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Longtime friends Martin and Short team up for an evening of music and comedy
Comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short have been friends for more than 30 years, ever since they appeared together in the 1986 film Three Amigos. Now the 73-year-old banjoplaying Texan and the exuberant Hamilton-born 68-year-old are coming to Ottawa for an evening of comedy and music, featuring Martin’s Grammy-winning bluegrass band, the Steep Canyon Rangers, and Jimmy Kimmel Live keyboardist Jeff Babko.
It fell to this reporter to engage the livewire pair in an interview. Here’s how that went, minus the bits when they talked over each other.
Q Canadians have always been successful in comedy. Any theories as to why that is?
Short: I used to think that was an odd question because I never thought that comedy and art had any border, but at a certain point they just kept coming to town. Now there’s Seth Rogen, for example. I do think it’s because Canada is a great place for satire. We’re kind of in the middle of these two giant influences, England and the United States. And we satirize them, and create characters based on them. Suddenly that was a way to bring people into comedy.
Martin: I do find it astounding when you think about it. I didn’t know everybody who came from Canada for a long time because I had no interest in other people. But when you learn that Jim Carrey comes from Canada, and all the Second City people, this can’t be true, I thought. Now I’m claiming I’m from Canada, just to be part of the group.
Q Do you notice any differences with audiences? Are Canadians more restrained or polite?
Short: I don’t find that at all. I find that audiences are audiences, and they’re there to laugh and have a great time. I think that’s not accurate.
Martin: I think that’s a paranoia, but it’s not true. The most polite thing I ever saw happen was in England. A young woman, maybe 20, was walking down the street in front of a grocery store and a guy opened the door into her face, and hit her. By accident. And she said sorry. That’s the most extreme. Canada’s not that polite. I actually like that there’s politeness in Canadian society.
Short: If it could influence Washington a little bit, we’d be the best.
Q Is it important to deliver a message during the show or is it all about the laughs?
Martin: I think it’s important NOT to deliver a message so it is about the laughs. There’s so much messaging you can find on late-night television and everywhere you look. I don’t want people to pay a big ticket price to come hear the stuff they hear on TV.
Short: I think that’s very true. Also, I don’t think that either one of us wants people from different political factions to say, ‘Oh, I guess I’m not welcome.’ You like to think that everyone is welcome because we do satire and laughter and if you make it too political, you make them, understandably, feel selfconscious. That’s not the idea.
Martin: I do like the idea that people come really, fundamentally, for a good time, and when they leave — this is the ideal — they say, ‘That was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.’ And it’s hard because I’m working with Marty.
Q Some of the reviews say you spend too much time making fun of each other.
Martin: Well, that’s someone who shouldn’t be reviewing. They moved from the sports desk just for that night.
Short: That’s what we do.
Q Steve, you preferred not to perform live for a while.
Martin: Oh, for a long time, absolutely. I didn’t perform live for about 25 years. But it’s not really fair to say because I would host the Oscars, appear on television talk shows and that’s essentially performing comedy in front of a live audience.
Q How are you enjoying it now?
Martin: This show couldn’t be more fun. We love everybody in the show. We love the band. We love our piano player Jeff Babko, we love the people we work with. We love our audiences. We just couldn’t be happier. And we really love our material.
Q Any concerns about the music diluting the comedy?
Martin: No. We do a lot of funny songs. I’d say, in the show, on my part, there’s only one musical segment that’s not humorous.
Short: I don’t think you want anything to be just one thing the whole evening. The cleverness of what this evening is, is a total mix. It’s mostly comedy but the music is very powerful. The musicians are brilliant, so it’s a great thing to hear.
Martin: Catherine O’Hara described the show as a children’s show for adults. And I think that’s a great description.
Q I understand you usually travel together when you’re on tour. What’s that like?
Short: The whole idea of this started off with a great friendship that we’ve had for well over 30 years. We were first asked to interview each other for the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Chicago in 2011, and that was so loose and fun, we thought, ‘Gee let’s do it again,’ and the more we did it, we were inspired to evolve it into an actual show. But it’s based on the idea that there’s joy and fun doing it.
Martin: In fact, when we do travel to a place and I realize I’m coming from a different place and Marty’s not going to be on the plane with me, I’m a little disappointed.
Q With your show on Netflix now, does it change things?
Martin: We like the challenge of Netflix, (and having to) swap out the old material for new material, although we like the old material. It’s been a challenge we’ve successfully addressed.
Q How do you keep it fresh?
Martin: I’d say we’re deeply affected by the liveness of it. We’re constantly evaluating how it’s going and what we should do next, whether to skip over a line or add it back in. You’re always alert out there, which is really one of the most fun things about it.