Steve Martin has this funny theory spelled out with comic timing.

B次元官网网址淵ou kind of can always tell if someone hits a wall by their haircut,B次元官网网址� he says.

Pause.

B次元官网网址淎nd IB次元官网网址檒l explain what I mean.B次元官网网址�

Pause.

B次元官网网址淟ike if someone was doing really, really well in the B次元官网网址�70s, they keep their B次元官网网址�70s haircut. If they did well in the B次元官网网址�80s, if they keep their B次元官网网址�80s haircut. If theyB次元官网网址檙e moving along, their haircut changes.B次元官网网址�

Pause.

B次元官网网址淣ow, IB次元官网网址檝e had the same haircut forever.B次元官网网址�

And there goes the theory.

If MartinB次元官网网址檚 parted white hair B次元官网网址� its evolution more a matter of age than of style B次元官网网址� reflected his creative choices, it would have been an ongoing fashion show. Few have succeeded in so many art forms: standup comedy, movie acting, television acting, playwriting, novel writing, with time made throughout for banjo playing.

His passions now include cartoon captions, honed through a collaboration with the New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss, brought together at the recommendation of mutual friend and New Yorker art editor Fran莽oise Mouly.

B次元官网网址淪he calls me and says that she was having dinner with Steve Martin and he had some cartoon ideas and was I interested in drawing a couple of them up,B次元官网网址� Bliss said. B次元官网网址淲e started emailing back and forth and he sent me a couple of ideas B次元官网网址� one I remember was about a dog panhandling. And we both kind of laughed. There was that initial spark. It was fun.B次元官网网址�

Martin and Bliss spoke recently during an afternoon interview in midtown Manhattan, across the street from the New York Public LibraryB次元官网网址檚 main branch. Friendly for the past few years B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渇ive years agoB次元官网网址� was MartinB次元官网网址檚 favorite response when asked for any kind of timeline B次元官网网址� they have formed a professional kinship built upon MartinB次元官网网址檚 words, BlissB次元官网网址� images and a shared love for the satire and well-populated illustrations of Mad magazine.

They first worked together on the bestselling B次元官网网址淎 Wealth of Pigeons,B次元官网网址� published in 2020, and now have completed B次元官网网址淣umber One Is Walking.B次元官网网址�

The title is the premise for the kind of Hollywood joke Martin has mastered. The words refer to a given actorB次元官网网址檚 status on set (at least some sets): B次元官网网址淣umber one is walking,B次元官网网址� an assistant director might say to let others know of the lead actorB次元官网网址檚 whereabouts. Martin was B次元官网网址漀umber OneB次元官网网址� in B次元官网网址淭he Jerk,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淏owfinger,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淏ringing Down the HouseB次元官网网址� and others, only to be knocked back when he co-starred and Alec Baldwin in B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 Complicated.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淣umber three is walking,B次元官网网址� he heard.

Bliss says his greatest challenge for the book was to B次元官网网址減ut the fan away, and just listen to Steve tell the story.B次元官网网址� The first half of B次元官网网址淣umber One Is WalkingB次元官网网址� is a meta-movie scrapbook, with BlissB次元官网网址� sketches accompanying MartinB次元官网网址檚 memories of his film career and illustrating the making of the book.

A strip might begin with Bliss asking Martin about a specific project, such as B次元官网网址淩oxanne,B次元官网网址� or make light of which of the two is more famous.

B次元官网网址淪o, Harry, how did you get started cartooning?B次元官网网址� Martin is seen asking on one panel, looking out dispassionately from a loveseat, with Bliss in a wicker chair at his side.

B次元官网网址淲ell, I B次元官网网址�B次元官网网址� says Bliss, rising eagerly from his seat.

B次元官网网址淭hat reminds me,B次元官网网址� Martin interrupts, B次元官网网址渙f when I did the movie B次元官网网址楧irty Rotten Scoundrels.B次元官网网址滲次元官网网址�

Martin shares memories of such late friends as , and He offers a vivid account of meeting the original director for B次元官网网址淭he JerkB次元官网网址� (Reiner ended up with the job) and later his director when Martin and Williams starred in a 1988 stage production of B次元官网网址淲aiting for Godot.B次元官网网址� Nichols, Martin explained during the interview, was always the wittiest man in any gathering, B次元官网网址渢he Mike Nichols in the room, the number one wit.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 was very nervous to meet Mike Nichols,B次元官网网址� he recalled. B次元官网网址淎nd weB次元官网网址檙e going to walk to dinner. And itB次元官网网址檚 summer. And itB次元官网网址檚 New York, so weB次元官网网址檙e outside and itB次元官网网址檚 warm and I have no idea what to say to him.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淪o I say, B次元官网网址榃ow, this weather is great.B次元官网网址� And he said, B次元官网网址榊es, isnB次元官网网址檛 it ironic,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Martin continued.

The bookB次元官网网址檚 second half continues the kind of riffs Martin and Bliss created for B次元官网网址淎 Wealth of Pigeons.B次元官网网址� A given cartoon might begin with Martin emailing a funny caption B次元官网网址� sometimes in the middle of the night B次元官网网址� and Bliss devising the image to go with it.

For Bliss, the blessing and occasional burden of MartinB次元官网网址檚 captions is that they originate from the mind of, well, Steve Martin: B次元官网网址淲hy Euclid had no friends,B次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址淰arious entrances to the gates of hell,B次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址淭he Evolved Bee.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭here was a time when I actually thought, B次元官网网址榃hy canB次元官网网址檛 Steve do a simple (caption)?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Bliss said.

B次元官网网址淵ou didnB次元官网网址檛 like when I sent you an idea for 10,000 penguins coming down the Arctic slope,B次元官网网址� Martin said, adding that even as he felt guilty for some of his ideas, he believed that suggesting the seeming impossible brought out B次元官网网址淗arry at his best.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 when you kill,B次元官网网址� Martin said.

The pair may well work together again, although neither is ready to announce future plans. Bliss very much has a day job at The New Yorker and is otherwise happy to remain a cartoonist, and only a cartoonist.

B次元官网网址淚 am not that ambitious,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 really have no desire to do much else.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 read a book in college called B次元官网网址楾he Psychoanalytics of Art,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Martin observed. B次元官网网址淚t talked Picasso, who was constantly changing, constantly developing a new thing, and Chagall, who painted essentially the same things his whole life. ItB次元官网网址檚 just a different style.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 have this restless thing, (where IB次元官网网址檓 thinking) B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檝e got to keep changing,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� he added. B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 plan ahead. it just sort of happens.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擧illel Italie, The Associated Press