Short post, because I’m on deadline today, but this is worth noting.

Sympatico/MSN has an item reporting that, in his forthcoming autobiography “Born Standing Up”, Martin reveals he was severely beaten by his father when he was just nine years old.

Credited only to “BANG Media”, and obviously rewritten from a press release, the item quotes Martin describing the incident at length — it sounds horrible, and I am in no way dismissing the trauma of child abuse — but then tries to reassure readers the book also offers plenty of the comedy:

The tell-all book, due to be published in December by Scribner, also contains amusing anecdotes from the “Roxanne” star’s life.

There’s also a bit about meeting Elvis.

Look, I think Martin was one of the greatest comics of his age, right up until he decided he was going to devote his energy to his writing, at which point he stopped caring about the movies he made and became a nigh-unwatchable hack.

That said, his writing really is quite good — “The Pleasure of My Company” is excellent, particularly in its audiobook version — so I look forward to this book, and will buy it the day it’s released.

It’s the marketing strategy that creeps me out. I have to hope he didn’t sign off on it; that’d be even more cynical than making “Cheaper By the Dozen 2”.