I always enjoy stories of stand-up comedians, as I consider that one of the most challenging types of performance. Was insipiring to read about all the hard work poured in during his stand-up years (1963-1981): Thinking, experimenting new ways to interact, mixing in styles from magicians, reading varociously about psychology/philosophy/logic, even when the reaction was poor and when he didn’t feel like it.
“The consistent work enhanced my act. I learned a lesson: it was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statiatical: Like lucky cards in poker, you cannot count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be *good*, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the abominable circumstances” –– Steve Martin
#台上十分鐘台下十年功
史帝夫馬汀在成為電影明星（粉紅豹，新岳父大人，十二生笑，等等）之前，曾有近二十年即興喜劇表演的生涯，這本書描述的就是即興戲劇演員的人生。他如何涉獵不同領域充實自己，如何冒著被觀眾討厭的風險實驗各種表演方式，如何克服多年的恐慌症，如何面對表演完畢時無止盡的孤獨感。順利時如此，失落時也不曾停止。
