A Wild and Crazy Guy

Infobox Album | Name = A Wild and Crazy Guy
Type = Album
Artist = Steve Martin


Released = 1978
Recorded = 1978
The Boardinghouse,
San Francisco, CA
Red Rocks Amphitheatre,
Denver, CO
Genre = Comedy
Length = 39:28
Label = Warner Bros. Records
Producer = William E. McEuen
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fm2zefuk8gf2 link]
Last album = "Let's Get Small"
(1977)
This album = "A Wild and Crazy Guy"
(1978)
Next album = "Comedy Is Not Pretty!"
(1979)

"A Wild and Crazy Guy" (1978) was Steve Martin's second album and greatest success on record. It reached number two on a Billboard's Pop Albums Chart, which is traditionally dominated by music. The album was eventually certified double platinum.

It contains the hit novelty single "King Tut", which Martin also performed on "Saturday Night Live". It also has Martin revealing his 'real' name (due to the myth that his real name wasn't "Steve Martin"), which he admits is the sound of him flipping his lips.

The album was released just as his celebrity status grew and the format reflects this. The first half of the album was performed in front of a small audience at The Boardinghouse in San Francisco, California, where his previous album had been recorded. The second half of the album was performed at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The switchover between venues is handled in a clever segue in the opening minute of the track "A Wild and Crazy Guy" which opened Side Two of the original vinyl long-player - Steve reads a bogus financial disclosure report to the audience at The Boardinghouse nightclub, and when he gets to calculating concert revenues he reveals his desire to make over $2 million on a single show; the audience reaction quickly segues from the enclosed intimacy of The Boardinghouse to the far more raucous open amphitheatre of Red Rocks near Denver.

Martin reprises his role as one of the Festrunk Brothers (a role he'd popularized on Saturday Night Live) on two tracks - the second half of "A Wild and Crazy Guy" and "You Naive Americans."

This album won the Grammy Award in 1979 for Best Comedy Album.

Track listing

#"I'm Feelin' It" – 5:32
#"Philosophy/Religion/College/Language" – 10:22
#"Creativity in Action/I'm in the Mood for Love" – 2:25
#"A Wild and Crazy Guy" – 7:01
#"A Charitable Kind of Guy" – 1:38
#"An Exposé" – 2:54
#"Cat Handcuffs" – 1:41
#"You Naive Americans" – 2:00
#"My Real Name" – 2:22
#"King Tut" – 3:39