Let's Get Small

Infobox Album | Name = Let's Get Small
Type = Album
Artist = Steve Martin


Released = 1977
Recorded = 1977
The Boardinghouse, San Francisco, California
Genre = Comedy
Length = 38:10
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:ac6jtr5qkl4x link]
Last album =
This album = "Let's Get Small"
(1977)
Next album = "A Wild and Crazy Guy"
(1978)

"Let’s Get Small" (1977) was Steve Martin's first album, and a major success. It included "Excuse Me", a comedy bit whose title went on to become a national catch phrase. The album went platinum and peaked at #10 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart, which is traditionally dominated by music.

This album won the Grammy Award in 1978 for Best Comedy Album.

Some of Martin's bits were dependent on visual demonstration, such as when he dances as a Vegas pop singer on the track "Las Vegas" and also during the "Let's Get Small" track where he discusses getting small while driving - here he mimed driving a car while being so short as to barely reach the bottom of the steering wheel. Martin had debuted this particular bit in a 1976 appearance on Saturday Night Live.

The album cover shows Martin wearing balloon animals, which were a staple of his live act; he made balloon animals on some of his Saturday Night Live appearances as well as his guest appearance on The Muppet Show.

Track listing

#“Ramblin' Man/Theme from Ramblin' Man" – 2:14
#“Vegas" – 5:45
#“Let's Get Small" – 13:34
#“Smoking" – 2:10
#“One Way to Leave Your Lover" – 1:33
#“Mad at My Mother" – 1:22
#"Excuse Me" – 2:32
#"Grandmother's Song" – 3:33
#"Funny Comedy Gags" – 3:05
#"Closing" – 2:02

Excerpts

An excerpt from the title cut::I'm on drugs. I'm, uh, I mean, you know what it is. What's the deal, man? I like to get small. It's a wild, wild drug. Very dangerous for kids though, because they get really small. I know I shouldn't get small when I'm drivin', but, uh, I was drivin' around the other day, you know *whistles tunefully* and a cop pulls me over. And he goes, ‘Hey, are you small?’ I said, ‘No, I'm tall, I'm tall.’ He said, 'Well, I'm gonna have to measure you.' They've got a little test they give you; it's a balloon, and if you can get inside of it, they know... you're small. And they can't put you in a regular cell either, because you walk right out.

Inside the unfolded album cover was printed an excerpt from his book "Cruel Shoes"::He lit the cigarette and smoked it down to the filter in one breath. He silently thanked the cigarette company for being thoughtful enough about his health to include a filter to protect him. So he lit up another. This time he didn't exhale the squeaky-clean filtered smoke, but just let it nestle in his lungs, filling his body with that good menthol flavor. Some more smokers knocked on his door and they came in and all started smoking along with him.:"How wonderful it is that we're all smoking," he thought.:Everyone smoked and smoked and after they smoked they all talked about smoking and how nice it was that they were all smokers and then they smoked some more.