Steve Martin Didn't Wear Arrow Through Head At 92nd St Y!

I want to fucking talk about fucking art right fucking now.

On Monday night, a sold-out crowd at the 92nd Street Y paid $50 a pop to watch Steve Martin talk with NY Times columnist Deborah Solomon about his new novel, which concerns an "ambitious young art dealer" in NYC. Anyone willing to pay $50 to watch Martin chitchat probably knows that he's an avid art collector, but the Times reports that when the conversation lingered too long on boring old art, a "Y representative" handed Solomon a note asking her to cut the artsy fartsy crap and talk about Martin's movie career. For fifty bucks, couldn't he at least do some of that "wild and crazy guys" stuff from SNL? Dance, monkey! But now everybody's offended, and Solomon dropped the "ph"-bomb!

"The Y never told me what they wanted," Solomon tells the Times. "Frankly, you would think that an audience in New York, at the 92nd Street Y, would be interested in hearing about art and artists. I had no idea that the Y programmers wanted me to talk to Steve instead on what it’s like to host the Oscars or appear in It’s Complicated with Alec Baldwin. I think the Y, which is supposedly a champion of the arts, has behaved very crassly and is reinforcing the most philistine aspects of a culture that values celebrity and award shows over art." Call us lowbrow, but we would have loved to hear Martin dish on working up close and personal with Mr. Alec Baldwin. We bet he smells like roasted almonds and peppercorn! And what about that race for a taxi with Kevin Bacon in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? Did they have to do a lot of takes to get that right?

The Y has offered full refunds to all 900 audience members in attendance, and says viewers watching the interview by closed-circuit television from across the country sent e-mails to the Y complaining "that the evening was not going the way they wished, meaning we were discussing art." Solomon read the note out loud, and Martin described the experience as "a little like an actor responding in Act III to an audience’s texts to 'shorten the soliloquies.' " (Tweeting from the event, Newsweek's COO Joseph Galarneau reports that the "audience almost hissing." And later: "Wasn't issue of Solomon not pandering to People mag crowd. She was boorish, blundering, unperceptive & obscure.")

After it was all over, the Y's director sent an e-mail all ticket holders apologizing for an event which "did not meet the standard of excellence that you have come to expect." Martin calls that reaction "discourteous," adding, "As for the Y’s standard of excellence, it can’t be that high because this is the second time I’ve appeared there." (On his Twitter, he's a little less funny, a little more indignant.)

The critical reaction to Solomon is pretty negative. Martin Schneider at Em Dashes says, "It took only a few minutes for Solomon to alienate the audience thoroughly. Solomon's strategy was to treat the event like a book report, covering, almost chapter by chapter, Martin's new novel... As Martin pointed out, it was wise to assume that the percentage of spectators who had read the book, published only a few days earlier, was 'zero,' making in-depth discussion of the characters' foibles something less than the optimal plan." And an audience member commenting on the Y's blog was even harsher: "Ms. Solomon demonstrated a truly rare ability - she turned an hour of conversation with one of the funniest people on the planet into an uncomfortable and misdirected bore."

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By John Del Signore in Arts & Entertainment on December 2, 2010 9:40 AM

Comments [rss]

Pizza1

First of all, he should put that allow back on his head to bring down the swelling! Second, he should move to France and set up housekeeping with Jerry Lewis, where all formerly HILARIOUS comedians turned pseudo-intellectuals are richly appreciated. Thank goodness he's not managing the Marx Brothers..... he'd have them doing Shakespeare!!!

Pizza1

First, he should put the arrow back on his head, maybe that will bring down the swelling. Next, he should pack his bags, and set up housekeeping with Jerry Lewis in France!!!

langleycollyer

So you found my intellectual discourse on the subjective nature of truth and beauty too recondite and didactic? Well, EXCUUUUUUUUUSE MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jimbo853okg

LOL

Jimbo853okg

potsmoker - I really don't think it's that simple. The 92nd Street Y audience doesn't expect "greatest hits."

It sounds like the interviewer didn't know how to draw the audience in to the story of how a successful comic actor got drawn into art collecting. Instead, she probably just used the book as a tool.

I'll acknowledge that I'm biased, though. I really hate Solomon's "Questions For" column.

I think Martin would have done better on his own, or maybe with someone like NPR's Terry Gross.

potsmoker

i read the dry version of the article in the times, $50 to hear him say IM A WIIIL AND CRAAAZY GGGGUY,,,ahha. thats like watching a peter weller history show and complaining that he isnt doing a robocop impersonation?! people are dumb.

zincink

I still want to read the book...I guess the people wanted MOAR..they really went above an beyond to offer a refund, that was nice of them..
I enjoyed the Charlie Rose interview..

Mordicai

My initial reaction was, of course, "You freaking unbelievable rubes, he wrote a book about art, he's going to talk about art." The increasing coverage is making it sound like Solomon really was a snooze. Still, a refund? That sounds like a bit much.

JimboGold853OKG

The real problem here isn't Martin, but Deborah Solomon. Calling her hosts crass and philistine is effectively saying the same thing to the audience that paid $50 to see this drivel.

Still, I'm not surprised. Solomon manages to do this every week in her incredibly obtuse and awful one-page NY Times Magazine column. There, she manages the rare feat of making truly interesting and accomplished people sound like superficial starlets and reality show contestants.

Which leads to a question we all should ask NY Times public editor Arthur Brisbane-- what qualifies Solomon for such a job?

Without a credible answer, perhaps she has provocative digital images of Sulzberger with that infamous stuffed moose of his?