Steve Martin was born in Waco, Texas, on August 14, 1945. In 1955, his family moved to Southern California. After completing high school, Martin attended California State University at Long Beach and the University of California at Los Angeles. He eventually chose philosophy as his major. Martin later changed his major to theater arts, but he did not complete this degree either. Instead, Martin left school in 1968 to write for a television comedy show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Entertainment had been an abiding interest for Martin, since he worked as an actor and magician both in high school and during his college years.

Although Martin was well paid for his writing work, and even won an Emmy award in 1969 for his writing, his ambition was to be a headlining comic in his own right. For this reason, he continued to hone his comic persona in nightclub acts and...