A Fish Called Becker
By Matt Levy
There is nothing that puts one more at ease than a truly gregarious, warm-hearted personality. The type of person that lights up a room with their entrance. The kind of person that you know has hours of name-droppy stories you can’t get enough of at the ready but is also willing to listen to what’s going on with you. A fearless leader and generous collaborator. A Steve Becker. Wait. Who is Steve Becker?
Let me tell you.
Steve and I met in a sketch-writing class in early 2018 and he quickly emerged as the group’s leader willing to help on other’s projects while crafting his own elaborate creation which brought clubbing to the skies aptly titled Club Airlines. The two of us became fast friends but there was still so much to learn about the seemingly selfless writer. Who was he?
Becker was born at the Fort Hood Army Base in Killeen, Texas as a result of his father having been drafted. He grew up in the northeastern part of the country in Brooklyn and Rhode Island. He now lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan but has also had homes in locales as diverse as LA, Brazil and Barcelona.
He is a New Yorker through and through though. His parents were both born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Both were children of Woodstock and bleeding heart far left liberals. In the Becker household, Cesar Chavez and Ralph Nader were “untouchable icons” as were Cat Stevens & Fleetwood Mac. They are now retired living on the Upper West Side near their son. When they were working, his mother was a professor at Brown University specializing in Cultural Anthropology with an emphasis on Brazil and his father was a Radical Journalist before he transitioned to a career as a community housing coordinator i.e. an anti-gentrifying agent. It should be noted that his father has supported Bernie Sanders since the 80s.
Growing up, Steve was a true fish out of water and that’s followed him his entire life. Still, he makes it look easy. As a teen, he was sort of a know it all New Yorker trapped in Rhode Island. He often went to the old Ocean State theater with his father to see as many silent comedies, Marx Brothers and Woody Allen films as they could. Obviously this is where his love of comedy was forged as evidenced by Becker’s sarcastic yearbook quote, “Knowledge is Good,” from the comedy classic Animal House. At school, he played varsity soccer, was a bit of a math geek, drove an ice cream truck, delivered newspapers, and was the only white guy working in a Chinese kitchen. His parents loved all the free leftover spare ribs and egg rolls.
Back in the States, a young Becker headed to upstate New York for a very frigid four-year undergrad stint in Syracuse. He described his time there as a “Colder, less hospitable purgatory.” Steve studied Architecture and Finance which led to Graduate school at NYU where he got his Masters in Real Estate while taking film classes on the side.
Becker recalls his favorite story of his from when he was a young, naive club kid in the City. He ran into what he thought was an Andy Warhol look-a-like which his friends later pointed out was the real Andy Warhol. He may or may not have said something about Andy’s movies being unwatchable. He also had a meaningful conversation with Nicholas Cage at a urinal after a heavy night of drinking.
This may or may not have led Steve to study writing and film production at The New School as well as comedy at UCB and The PIT. On top of all this, he took some classes in NYC and Rio to make himself more Brazilian. It worked.
Becker met his Brazilian wife, the owner of the skin care SpaZuzu in Rio de Janeiro. She makes a great sparring partner for Becker; just as droll and witty as he is but far better looking. She wanted to add that her husband is “Surprisingly neat and has cut down on his eye rolling.” Nothing makes Steve happier than his morning acai bowl with his wife on the beaches of Rio.
Fun fact: Once, Steve DJ’d under the name MC Blue Ballz on his birthday at a techno club in Rio. He introduced the concept of Jello shots to the guests that night which made him infamous. Still, to this day, the thought of downing another Jello shot “makes (his) knees wobble.”
The man has really lived and travelled all over the world and understands what it feels like to be a fish out of water, having to create a life from scratch better than anyone. As Steve put it, “Living overseas allows you to reinvent yourself. In NYC, Steve is a real estate developer. Overseas, he is an international man of mystery.”
The international man of mystery always found himself drawn to writing as a way to document his wild life story. He often did so through short stories and sketch. At first, he didn’t want to pursue writing as a career because he didn’t want to “prostitute his private pleasure”. Becker pointed out that, “The business of entertainment is a wee bit slimy” and by maintaining his outsider status, his passion for writing and creating is still intact and thriving. Artistically, his work is inspired by Aaron Sorkin, Denis Leary, Steven Wright and Dennis Miller so much so that “I tried to be a combo of Wright and Miller onstage.”
Even though he tries to not fully dive into show business, Becker has still directed a feature film and several TV pilots and/or web series. In fact, he says the highlight of his storied career thus far was the premiere of his first feature Manhattan Minutiae at a sold-out LA theater. The after party sounded like a checklist of your requisite LA get-together: B-list celebrities, reputable reviewers, Steve’s lesbian band (you need to see the film to understand that) and, of course, Jello shots. The film also played up Park City during Sundance though not in, you know, the actual Sundance Film Festival.
Becker was more than pleased with the project given his philosophy, “There’s the project you write, the project you shoot, and the project you edit. If 50% of your original script ends up in the final product, you did well.” He added, “What you dream about as a writer/director is capturing lightning in a bottle on set. Makes it all worthwhile. Well maybe not all, but it does give you a tingly feeling in your babymaker.”
These days, the humble and talented Becker and his wife are a block away from Central Park and live in a bright lofty apartment on the Upper West Side that his wife fell in love with at first sight. It’s also a perfect location for them to walk Pimento, their two-year-old Lhasa Apso.
While quarantining, Steve keeps himself busy working on multiple projects. His main priority at the moment is his production company Blue Carioca. Under the Blue Carioca umbrella, he’s about to release the second season of his webseries Brazzy Jazzy which can also be found on Instagram. Becker also just completed a one-hour pilot based on his feature Manhattan Minutiae which you can see on Amazon. On top of that, he’s developing three other pilots with producers in LA and Brazil. Finally, he’s planning on shooting a feature-length dark comedy based on his Rio experiences in Brazil later this year, virus permitting.
In five years, Steve sees himself spending his winters in his Rio home with his wife and Summers in NYC filming two to three projects a year. Wishfully thinking, he will be slightly taller. No matter what, he’ll still be the life of the party even if he’s a fish out of water.
That’s who Steve Becker is. I think he exceeds all expectations.
If you’re interested in checking out Steve’s unique tastes during quarantine, here’s a list of his favorite entertainment:
TV: Curb your Enthusiasm, Veep, Rescue Me.
Film: Blazing Saddles, Duck Soup, There’s Something About Mary (Filmed in Rhode Island).
Music: Bruce Springsteen, Pit Bull (check his photo, they’re twins) and Fleetwood Mac (programmed at childhood).
