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Yay! Glad to see THE JERK on the list. It didn't make my own list, but that's mostly because I had too many Gene Wilder movies to fit in there. The 1970s were a busy decade for ol' Gene.
Like so many of these movies, I saw THE JERK in the theater. Something about comedies makes them prime candidates for viewing in a theater with other people. Collective laughter is so much more fun.
And, back in those days, Steve Martin was ALL the rage. He was a hot ticket on the standup comedy circuit, playing huge venues by this point. I was fortunate to have seen him twice a few years before this, in small venues (college gymnasiums), and once I even got to interact with him because of something stupid I did during the show. He was doing this bit where he pulls out a small Instamatic camera, holds it up, and takes a flash picture of the audience. Then he says, "You people get to see a show. All *I* have are memories."
Well, everyone back then had most of Steve's routines memorized (from having seen them on TV or from having bought his albums), and I knew what the camera bit meant. We had been warned that no flash photography was allowed (and this in the days before Photoshop to fix a badly lit picture). But I'd sneaked in my own Instamatic camera and as soon as Steve whipped his camera out, I got out mine. My idea was to take my own flash picture as soon as he took his, and then I'd get a picture of Steve in action and no one would be the wiser. (We were about 10 rows back from the front.)
However, my timing was just a little bit off ... and my flash went off in direct response to Steve's flash.
Everyone burst out laughing, two security guards (one at each end of our row) appeared almost out of nowhere, and Steve yelled from the stage, "GUARDS! SEIZE HER!" in his best melodramatic voice.
Everyone burst out laughing again, and although the guards *did* start into the row from each end, I had already sat down (it was dark), and they didn't really know who had taken the picture. And so I got to keep it.
--
The next year two of us went to see Steve again, and this time we had front row seats. We had a T-shirt made for him that said, "OH NO! I'VE GOT HAPPY FEET!" (remember, I was about 17 years old... no accounting for teenage tastes). At one point during the show we just stood up, moved to the front of the stage, and said, "Steve! We have a present for you!" and handed the T-shirt up to him.
He held it up, told everyone what it said, shuffled his feet around a little, and then cavalierly tossed the T-shirt over his shoulder onto the floor behind him, saying smarmily, "Thank you for the LOVELY gift. I'll cherish it always."
We were thrilled.
--
I'm trying to think of a comedian now who is as popular as Martin was back then in the late '70s, but I can't think of one that compares. He was THE comedian of the time -- on TV everywhere, on SNL a lot, putting out comedy albums (I have most of them on vinyl), and then THE JERK came out. At the time it was a lot like MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL: Everyone could quote huge chunks of dialogue from THE JERK.
And I bet a bunch of you here, even you young'uns, have heard jokes from THE JERK and have never known where they came from.
Martin's humor may have calmed down and matured over the years, but those of us who grew up in his heyday still have a soft spot for the frenetic, goofy wild and crazy guy Martin was when he first hit it big.
--
P.S. Last year Yoda and my other kids got me tickets to see Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers live here in Pittsburgh. It was a marvelous evening, and Martin's humor, though still subdued compared to THE JERK, was going full tilt. So glad to see he hasn't lost his edge... and SO GLAD to see THE JERK on this list up this high.
Like so many of these movies, I saw THE JERK in the theater. Something about comedies makes them prime candidates for viewing in a theater with other people. Collective laughter is so much more fun.
And, back in those days, Steve Martin was ALL the rage. He was a hot ticket on the standup comedy circuit, playing huge venues by this point. I was fortunate to have seen him twice a few years before this, in small venues (college gymnasiums), and once I even got to interact with him because of something stupid I did during the show. He was doing this bit where he pulls out a small Instamatic camera, holds it up, and takes a flash picture of the audience. Then he says, "You people get to see a show. All *I* have are memories."
Well, everyone back then had most of Steve's routines memorized (from having seen them on TV or from having bought his albums), and I knew what the camera bit meant. We had been warned that no flash photography was allowed (and this in the days before Photoshop to fix a badly lit picture). But I'd sneaked in my own Instamatic camera and as soon as Steve whipped his camera out, I got out mine. My idea was to take my own flash picture as soon as he took his, and then I'd get a picture of Steve in action and no one would be the wiser. (We were about 10 rows back from the front.)
However, my timing was just a little bit off ... and my flash went off in direct response to Steve's flash.
Everyone burst out laughing, two security guards (one at each end of our row) appeared almost out of nowhere, and Steve yelled from the stage, "GUARDS! SEIZE HER!" in his best melodramatic voice.
Everyone burst out laughing again, and although the guards *did* start into the row from each end, I had already sat down (it was dark), and they didn't really know who had taken the picture. And so I got to keep it.
--
The next year two of us went to see Steve again, and this time we had front row seats. We had a T-shirt made for him that said, "OH NO! I'VE GOT HAPPY FEET!" (remember, I was about 17 years old... no accounting for teenage tastes). At one point during the show we just stood up, moved to the front of the stage, and said, "Steve! We have a present for you!" and handed the T-shirt up to him.
He held it up, told everyone what it said, shuffled his feet around a little, and then cavalierly tossed the T-shirt over his shoulder onto the floor behind him, saying smarmily, "Thank you for the LOVELY gift. I'll cherish it always."
We were thrilled.
--
I'm trying to think of a comedian now who is as popular as Martin was back then in the late '70s, but I can't think of one that compares. He was THE comedian of the time -- on TV everywhere, on SNL a lot, putting out comedy albums (I have most of them on vinyl), and then THE JERK came out. At the time it was a lot like MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL: Everyone could quote huge chunks of dialogue from THE JERK.
And I bet a bunch of you here, even you young'uns, have heard jokes from THE JERK and have never known where they came from.
Martin's humor may have calmed down and matured over the years, but those of us who grew up in his heyday still have a soft spot for the frenetic, goofy wild and crazy guy Martin was when he first hit it big.
--
P.S. Last year Yoda and my other kids got me tickets to see Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers live here in Pittsburgh. It was a marvelous evening, and Martin's humor, though still subdued compared to THE JERK, was going full tilt. So glad to see he hasn't lost his edge... and SO GLAD to see THE JERK on this list up this high.
Still never considered it for the list.