Audience offered refunds after Steve Martin talk

His critics claim that Steve Martin stopped being funny sometime in the late 1980s, but now it seems the comedian isn't even interesting any more. This week the New York arts venue, 92nd Street Y, felt obliged to send the audience an apology and the promise of a refund after a particularly boring appearance by the actor.
 
Some 900 people forked out $50 a ticket to see Martin in conversation with his friend and journalist, Deborah Solomon, who writes for the New York Times Magazine, at the Manhattan cultural centre on Monday.
 
So uninspiring was their conversation about the art world, which is the subject of Martin's latest novel An Object of Beauty, that proceedings were halted when a member of the Y staff handed Solomon a note urging her to ask him more about his career.
 
The New York Times reports that the intervention was met with cheers from the audience, and the remainder of the hour-long show was taken up with Martin answering written questions from the floor about his career in films and television.
 
But even that didn't cut the mustard and executive director of the Y, Sol Adler, contacted the audience the following day by email telling them: "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." He also revealed that they would be sent a $50 voucher for future events at the venue.
 
Martin and Solomon were not best pleased by the Y's response.
 
Solomon blasted the venue saying: "I had no idea that the Y programmers wanted me to talk to Steve... on what it's like to host the Oscars or appear in 'It's Complicated' with Alec Baldwin.

"I think the Y, which is supposedly a champion of the arts, has behaved very crassly and is reinforcing the most philistine aspects of a culture that values celebrity and award shows over art."
 
Martin described the organisers as "discourteous" and added: "As for the Y's standard of excellence, it can't be that high because this is the second time I've appeared there." ·