Two Hollywood amigos show Britain they’ve still got what it takes
Steve Martin & Martin Short
Hydro, Glasgow ★★★★★
‘We call this show ‘If We’d Saved, We Wouldn’t Be Here’,” the audience are informed early on by their hosts, with masterful comic timing. Ever since the late Leonard Cohen’s enforced first tour after 15 years away in 2008, it’s become implicit that any elder artist who returns to the stage having shown no recent interest in live performance must be doing so because their pension fund is depleted.
While the state of Steve Martin and Martin Short’s bank balances are no clearer by the end of the two-hour show, however, their arena audience’s week has been enriched by a masterclass from two of the late 20th century’s virtuoso comedy performers, whose skill and enthusiasm appear undimmed. This tour, which opened here on Monday night, is a sequel to Martin and Short’s acclaimed 2018 Netflix special An Evening You Will Forget For the Rest of Your Life.
For many, the opportunity to simply experience a live performance from two such big names was much of the appeal. Friends since they made the hit comedy Three Amigos with Chevy Chase in 1986 (the two going on to appear in Father of the Bride together), Martin and Short have talents in song, musicianship, clowning, stand-up and straight acting, all of which were employed during the show.
During his opening, Martin asked that we remove our coronavirus-entrapping surgical masks so that they might hear the laughter, and the pair’s handshake greeting was followed by an exaggerated hand-gel delousing. In one sequence, with Short as a ventriloquist’s dummy perched on Martin’s knees, a slide-reel of celebrities scrolled past for rapid-fire mockery; Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Harry and Meghan (“some Canadians”) and Bernie Sanders (“like Jeremy Corbyn without the warm, upbeat personality”).
From the Seventies until the Nineties, Martin was one of the biggest film stars in the world. But, before that, he was a highly rated stand-up and, latterly, he has enjoyed success as a bluegrass banjo player. This facet of his work was thoroughly explored here with the help of North
Carolina’s bluegrass sextet the Steep Canyon Rangers.
While Short’s career in film comedies wasn’t the equal of his companion’s, his versatility is. A Tony Award winner for his theatre work, he does impressive impersonations of personal heroes like Frank Sinatra. Neither is really a straight man, although in the face of Short’s whirling energy – at 69, he’s five years younger than Martin – the latter has to play that role. They shoot rapid, mocking barbs at one another, but what really shines is their clear mutual love for one another and for what they do.
They say that Bernie Sanders is ‘like Jeremy Corbyn without the warm, upbeat personality’