Four banjos stood propped on stage Sunday night at Virginia Tech’s Burruss Auditorium .

That’s a lot of banjos, even for a bluegrass show, and for a hardcore 'grasser, the sight was a joke waiting to happen.

Steve Martin had some.

A few songs into his set with Steep Canyon Rangers, Martin referenced his instruments, noting that people wonder why there are so many.

“It’s an ego thing,” he said, adding that he thinks of all of his banjos as children, “which means that one of them probably isn’t mine.”

Martin, whose entertainment career began in the 1970s with stand up comedy, kept the jokes rolling all night. But he kept the Scruggs- and clawhammer-style string work rolling, too. He’s an actor, author and art collector who has played banjo since he was a teenager. And of course, he turned his often ironic, often straight-up goofy humor on himself and the instrument.

Introducing “Daddy Played The Banjo,” from his Grammy-winning debut bluegrass CD “The Crow,” he told the crowd of 2,800 in the sold-out venue that he co-wrote the song with Earl Scruggs’ son Gary Scruggs. The elder Scruggs, who died last March, was “the most influential banjo player,” Martin said.

“Now that he’s gone, I guess that … makes … me … ” he said, his voice trailing off as he looked at the Rangers for approval.

His backing band, game for all the shenanigans, recently won its own bluegrass album Grammy, for last year’s “Nobody Knows You.” Introducing the band, Martin told the crowd that they met at a party in North Carolina.

“And that’s the true story,” he said. “But that doesn’t work in Hollywood. In Hollywood, I tell people that we met in rehab. And we probably will one day.”

It is easy to fill this space with his jokes. For sure, Martin retains the timing, delivery and body English that made him such a stand up success. He had the crowd breaking up with just about everything he said from jump to encore.

“Encore is a French word that means, ‘We’re not satisfied. Come back. We demand that you do more, so we can get our money’s worth,’ ” he said.

It’s like those French have a different word for everything.

But the guy can write bluegrass songs, too. The set was full of music from “The Crow” as well as the Grammy-nominated disc he made with Steep Canyon Rangers, “Rare Bird Alert.” Martin, master of many crafts, wrote most of them — including “The Great Remember,” which he clawhammered flawlessly, and “Atheists Ain’t Got No Songs,” hilarious in a cappella .

The Rangers, with smooth, strong lead vocal work from Woody Platt, seamless four-part harmonies and the fiddle work of a master, Nicky Sanders , were a wonderful complement.

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