I just watched his documentary on Apple TV, primarily because I knew nothing about him. I had enjoyed a great many of his films but that was the all of it.
I had a vague idea Steve Martin had once been a standup comedian, but the doco to me felt like a mockumentary, like a Spinal Tap.
To be fair, I had no idea that he invented the “excuuuuse me”, and I had never seen the head balloons or arrows through the head. These had escaped my teen years in NZ (and pretty much anywhere outside of the USA).
Watching archival material of his lame slapstick, obvious misunderstandings and weak absurdity – given that I enjoy Monty Python – I actually determined that this was a send-up. Nobody repeating the same crap performances for more than a decade (seemingly just repeating the same show) could possibly be so successful – including selling millions of albums.
To be fair, on retrospect, this was pre-internet and pre-VHS. Word-of-mouth was everything and seeing Martin on stage (or buying his LPs) were the only ways to experience him, aside from minor TV appearances. Cheech and Chong were similarly successful back then.
He may have captured a particular audience at a particular time, but from the doco footage I don’t rate Steve Martin at all.
I like the guy and from his movie-era onwards, I am a fan. As a person and as an artist.