''Comedy Is Not Pretty!'' (1979) is an album by the American comedian

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...

. It was recorded at The Boarding House in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where his previous two albums were also recorded. When released, the album was not as well-received as his previous two albums ('' Let's Get Small'', '' A Wild and Crazy Guy''). However, at this point in his career, Martin was in the midst of writing the screenplay for his first starring role in the motion picture, ''

The Jerk ''The Jerk'' is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias (from a story by Martin and Gottlieb). This was Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also f ...

''. As a result, he spent less of his time working on material for his stand-up career and the album was his first to not make the Top 10 on Billboard's Pop Albums Chart, peaking only at #25. The album was also his first to not go Platinum; it was, however, certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. One track was simply a humorous reading of a short story from his book '' Cruel Shoes'' accompanied by a banjo solo in the background. The track "Drop Thumb Medley" is an instrumental

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

performance. This album was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Comedy Album. Martin also starred in a

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

of the same name for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in 1980.

Track listing

All tracks by

#" Born to Be Wild" ( Mars Bonfire, Martin) – 5:49 #"The All Being" – 1:24 #"

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

/Men's Underwear" – 3:11 #"Drop Thumb Medley" – 2:10 #"Googlephonics" – 3:06 #"Hostages" – 1:13 #"Cruel Shoes" – 2:17 #"Comedy Is Not Pretty" – 3:26 #"How to Meet a Girl" – 3:47 #"Rubberhead" – 0:56 #" Jackie O. and Farrah F." – 3:39 #"You Can Be a Millionaire" – 2:55

Personnel

*William R. Eastabrook – Photography *Pat Kraus – Digital Mastering *Steve Martin – Composer *William McEuen – Producer, Engineer, Artwork, Editing, Art Direction, Design * Norman Seeff – Photography *Geoff Sykes – Mastering * Dean Torrence – Graphic Design

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1979 live albums Steve Martin albums Warner Records live albums Albums with cover art by Dean Torrence 1970s comedy albums Live comedy albums Comedy albums by American artists Stand-up comedy albums