About Steve :: Actor ::
Guest Appearance 
Aspen Comedy Festival 2003

 Every year in Aspen, Colorado, funny people from around the world meet to discuss the biz, honor their own, and just plain perform at the US Comedy Arts Festival.  Steve goes pretty much every year, and every year he is one of the participants.

In 2003, he hosted a a new feature, an awards show for comedy films.
 

    
    The Daily News of Los Angeles
December 27, 2002 Friday, Valley Edition
U; Pg. U2
TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS
Elizabeth Snead

LAUGHING WITH THE BEST: Hey, what's so funny?  That's what we'll find out at the Comedy Film Honors held during the ninth annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., from Feb. 26 through March 2. The new awards show was announced last week by Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Jay Roach at an HBO-sponsored cocktail party at Spago in Beverly Hills. After an announcer thanked the trio of comedians, he listed the upcoming awards categories. "Best studio comedy film ..." he began, as Martin stepped forward as if to accept an award, then backed off, faux-embarrassed, to much laughter. The other contest categories will be best independent comedy film, best comedy film by a newcomer and an audience award to be voted on by the online readers of Entertainment Weekly magazine.

"Hopefully, it will be a sensible, relaxed kind of evening," said Crystal, "like the way the Oscars started out, a nice dinner and a good time. I think it's a really good way to honor our own - and comedies always tend to get overlooked at awards time. It's the beginning of a potentially bigger thing down the road."

Both Crystal and Martin have hosted the Oscars in the past, and Martin is doing the duty in 2003. Does that mean Crystal will take up the master of ceremonies task for the Comedy Film Honors, which will be televised on HBO? "Well, I turned it down, and Steve said he'd do it," Crystal said with a grin. "Whoever is there, I'm sure we will all get up and do something to honor those of us who made funny movies last year.

Roach, director of the hilarious "Austin Powers" trilogy, was thrilled just to be in the company of his heroes, Martin and Crystal. He's never been to Aspen but says he's looking forward to going.

"I've heard the Aspen comedy festival is really fun. The comedy club is a tight-knit fraternity. They all know each other and cross-pollinate each other. This new awards show is a great excuse for us to get together, point fingers at each other and say, "Hey, that was funny! You're good at this!"

But Roach's presence depends on his TV shooting schedule. That's right, TV. Roach has signed on to direct a new TV comedy series written by Mike White ("The Good Girl," "Orange County," "Chuck and Buck"). It's about a well-meaning psychology student who moves into a Beverly Hills guest house owned by this on-the-surface normal but really incredibly dysfunctional family whose members are all on the verge of cracking up. 		   
 
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