Martin Short
Appearances
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, no, I was definitely the cheap amigo. I was the, you know, Carrot Top had said, let me think about it.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Well, no, it was gonna be Steve and Chevy. They were the, I think the original, wasn't it John Candy? I think it was John Belushi.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
I had done a piece on SCTV called the idea that Jackie Rogers Sr. had been killed shooting a special called Old Mother Nature, She Loves Me. And he was attacked by a cougar and killed. And it had been on the show for 11 years. And then they were going to air it. But at the end, I needed someone to pop on and say, I miss my dad. I hope you won't. Thursdays at 7.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
And I'd seen a picture of Mickey Rooney Jr. who looked albino. So I made him albino. Okay, got it.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Old Mother Nature, she loves me. It was killed by a rogue cougar. Yeah, there'd be a scene with me singing to a squirrel, pardon me, miss, but I've never done this with a real live squirrel. But then you saw a cougar lurking, and he attacked me and killed me.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, I mean, I think it happens when you're working together. I mean, sometimes, as we all know, you do, you know, you're in Romania with a group of people for three months and you make a film and then you never, ever see them again. But with Steve, I thought, no, I want to keep this going. So we would do Amigo at dinners, and go ahead.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Yeah, we did. But that's not, I think the point of it is- What was it? No, no. We did Prince of Egypt. Father of the Bride 2. Oh yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah. And the scenes that were cut from Schindler's.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, no, no, but Steve, Steve, Father of the Bride was five years after Three Amigos. We continued to be great friends. Yes, that's true.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, you know, Steve was a massive movie star, and I was just kind of... there, you know? So he was, while he was doing Roxanne, I was, you know, doing the love boat reunion or something. So it wasn't always equal. And I think it was, as Steve said, it just so happened that we were both cast in Father of the Bride and the Father of the Bride II and then other things.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
But it wasn't until around 2011 that we were asked to interview each other on stage for the closing of the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Chicago. And that was successful. And that evolved into our live show.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, you know, it seems like way more work than it is. It really is, because we'll do maybe four shows, and then we won't do it again for two weeks.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
And they are fun, and then we, I mean, Steve and I will then, you know, have a glass of wine afterwards and discuss the show, and everyone kind of loves each other, because we have the Steep Canyon Rangers, and we have Jeff Babco, my piano guy, and everyone, and the stage manager, it's all become very close, so it's fun.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Well, you mean different titles. I mean, but we keep changing the material all the time.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
And do you regret it? And what were you thinking? No, I think it wasn't until I joined Second City in Toronto that I... started to develop characters and realized that I could improvise and all that stuff. But up until then, I thought I wanted to be Sinatra. Frank Jr., oddly enough, not the father. And I wanted to... LAUGHTER And I used to, you know, I used to do musicals and I would do plays.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Is that true? Oh, yeah. You know, the hungry lion in Hamilton. No, I grew up in a very funny family. My brother Michael has won many Emmys and awards for writing everything from SCTV to Schitt's Creek. So he was the eldest, and it was a very funny family. My father was funny. So it was kind of natural to be funny, but I never thought of it as something I would do until later on.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
In fact, whenever Steve plays the banjo. I've won Grammys playing the banjo. You've won many Grammys, Steve, haven't you? Playing the banjo, yeah. Whenever Steve plays the banjo, I like to just close my eyes and pretend I'm on hold with Cracker Barrel.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Yeah, I know, you've mentioned, I hear, I listen to Smart List all the time and I always hear, you've said many times, I'm busy. I'm very busy. I'm just not sure at what. Yeah, I'm busy. At what country.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
I mean, I just kind of... It's like... It's work and you've got to prepare. I just don't want to go out and fail and feel it was my fault.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
So if I send in, you know, 15 pages and then I go out with Kimmel or Letterman or Fallon or whoever and they're off or I'm a little off, but if I go out gunning for bear, I feel like whatever happens, I can still toast myself because I did everything I could do.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
You should toast yourself. You know what? I should. I should. I mean, I got the lighting.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
The first talk show I ever did was in 1982 on Letterman. And I kept thinking, what do I do? Like the same thing you're saying, Jason. What do I talk about? What do I think about? And then I realized, oh, I get it.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
It's like being at a dinner party where everyone's had some drinks and you're kind of on and telling stories, but somehow you have to lift that six minutes because you don't have the hour and a half ramp.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
But all the hosts vary. I mean, you know, sometimes you go... Yeah, some of them go right off. But when I would do Letterman, I swear he would hit one quarter of what I'd prepared. Right. One time he said, tell the Tony Randall story. And I said, I was on two months ago and told the Tony Randall story, Dave. He said, I don't care. Tell it again. You know what I mean?
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Steve lives in New York. I rent in New York. But you rent while we're shooting. You don't live in New York. That is correct, sir.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Well, I mean, that's the thing. It's great that it's shot in New York. It feels 100% like a New York show.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Well, I still wasn't sure. I was saying, okay, maybe a female, but what about Kathie Lee Gifford? She's a local hire.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, there's going to be one. Oh, really? Lawrence Kasdan, the legendary director, is doing it for Imagine. Really? Wow, great. Have you been shooting it? No, no, no. They're just, again, accumulating stuff. Yeah, well, that's going to take years.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
I go to New York in about two weeks for, you know, we start shooting.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Yeah. A new season, I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll shoot a couple days in L.A. and then the bulk of it in New York. Okay, got it.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
And I would say that it is definitely Steve's philosophy, my philosophy, and it turned out, luckily, Selena's philosophy to make the set as much fun and joyful as it can be. So there are no pricks allowed. And so it's fun to go to work.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
underneath him, and then we cut back to the present time. The funniest joke of that, though, was when I'm being carried by Dragon, his name was, and I say, to the nuts! To the nuts! And he puts me at Jason's crotch. And against his crotch, I'm going, bridge mix! I want bridge mix!
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
There you go. Oh, he uses that a lot. Then I had to give you one note. I just said, you know, it's a comedic kiss. We don't need the tongue.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
And I remember I was on one of the early shows, and you didn't even have a title yet. That's correct. And I suggested the McGuire sisters. You did. Didn't clear. We got so close. We got so close with that.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, it's so lovely, Sean. That's why you are so lovely, because you are 100% human being.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Likewise. And he's got great taste. You guys are the best. Thanks, you guys.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Thank you. Brilliant show. Love have heard everyone. Love your show. Thank you. Bye-bye. Love you. Bye, guys. Thank you, guys. Bye.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Yeah. And by the way, four times 52 is like 85. It's 80. It's in the 80s. Okay, okay.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
It's, and I don't mean this negatively. This is going to hurt. No, it's not going to hurt. It's so obvious. Right. Like, we've been reviewed that way so many times that we expect more from our audience.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, we've had many different titles. One of my favorite was Two for the Price of Three.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
You know what? Have you ever heard of the word combo? You must admit, I look, you know, I am so angry by the press when they keep saying the word timeless. And I think I have to live up to it on some level.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Well, you know, I didn't get much from that book about Liberace, but I got a few pointers. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
You know what? This is going to ring ten times. Because it's like having a little... Well, it's a good location for your audio stuff. You know what? We should have removed it.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
No, no, no. But keep talking. But just remember, it's not 9 o'clock. It's 10.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
And I was still in the ninth grade. Wait, wait, wait. Did you say was? Yeah. Wow.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Yeah. Wow. No, Steve, as you know, is a big, big star. There you go. And, but even then, no, I remember being aware of Steve. I met Steve quickly backstage of the new show, and he was hosting it. Lauren's show, 84...
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
January 84 it started it was just one season and the new show was kind of the idea of SNL in prime time and Lorne was the host and Catherine O'Hara was on too wait a second Lorne Michaels was the host on camera no no no he was executive producer yes Yeah, Steve was the host.
SmartLess
"Steve Martin & Martin Short"
Gotcha. And so Catherine O'Hara was also on the show, and we were friends with Catherine, so Nancy and I went and visited Catherine, and Steve came into his dressing room during quick change and was very friendly in that kind of icy way that is so Steve. Icy.