Walk Like An Egyptian, Play Banjo Like A Musician

Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers played a raucous and hilarious set of bluegrass at the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival last night, and it was pretty much exactly as the show was billed: a night of comedy and bluegrass - not necessarily in that order, as you can imagine from the International Bluegrass Association's entertainers of the year.


Here are some of the highlights of the show for me - mostly the jokes Martin was making on stage, and boy, was he at the top of his game!

"These are the Steep Canyon Rangers - they're not so much my band as im their celebrity."
"That bass also doubles as a fridge!" (he later pulled a beer out of it!)
"As you can see, we do not have a drummer in our band, like many bluegrass bands, because in bluegrass the rhythm comes from the other instruments, like the banjo (plays a few chords). But the downside to traveling without a drummer...no pot!"
"Where can we buy this album?" "In the merchandise tent. What a coincidence."
"By the way, if you're not enjoying the show so far, you're wrong."
"If you're not enjoying the show, then ask yourself - what can i, as an audience member, bring to the show next time?"
"My bandmates and i, we always said, as soon as this stops being fun we'll stop." And the rest of the band immediately laid down their instruments and marched off stage.
"Religious people have such beautiful music and art, and atheists really have nothing - until now!" And proceeded to launch into the Atheist anthem, Atheists Dont Have No Songs, a rollicking little ditty celebrating atheist culture that was pure Martin-esque hilarity. Check it out:



Back to Martin's antics...

"Our next song is called...Angry Birds Level 7"
"All of you, help keep the minimum wage right where it is..."
"The Steep Canyon Rangers are undermining our relationship with all their passive-aggressive horseshit. Tweet."
"I hope you've enjoyed listening tonight as much as ive enjoyed finger-synching to the records played onstage."

Truly a comedic genius, that man. Keep it up, Steve. 

For another great review of the show check out jambands.ca.