Steve Martin
Stand-up comedian

Steve Martin

Who Steve Martin is

Steve Martin is a comedian, actor, writer and musician from Waco, Texas, who became one of the most popular stand-up comedians of the 1970s with an absurdist act that filled stadiums, then stopped stand-up in 1981 to concentrate on films. His albums Let's Get Small (1977) and A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978) both won Grammys, and his films include The Jerk, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Father of the Bride. Since 2015 he has toured comedy shows with Martin Short, with whom he made the Netflix special An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (2018), and he co-created and stars in Only Murders in the Building.

At a glance

Born
1945
Style
Absurdist superstar
Came up through
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Stand-up specials
Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy, Steve Martin-Live! and Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life
Albums
Let's Get Small, A Wild and Crazy Guy, Comedy Is Not Pretty! and 1 more
Podcasts
Cruel Shoes, Shopgirl, Born Standing Up and 1 more
On screen
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Saturday Night Live and 12 more
Next on stage
10 October 2026 — The Fabulous Fox, St. Louis, MO
Official site
stevemartin.com ↗

On stage

Lineups belong to the rooms and the comedians, and can change; each listing has the last word. Their nights on the Comedy Calendar →

Specials, shows and podcasts

Stand-up specials

Albums

On screen

Podcasts

Where they got their start

Came up the same way

Other comedians in SUCDb who came through The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson:

The Launching Pads: the shows the comedians came through →

Comedians like Steve Martin

Each linked to them by something on the record — a stage they both came through, a bill, a show, a style or a home town.

Every stand-up comedian with a page, A to Z →

Career timeline

  1. 1945Born
  2. 1969The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (writer, late 1960s; Emmy 1969) On screen
  3. 1977Let's Get Small (1977) Album
  4. 1978Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978, TV special) Special
  5. 1978A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978) Album
  6. 1979The Jerk (Navin R. Johnson; also writer, 1979) On screen
  7. 1979Comedy Is Not Pretty! (1979) Album
  8. 1979Cruel Shoes (book, 1979) Book
  9. 1981The Steve Martin Brothers (1981) Album
  10. 1986Steve Martin-Live! (1986, VHS) Special
  11. 1986¡Three Amigos! (Lucky Day; also writer, 1986) On screen
  12. 1986Little Shop of Horrors (Orin Scrivello, DDS, 1986) On screen
  13. 1987Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Neal Page, 1987) On screen
  14. 1987Roxanne (C. D. Bales; also writer, 1987) On screen
  15. 1988Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Freddy Benson, 1988) On screen
  16. 1989Parenthood (Gil Buckman, 1989) On screen
  17. 1991Father of the Bride (George Banks, 1991) On screen
  18. 2000Shopgirl (novella, 2000) Book
  19. 2001Academy Awards (host, 2001 and 2003; co-host 2010) On screen
  20. 2003Cheaper by the Dozen (Tom Baker, 2003) On screen
  21. 2006The Pink Panther (Inspector Clouseau, 2006) On screen
  22. 2007Born Standing Up (memoir, 2007) Book
  23. 2017Saturday Night Live (host, 16 times as of 2017) On screen
  24. 2018Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (2018, Netflix) Special
  25. 2021Only Murders in the Building (Charles-Haden Savage; co-creator, 2021–present, Hulu) On screen
  26. 2022Number One is Walking (illustrated autobiography, 2022) Podcast or book

Questions about Steve Martin

Where is Steve Martin performing next?

Saturday 10 October 2026 at The Fabulous Fox, St. Louis, MO, then 11 more dates on D.O.C.'s Comedy Calendar. Each show's own listing has the last word.

What stand-up specials have they released?

Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy, Steve Martin-Live! and Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life.

What podcast do they host?

Cruel Shoes, Shopgirl, Born Standing Up and Number One is Walking.

What TV shows and films are they in?

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Saturday Night Live, Academy Awards, Only Murders in the Building and The Jerk, among 15 credits.

Where did they get their start?

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (stand-up).

When were they born?

In 1945.

Who are some comedians like them?

Martin Short (on the same bill, 6 November 2026), David Steinberg (also in The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour), Jackie Mason (also in The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour), Andy Kaufman (also came through The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) and Flip Wilson (also came through The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson).

The full SUCDb record

The full record — the career in order, the specials and credits, and the sources for each — is on SUCDb, with a button to add them to your D.O.C., your twelve.

Their SUCDb record →Their own site ↗

Sources

Updated 5 October 2026 · the record checked 27 September 2026