But most of all, Martin parodied the whole idea of a comedian standing on stage telling jokes. Playing the part of a "wild and crazy guy," he became one of the most notable stand-up comics of the decade. His first two comedy albums won Grammy awards and sold millions of copies; he scored a hit single with the absurd song "King Tut"; and the book
Cruel Shoes, his collection of humorous sketches, was a national bestseller. By 1979 Martin had graduated to films, making the box-office smash
The Jerk and following with a string of other films throughout the 1980s. His performance in 1984's
All of Me earned popular acclaim as well as awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle.
Roxanne showed him capable of touching character portrayals, while
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles gave Martin the chance to play the straight man. Over the course of two decades Martin "evolved from a coolly absurdist stand-up comic to a fully formed, amazingly nimble comic actor," noted Janet Maslin in the
New York Times. In the 1990s Martin's evolution continued.
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