Comedian Martin Short has his 'say' in memoir
NEW YORK – Faster than you can say "give me a break," Martin Short is transforming himself into impish nerd Ed Grimley, blowhard celeb interviewer Jiminy Glick, and one very cranky Katharine Hepburn.
If you're in the room with him, good luck not giggling.
Attired in a crisp suit and tie, Short is gamely answering questions in the guise of his most famous characters and impersonations. No costumes required.
The occasion is the publication of his new memoir, I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend (Harper). Fans of Grimley – he of the pointy, greased cowlick and manic grin – will recognize the I Must Say title as one of Ed's signature catchphrases.
But "humble comedy legend" fits Short, 64, as well. His self-deprecating book is filled with funny anecdotes about his family and famous friends, many at his own expense.
"I think the most interesting people in comedy are self-deprecating," Short says. "No one's more thrilling to me than Dave Letterman and no one is more self-deprecating than Dave Letterman."
Short's book, written with David Kamp, covers the arc of his career, starting with an imaginary variety show he used to perform in his childhood bedroom in Ontario, Canada, up through his current gig as bombastic comedian Lou Cannon on the low-rated Fox sitcom Mulaney.
In between he shares stories from his days on SCTV and Saturday Night Live, and from movies like Three Amigos! and Clifford, some successful, some not so much. (The 1994 comedy Clifford may have been "reviled by critics," he says, but today "I can't go 12 feet without someone 30 or under coming up and talking to me about Clifford.")
He writes of his romance in his 20s with Gilda Radner, who would go on to great fame on SNL a decade before Short's one-year stint on the show.
"I adored Gilda. She was probably the first big love of my life," he recalls. He describes witnessing her struggle with bulimia, but says, "She was also just filled with a lot of joy and laughter."
But his true love was his wife of 30 years, Nancy, who died four years ago of ovarian cancer. Short lost his parents and an older brother by the time he was 20.
His wife's death inspired him to tell his story, to look at how a "naturally happy person" like himself "can get back to that state" after a major loss.
A self-described "storyteller" and frequent late-night guest, Short is by turns philosophical and endearingly goofy in person.
He remembers his 1984-85 run on SNL when he was so crazed he almost never saw his wife and baby daughter. He had a one-year contract, but said he never thought about returning to the show's grind.
"The kind of show business I wanted was what I saw on The Dick Van Dyke Show. A 9-5 job and go back to New Rochelle."
