In his films, Steve Martin frequently plays, well, idiots. Imbeciles. Morons. He seemed like a logical replacement for Peter Sellers as Inspector Closeau, after all, and made his name playing similarly slapstick roles in the likes of The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. All of that was parleyed from his stand-up career, which was full of absurdity and non-sequiturs written by the man himself. Martin since wrote a partial autobiography, Born Standing Up, which examines his life from birth right up until his retirement from the stage for the screen. It was a lucid and eloquent book, frequently funny, but also surprisingly insightful. So perhaps it wouldn't be a surprise if you knew that, whilst he was doing all these ridiculous comedy parts, Martin was also writing some Raymond Carver-esque literary fiction. And that literary fiction was actually pretty good! In fact Martin starred in an adaptation of one of his books, Shopgirl, about a complex love triangle between a bored salesgirl, a wealthy businessman, and an aimless young man. Except it's pretty straight-faced and sad. Martin isn't quite the stereotypical crying clown, but his vanity project is certainly more serious and successful than most.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
