Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Steve Martin

A Happy Feat
[Steve Martin] describes his process as a constant search for “topics.” He never knows where he’ll find one, what it’ll be, where it’ll take him. But he’s always looking for something to engage his imagination and take him on a little voyage.

I love Steve Martin. Really, I do. I think, you know, he and I could really get something going. If he weren’t already involved with someone else and if I weren’t already married, I mean. (It’s okay. My husband knows about my Steve Martin thing. He’s willing to overlook it — just like I’m willing to overlook his obsession with Jodie Foster.)

I remember Steve Martin on the Smothers Brothers show. That’s just to show you how OLD I really am! I was fortunate to grow up in a house where we watched the Smothers Brothers every week.

I had a strange upbringing in some ways. My father was really into music. He had very eclectic taste, though, so he’d alternate between stuff like Johnny Cash and… opera. Yes. Opera. He loved opera. Especially the soprano aria in Madame Butterfly. He’d play it over and over. My father liked to watch monster movies on TV. And he loved to watch professional wrestling — because he thought it was funny. (This was back in the early 1960′s, understand, before professional wrestling became big business.) Likewise, he really got off on televangelists. Back then, Oral Roberts would encourage people to put their hands on their television sets — in order to receive the healing power of God, dontcha know. My dad would just laugh and laugh! These early experiences did a lot to make me the person I am today, I think… That and Steve Martin on the Smothers Brothers show.

Anyway, so I love Steve Martin. And this Washington Post article by Stephen Hunter is great. Hunter didn’t ask about the one thing that’s really got me wondering, though:

What’s with Steve Martin’s face lately? Botox? A botched face lift of some sort? Man… he just looks… weird. I’m sorry, but it’s true.