92nd Street Y Blasts Steve Martin Event, Wishes He Played His Old Stuff

A 92nd Street Y event with Steve Martin was interrupted on Monday night when interviewer Deborah Solomon was handed a note, which she read aloud, asking her to focus more on Martin's career. Apparently, the note was in response to angry e-mails from viewers watching on closed-circuit TVs who felt that the presentation focused too much on the art world, which is the setting Martin's latest novel, The Object of Beauty. Besides interrupting the interview, the 92nd Street Y has sent an email apologizing and offering all who were unsatisfied a $50 gift certificate refund. Both Solomon and Martin himself have condemned this move as unnecessary and disrespectful, and frankly, it looks as though they're right.

The entire message that the 92nd Street Y sent is a bit staggering in how much the organization criticizes the event:

"We acknowledge that last night's event with Steve Martin did not meet the standard of excellence that you have come to expect from 92nd St. Y," [Sol Alder, executive director of the Y] wrote in an e-mail to ticket holders. "We planned for a more comprehensive discussion and we, too, were disappointed with the evening. We will be mailing you a $50 certificate for each ticket you purchased to last night's event. The gift certificate can be used toward future 92Y events, pending availability."

Martin compared receiving the note mid-interview to "an actor responding in Act III to an audience's texts to 'shorten the soliloquies.'" Solomon, who Martin had requested to conduct the interview, said she was given no instructions and that she chose to focus on the art world since it "seemed most timely and interesting."

There's been a long history of audiences lashing out against entertainers who didn't give them what they came to see. There was that Neil Young tour in the 80s where audiences who just wanted to hear "Cowgirl in the Sand" got an electro-music experiment instead. Woody Allen thought he had made the best film of his career when he finished Stardust Memories, only to have it torn apart by American audiences who thought he was being hostile towards them. And a number of people probably still feel like Dave Chappelle owes them more TV.

I'll admit that Solomon's assumption about the art world as a key subject of interest is a bit disingenuous, but the way I see it, if you're going to see an event involving anyone creative or dynamic, part of the gamble in buying a ticket is not knowing what to expect. You go see an entertainer like Martin in hopes of finding out more about him, not hoping that he will conform to exactly what you think you already know.

Honestly, those looking for assured hits or popular talking points should go to a Kiss concert or a public speaking engagement with a politician. Sometimes shows from unpredictable performers blow away your expectations and sometimes they are total letdowns, but that's part of the reason you go. Had Martin himself been unhappy with the interview, it may be a different story, but he, too, has blasted the organization, calling their response discourteous and 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." Burn. And win.

·Comedian Conversation Falls Flat at 92nd Street Y [New York Times]