When I was six, I had a book called "All About Me" in which I listed facts about my fascinating and complicated life. I remember listing my ideal meal as, "Steak, 'Tater Tots and tea" and citing Steve Martin as my favorite comedian.
This was not based on his impressive stand-up career or his amazing performance in "The Jerk", but more on the fact that he told a bully off during a game of darts in 1987's "Roxeanne". It helped that he was acting alongside Darryl "Splash" Hannah, the inspiration for most of my Barbie re-enactments until I saw the movie "Shag". Any movie we taped off of HBO I committed to memory, and this along with his participation in "The Three Amigos", made Martin the actor who left the best impression.
Other movies that traumatized me into reciting them were "The Color Purple" and "Beaches". And therefore, to round out the three favorite comedians of my youth, I add Whoopie Goldberg and Bette Midler to the roster.
It wasn't until I was in college that I heard my first recording of one of Steve Martin's stand-up performances. I was sorry for dismissing him after "Father of the Bride" and rekindled the respect for him I had as a child. The same thing happened a few years later when I finally caught a dvd of Whoopi on Broadway. I was less in awe of her stand-up skills and more enamored with the performance. I thought the same thing would happen when I found a dvd of Bette Midler's staged musical, but I quickly got bored and jumped ahead to "The Rose". It only cost $3, and I returned it to the video store. That's the story of, that's the glory of Looooove.
An old performance of Ellen DeGeneres recycled on Comedy Central stuck out in my brain, and as I was making the move to study stand-up, I decided I was most impressed by Ellen's gift of being silly. Sinbad was the first comedian I ever saw live, and I'll always wish I could make someone laugh as hard as he made me laugh that night.
All About Me (revised)
Name: Abbi Crutchfield
Age: 26
Weight: 135lbs
Favorite Comedian:
Steve Martin
Sinbad
Ellen DeGeneres
Favorite Barbie Doll Muse:
Phoebe Cates
Favorite Meal:
Steak, steak and steak.
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2 comments:
Yay you did your influences post. *happy dance*
And here's a little something for your troubles. The HBO theme music that they used to play before one of the movies that you went memorized
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cobKjqWOcFw
Although that music is bittersweet because although it was the intro to so many good movies, it was also the cue for my mom to yell out from the other room to find out what we were watching... "No PG for strong language only mom! No Partial nudity in at all!"
"The following movie is rated (MUTE)"
Hey, you and I practically have the same birthday! Only one day off. So it's not the same at all.
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