Steve Martin Lost His Virginity to a Bestselling Christian Author (And Other Things I Learned from His Memoir)
Last year, I downloaded the New York Public Library’s mobile app and gained access to a treasure trove of backlist e-books and audiobooks. So I decided to go back and read all the titles I wanted to read, but somehow never got around to. This week’s book was Born Standing Up, comedian and “Only Murders in the Building” star Steve Martin’s memoir, which follows the early days of his career and his rise to stardom.
I learned a lot from Martin’s book, including the first whopper, which I was shocked hadn’t been reported by any religion news or Christian media outlet since the book’s publication in 2007:
1) Steve Martin lost his virginity to a bestselling evangelical author.
I never wondered how the 78-year-old comedian lost his v-card either, but here we are, people. Tucked a third of the way into the book, Martin recalls losing his virginity to none other than Stormie Omartian, the conservative Christian author of more than 50 books that have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, including the bestselling book The Power of a Praying Wife.
In 2018, Omartian was named one of America’s “Top 25 Christian Nonfiction Authors” by Newsmax alongside evangelist Billy Graham, pastor Joel Osteen and “Duck Dynasty” stars Willie and Korie Robertson. But in the 1960s, she was an aspiring twentysomething actor performing alongside Martin in a theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park in Southern California. The pair fell in love, even dreaming of “a wedding in a lilac-covered dale.”
“If Stormie had said I would look good in a burgundy ball gown, I would have gone out and bought a burgundy ball gown,” Martin writes.
Before long, the young couple’s relationship became intimate.
“Finally, the inevitable happened. I was a late-blooming 18-year-old when I had my first sexual experience, involving a condom (swiped from my parents’ drawer), and the front seat of my car, whose windows became befogged with desire,” Martin wrote in the book, which was excerpted in The New Yorker.
The relationship ended when Stormie “painfully” moved to U.C.L.A. for college. Martin went on to attend Long Beach State where he majored in philosophy and enrolled in “Stormie-inspired courses in metaphysics, ethics, and logic.”
>SUBSCRIBE TO MY FREE NEWSLETTER: “THE FAITH & CULTURE 5”<
2) Success is always hard-won.
Icons like Martin seem to have been successful forever, but the book reminds readers that the road to realizing one’s dreams is always long and fraught. It’s a prescient reminder for those of us who feel we have not yet seen the fruit of our long professional labor.
As Martin writes, “I did stand-up comedy for eighteen years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success.”
3) Evaluation and refinement are essential to improvement in any field.
When it comes to a career like comedy, it’s easy to assume that the whole thing is based on natural inborn talent. Either you’re funny or you’re not, right? But Born Standing Up reminds us that getting better is a grueling process in any field. And it requires the intentional act of honestly evaluating and refining your work.
As Martin writes, “I studied where the big laughs were, learned how to get the small ones, and saw tiny nuances that the thing alive between lines.”
4) Perseverance is what sets the great ones apart.
When I teach writing workshops, I often say, “I’m not the most talented writer in the world, but I’ve outworked some of the most talented one.” The point is that I have persevered in my craft, year after year after year, when more talented writers have quit.
As Martin writes, “At age eighteen, I had absolutely no gifts. I could not sing or dance and the only acting I did was really just shouting. Thankfully, perseverance is a great substitute for talent.”
Martin’s book is chockfull of hilarious stories, poignant life lessons, and behind-the-curtain analysis about stand-up comedy. If you’re a fan of Martin or love comedy as an art form, grab a copy of Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. If you’re not into either, but you’re a woman who wants to learn how to pray for your traditional Christian family, try The Power of a Praying Wife.