Be tasteless, rude and offensive,

Live in a swamp and be three-dimensional

Put a live chicken in your underwear,

Go into the closet and suck eggs.

MARTIN CONSTANTLY catches his audience off-guard. He offers a solution to the population problem--impose the death penalty for parking violations. He tells the audience what to do in uncomfortable situations. When someone asks you if you mind him smoking, simply reply, "No, mind if I fart? It's a habit I have."

Martin excels at story-telling. He strings the audience along and then delivers the devastating punch line. He tells a story about his depression:

I guess I miss my girlfriend. She's not living any more. I guess I kind of blame myself for her death. We were at a party one night and we weren't getting along-we were fighting and she began to drink and she ran out of the car and I followed her. I guess I didn't realize how much she had been drinking. She asked me to drive her home and I refused. We argued a bit further. She asked me again, 'Would you please drive me home?' I didn't want to--so I shot her. (Pause) With a shotgun. (Pause) Cut her right in half.

Much of "Let's Get Small" is very funny, but Martin could produce a much funnier album if he kept himself within the limitations of the medium. By cutting a record from a live performance that often relied on visual jokes, Martin has diminished the quality of his album.

Probably the larger question is, how long will Martin be around? Will it be possible for him to maintain the same type of absurd humor for the rest of his career? Hopefully his career will last long enough for him to make more albums that should improve as he learns what is effective in disc form.