If you get the chance, I would encourage you to read through Steve Martin’s brilliant memoir about his stand-up career, Born Standing Up. I read it few years ago but have been reflecting back on it over the last few days.
Steve Martin is a member of my iBoard. My iBoard is an imaginary board of directors made up of men and women that I regard as leaders and visionaries in their respective fields whom I believe that I can learn from. My iBoard members represent people in the fields of leadership, ministry, theology, music, comedy, and philosophy.
I decided to read Martin’s memoir for a little more insight into the creative process and I wanted to understand how someone goes about crafting and then honing their skills until they are just right. I also knew that after 18 years (”Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success.”) Martin walked away from stand-up comedy forever.
I know plenty of pastors and volunteers who have experienced the same ebb and flow that I know Martin experienced. As a pastor I wanted to know if Martin chose to walk away because he felt burned out from his years in front of live audiences or if, like Seinfeld, he chose to exit while at the peak of success rather than slinking away in mediocrity.
As someone who spends a great deal of time standing before people delivering a message each week I can tell you that I have learned just as much watching stand-up comedians as I have watching people preach. I have learned more about timing, delivery, surprises, storytelling, and audience interaction by watching Steve Martin and Conan O’Brien than I ever have in a formal preaching class.
As I read the introduction I found proof that comedy and preaching go hand in hand despite what I was taught. I am quoting below but I exchanged the words comedy and stand-up for words that I deal with every week. See if you can relate.
My most persistent memory of (preaching) is of my mouth being in the present and my mind being in the future: the mouth speaking the line, the body delivering the gesture, while the mind looks back, observing, analyzing, judging, worrying, and then deciding when and what to say next. Enjoyment while (preaching) was rare – enjoyment would have been an indulgent loss of focus that (preaching) cannot afford. After the (sermon), however, I experienced long hours of elation of misery depending on how the show went, because (preaching) alone onstage is the ego’s last stand.
(Preaching) is seldom preformed in ideal circumstances. (Preaching’s) enemy is distraction, and rarely do (preachers) get a pristine performing environment. I worried about the sound system, ambient noise, hecklers, lighting, sudden clangs, latecomers, and not to mention the nagging concern “Is this (reaching people)?”
I too go through this same range of emotions and questions when I speak in front of any audience. As a campus minister I had to speak in front of a crowd of 600 high school and middle schoolers each day. I would have to be speaking, thinking about what I said, what I was going to say, judging reactions, judging content, analyzing the audience, worrying about this or that, monitoring time, and editing. Thankfully breathing and my heart work involuntary! Today whether I’m speaking in front of groups of 25 or 300, 20 leaders or the entire congregation the same thoughts and feelings surge through me. I am still working on my skills.
Born Standing Up was a great read. Do not be fooled, as affable and unflappable as Steve Martin might seem his struggles of self-doubt and self-worth can be shared by anyone who stands before an audience with a message. Martin is an extremely hard worker with a desire to better himself and his craft.
Martin has given me the understanding that in order to go as far as you want to go, you need a little self-realization, much discipline, and a whole lot of tenacity and courage.