Tl;dr: Steve Martin responds to fans with a template. It’s smart
As a celebrity, you reach a certain point when it gets hard to stay connected with your fans. It is just too much to manage.
So do you red pill and ignore everyone or do you blue pill and figure out how to stay personal?
Steve Martin found a quick way to templatize responding in “A personal letter from Steve Martin,” a form letter in which just a few words were personalised for each recipient, which was hilarious precisely for that reason.
This example was sent to a 17 year old Jerry Carlson in 1979 the year The Jerk was released.
A personal letter from Steve Martin
Transcript
The Aspen Companies
Aspen Film Society
Aspen Recording Society
Aspen Merchandising
Aspen Artist Management
A PERSONAL LETTER FROM STEVE MARTIN
DEAR Jerry,
WHAT A PLEASURE IT WAS TO RECEIVE A LETTER FROM YOU. ALTHOUGH MY SCHEDULE IS VERY BUSY, I DECIDED TO TAKE TIME OUT TO WRITE YOU A PERSONAL REPLY.
TOO OFTEN PERFORMERS LOSE CONTACT WITH THEIR AUDIENCE AND BEGIN TO TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED, BUT I DON’T THINK THAT WILL EVER HAPPEN TO ME, WILL IT Jerry? I DON’T KNOW WHEN I’LL BE APPEARING CLOSE TO YOU, BUT KEEP THAT EXTRA BUNK MADE UP IN CASE I GET TO Flint.
SINCERELY,
(Signed, ‘Steve Martin’)
STEVE MARTIN
P.S. I’LL ALWAYS CHERISH THAT AFTERNOON WE SPENT TOGETHER IN RIO, WALKING ALONG THE BEACH, LOOKING AT rocks.
You can read the rest of the memo collection here.