Listen To The Stand-Up Routine That Is The Origin Of Woody Allen's Oscar-Winning 'Midnight In Paris' Script

One of the great fascinations for anyone who appreciates creative endeavors is, I think, the question about where stories come from. It's great to be able to link any given book, movie or what have you to one specific origin point. Doing so adds context to the story, and helps ground the whole creative process, which can seem so ethereal.

Circulating today is a bit of Woody Allen's stand-up comedy, originally documented on an LP in the '60s and most often heard via the collection Standup Comic. The interesting bit, aside from Allen's excellent delivery and sense of timing, is that this particular routine, 'Lost Generation,' is very obviously the first glimmer of what would become Midnight in Paris.

This routine has, obviously, been around for decades, so it isn't exactly news. It even circulated at a point last year when far fewer people had seen Midnight in Paris. But with that film having a much higher awareness level now in the wake of its long theatrical run and Allen's Oscar win, let's check out the mid-'60s stand-up story that was the seed for the film.

Here's the bit, via Nerdist:

For those who haven't seen Midnight in Paris, the scenario Allen is joking about with Hemingway and Gertrude Stein is a central aspect of the film. For those who have seen the movie, you'll know that this is only a part of the film, and that going from stand-up routine to film script is a lot more complicated than just fleshing out a couple of characters.