, San Francisco, California 
Genre Comedy 
Length 38:10 
Label Warner Bros. Records 
Producer William E. McEuen 
 

Let?s Get Small (1977) was Steve Martin's first album, and a major success. It included Excuse Me, a comedy bit whose title went on to become a national catch phrase. The album went platinum and peaked at #10 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart, which is traditionally dominated by music.

This album won the Grammy Award in 1978 for Best Comedy Album.


Track listing
?Ramblin' Man/Theme from Ramblin' Man" ? 2:14 
?Vegas" ? 5:45 
?Let's Get Small" ? 13:34 
?Smoking" ? 2:10 
?One Way to Leave Your Lover" ? 1:33 
?Mad at My Mother" ? 1:22 
"Excuse Me" ? 2:32 
"Grandmother's Song" ? 3:33 
"Funny Comedy Gags" ? 3:05 
"Closing" ? 2:02 


An excerpt from the title cut:

"I'm on drugs. I'm, uh, I mean, you know what it is. What's the deal, man? I like to get small. It's a wild, wild drug. Very dangerous for kids though, because they get really small. I know I shouldn't get small when I'm drivin', but, uh, I was drivin' around the other day, you know *whistles tunefully* and a cop pulls me over. And he goes, ?Hey, are you small?? I said, ?No, I'm tall, I'm tall.? He said, 'Well, I'm gonna have to measure you.' They've got a little test they give you; it's a balloon, and if you can get inside of it, they know... you're small. And they can't put you in a regular cell either, because you walk right out."




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Steve Martin is my favourite comedian, and even if you're put off by the likes of Cheaper By the Dozen or the new Pink Panther films, (the latter I actually didn't mind) don't worry ! His stand-up is nothing like that.

His stand-up career was short and sweet and shows a different side to Steve's comedy; I'd say his career as a stand-up comic is very different from his movies in the 80s and certainly his movies today.

In his act, in a sense he plays a much more arrogant and stupid version of himself, in the style Larry David uses in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Lines like 'I know what you're saying; Steve, how can you be so fucking funny?' are hilarious when he says it like he actually means it. His act is interspersed with banjo playing and surreal anecdotes; one of his main objectives in stand-up was to make the audience laugh without including punchlines in his jokes.


Enjoy !


You'll like this if you like Steven Wright, Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David.


Also if you do like this, go and buy Steve Martin's 'Born Standing Up', his autobiography charting his rise to fame and why he left stand-up for film, it's a great book.




Jimmy.