  Steve Martin in "The Pink Panther 2."
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NEW YORK -- Sometimes you read a book, and it's as if it's speaking directly to you.
Steve Martin apparently feels that way about Canadian Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, in which the careers of achievers from Bill Gates to The Beatles are compared, and he comes up with a common figure of 10,000 hours of "practice" before talent becomes success.
Martin's eyes light up when we mention the book in passing.
"I'm reading it right now," says Martin on the eve of the release of his 40th-or-so movie, The Pink Panther 2. "I wrote the editor, who edited my book, too (the autobiography Born Standing Up), and I said, 'It's uncanny!'
"It's definitely what I had, because I worked at the magic shop from age 15, eight hours a day, except when I had school. Then I went on to the Birdcage Theatre (at California's Knott's Berry Farm) and did four shows a day for three years. Then I just constantly did shows. It worked for me."
Such was the overnight success of Steve Martin, 63, who made his first Saturday Night Live host appearance on Oct. 23, 1976, and his record-setting 15th last night -- an episode in which he was both host and musical guest (performing material from The Crow, his new album of self-penned banjo tunes).
Asked to compare those two Steve Martins, the actor-writer-banjo player pauses and says, "Well, I have a quote I've carried around in my head, and I've never actually said it out loud until now: 'You can only be new once.'
"But I believe I've followed my heart, changing my interests. A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Why don't you do another of those crazy movies like you used to do?' " (Presumably meaning The Jerk or The Man With Two Brains or Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid).
"I secretly think, 'You only think you want it.' But if I did it, it'd be repeating myself. I've moved around and been a professional in my movie career."
Which brings him to mention The Pink Panther 2, a movie he seems to know won't be mentioned in the same breath with L.A. Story or Roxanne, or even Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
"But I'm really thrilled with it. It gives me an opportunity to do what I used to do -- physical comedy. The lines are bright. But I also like making films that might do for someone else what the comedies I watched did for me, which was really make me laugh."
Clearly, Martin doesn't stand on the untouchability of "the classics," reinterpreting -- with varying degrees of success -- the characters of Peter Sellers (The Pink Panther), Phil Silvers (Sgt. Bilko), Spencer Tracy (Father of the Bride) and Cyrano de Bergerac (Roxanne).
The Pink Panther's bumbling detective Inspector Clouseau "is a kind of classic character that Peter Sellers (created), fortunately for me ... But we have taken it somewhere else and not stolen anything ... It's like James Bond, a character other actors can play. Having said that, I realize I'm the fourth actor to play Clouseau. I keep thinking I'm the second, but I'm the fourth, and three of them were directed by Blake Edwards, the original director." (Nitpickers needn't chime in to correct Martin; counting cameos, he may arguably be the sixth).
Indeed, when it's mentioned at a news conference that a scene from the movie that's also in the trailers -- in which Clouseau impersonates the Pope and ends up hanging from the Vatican balcony after falling over -- is reminiscent of silent comic Harold Lloyd, Martin denies lifting any gags, but does suggest the past is there to be recycled.
"I was watching (the PBS series) Make 'Em Laugh, the episode with Charlie Chaplin, last night. And it really made me aware of what a pretender I am. We should go back and look at those films and evaluate those gags. There must be 100 great gags we could just take and no one would know."
Pink Panther 2 sees Martin return along with Jean Reno as Clouseau's faithful partner Ponton, and Emily Mortimer as his adoring assistant Nicole. (Clouseau's resentful boss, played by Kevin Kline previously, is played by John Cleese in the sequel).
When world-famous treasures, including the Pope's ring, the Shroud of Turin and, yes, the Pink Panther jewel are stolen by a thief called The Tornado, Clouseau joins an international "dream team" of detectives played by the likes of Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina and Bollywood superstarlet Aishwarya Rai.
The movie also sees Martin reunite with his All of Me co-star Lily Tomlin, with her role as a "sensitivity counsellor" who must cure him of his anachronistic attitudes toward women and minorities.
"It's strange what film does," he says. "The qualities of Inspector Clouseau -- pettiness, egocentricity, a lack of intelligence and bumbling -- in a film are lovable, but in life you would go, 'Get me out of here!' "
As for Tomlin, he says, "It was a delight. In show business, you can work with someone for three intense months 20 years ago, maybe see them in passing over the 20 years. But when you're finally back together, it's like you're finishing a sentence you started 20 years ago. We didn't need a warmup period."
Martin's oeuvre, admittedly, runs from high to low comedy, two novellas and a play (Picasso at the Lapin Agile). His experience with the movie of his novella Shopgirl (which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival) was not a happy one, he admits.
"I was actually quite frustrated by it," he says of the movie in which he co-starred with Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman. "That's personal between me and the director. We disagreed and I'm sure he would say the same thing.
"There's a movement afoot to get another novella I wrote, The Pleasure of My Company, to the screen. But I'm going to stay out of it this time. It's too heartbreaking. I would rather hand it over than be involved."
Which brings Martin to another difference between the SNL host of 22 years ago to today -- a humility he feels came to fruition during the writing of his autobiography.
"I don't want to brag, but I don't want to deny accomplishments either. Comedy makes you humble because there are so many opportunities to strike out."
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