Steve Martin has a wistful piece in the October 29 New Yorker looking back at the origins of his career in comedy. It progresses through his first employment at Knott’s Berry Farm through the “avant-garde” excitement of the 1960s, complete with stops to lose his virginity, date Dalton Trumbo’s daughter (setting up the article’s hardest-hitting joke), and develop his theory of humor. It is infused throughout with the presence of a young man who was older than his age, and an older man struggling with the passage of time.

Only the abstract is available online, but comedy fans should try to track down the piece in print.