[Steve Martin's] jokes are funny—not just funny but, you know, different, weird, "out there." Like his description of all the world's religions: "And the fourteen invisible people came down from the sky with the magic rings that only Biff could read."

Sometimes they're shocking: "Not too many people smoking out there tonight, that's pretty good; it doesn't bother me when I'm in a sleazy nightclub like this, 'cause I'm used to it, but if I'm in a restaurant, and somebody says (low moron voice, sort of like [Red] Skelton's Clem Kadiddlehopper), 'Hey, mind if I smoke?' I'll say (righteous but cool, like a salesman), 'Uh, no, do you mind if I fart?"…

Sometimes they seem to con the audience, with a little sting at the end….

Sometimes they're highly structured, like a whole routine that parodies a common theme by substituting one word….

Sometimes they're totally...