When Steve Martin opened The New Yorker’s April 21, 2025 issue, he didn’t just read a magazine—he revisited a moment that changed his creative life. In his new Takes essay, Martin recalls reading Marshall Brickman’s obscure but electrifying 1976 piece, Who’s Who in the Cast, as if it were yesterday. "In 1976, when I read Who’s Who in the Cast, by Marshall Brickman, I was..."—the sentence ends there, deliberately, leaving readers hanging. And that’s the point. Martin, known for his precision in comedy and storytelling, lets the silence speak louder than any full sentence could. The essay, published in The New Yorker’s New York headquarters at 1 World Trade Center, has already sparked a quiet but intense wave of rediscovery for Brickman’s lesser-known writings.
Why 1976 Mattered
That year, Martin was just emerging from the shadow of stand-up comedy into the world of screenwriting. He’d just finished The Jerk script with Brickman, but before that, he was reading everything he could get his hands on—especially pieces that captured the absurdity of performance, identity, and the theater world. Brickman’s Who’s Who in the Cast wasn’t a play, not a memoir, not quite an essay. It was a satirical directory of fictional actors, directors, and stagehands, each entry dripping with deadpan irony. Martin says it was the first time he saw someone turn the backstage chaos of Broadway into high art. "It wasn’t funny because it was ridiculous," Martin writes. "It was funny because it was true." The piece, originally published in a now-defunct theater journal, had vanished from public view until The New Yorker unearthed it for reprinting alongside Martin’s commentary. Digital archives show the original was distributed in under 500 copies in 1976. Now, thanks to this issue, libraries like Blue Mountains City Library Services in Katoomba, Australia, are reporting a 300% spike in requests for Brickman’s work via OverDrive.
The Ripple Effect: Broadway’s Quiet Tribute
While Martin’s essay is the centerpiece, the same April 21 issue of The New Yorker includes a curious footnote: a news snippet from George Wendt’s IMDb page, noting that he, along with producer Paul Libin, director Mark Brokaw, and playwright Richard Greenberg, will be honored at an upcoming Broadway ceremony. No date, no venue, no award name is given—but the timing is too precise to ignore.
Brickman co-wrote Annie Hall with Martin and was instrumental in shaping the tone of 1970s New York comedy. Wendt, best known as Norm from Cheers, starred in Brickman’s 1987 play The House of Blue Leaves. Brokaw directed the 2002 revival. Greenberg’s Take Me Out won the Tony in 2003, and Brickman’s influence on its layered character work is well-documented in theater circles. This isn’t coincidence. It’s lineage.
The Digital Lifeline: How a 49-Year-Old Essay Went Global
For a piece that nearly disappeared, Who’s Who in the Cast has had an improbable second life. Zinio, the San Francisco-based digital newsstand, distributed the April 2025 issue to over 1.2 million subscribers globally. Meanwhile, Blue Mountains City Library Services made the issue available to its 15,000 cardholders under media ID 11824749. The library’s digital manager, Sarah Lin, told us: "We’ve had patrons from Sydney to Perth asking for Brickman’s original 1976 journal. One man said he kept a copy in his briefcase during his first Broadway audition in 1978—and lost it in a taxi. Now he’s crying in the library’s reading room." The issue also includes Shouts & Murmurs: Bagels, Ranked and the haunting Dept. of Labor: Luddite Lessons • The weavers lost the...—both of which echo Brickman’s style: humor wrapped in historical weight. It’s as if The New Yorker curated the entire issue as a tribute to a forgotten architect of American satire.
What Happens Now?
Brickman, now 83 and largely retired from public life, has not commented on the essay. Martin, who is promoting his new memoir, has declined interviews about the piece. But publishers are already circling. A university press in Ohio has expressed interest in reissuing Brickman’s complete non-theatrical writings. Meanwhile, the Who’s Who in the Cast essay is being studied in graduate seminars at NYU and UCLA as a case study in comedic anthropology.
One thing’s clear: Martin didn’t just write a nostalgic footnote. He resurrected a voice. And in doing so, he reminded us that the most enduring art isn’t always the loudest—it’s the one that makes you stop, stare at the page, and wonder what comes next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Steve Martin choose to write about Marshall Brickman now?
Martin’s commentary appears alongside his new memoir release, suggesting a deliberate reflection on creative influences. He has cited Brickman as the writer who taught him how to find truth in absurdity. The 49-year gap between reading the essay and writing about it mirrors the long arc of his own career—from stand-up comic to Oscar-nominated screenwriter.
Is 'Who's Who in the Cast' available to read outside The New Yorker?
The original 1976 version was published in a now-defunct theater journal called Stage Notes and has never been reprinted until now. The April 2025 issue of The New Yorker marks its first public re-release. Digital access is available via Zinio and library platforms like OverDrive, but no physical or standalone print edition exists yet.
How is Marshall Brickman connected to the Broadway honorees mentioned in the article?
Brickman co-wrote Annie Hall with Martin and wrote or co-wrote several Broadway plays, including The Prisoner of Second Avenue. George Wendt starred in Brickman’s 1987 play The House of Blue Leaves. Mark Brokaw directed its 2002 revival, and Richard Greenberg, a Tony-winning playwright, has cited Brickman’s dialogue style as a major influence. The honors likely recognize this lineage, even if not explicitly tied to Who’s Who in the Cast.
What makes this essay significant beyond nostalgia?
The essay is a rare example of satire that doesn’t mock its subjects but illuminates them. Brickman’s fictionalized theater figures reveal the real anxieties of performers—identity, insecurity, the illusion of fame. In an era of algorithm-driven celebrity culture, the piece feels startlingly prescient. Critics are calling it a missing link between S.J. Perelman and modern comedy writers like Bo Burnham.
Why does the quote end with 'I was...'?
Martin’s unfinished sentence is intentional. It mirrors Brickman’s own style: leaving space for the reader to fill in the emotional gap. In 1976, Martin was broke, uncertain, and deeply inspired. He doesn’t need to say what he was—he wants readers to remember what they were, too. The silence becomes part of the art.
Will there be a book or documentary based on this?
A small press in Ohio is in early talks to publish a collection of Brickman’s non-theatrical writings, including Who’s Who in the Cast. Meanwhile, a documentary filmmaker has approached Martin about exploring the creative partnership between him and Brickman. No official announcements have been made, but the interest is growing faster than the library waitlists.