MARTIN SHORT
The Saturday Night Live alum and Three Amigos star, 72, returns for a second season as part of the podcasting detective trio—Oliver (Short), Charles (Steve Martin) and Mabel (Selena Gomez)—in Only Murders in the Building (June 28 on Hulu). The threesome solved one murder but ended up as suspects in a second, which is where the new season picks up.
What’s new for the show in season two? Shirley MacLaine is in it, also Amy Schumer—and Jane Lynch is back.
Will Oliver, Charles and Mabel get out of jail to prove their innocence? Absolutely right, that’s fair to say.
Is your character, Oliver, like you? I can be a little bit of a smart-ass; I can be sarcastic. Oliver’s like that. Oliver was a theater director who had this massive disaster, Splash!, where people were injured. It cost him money. I’ve never been in that situation, but I can certainly relate to it.
What was it like working with Steve and Selena? The set was always loose and funny, filled with jokes, and Steve and I insulting each other and Selena getting in on it, and the crew having a riot, because they’re our audience.
Were you and Steve looking for a project together? Not really, because we do live shows together [the You Won’t Believe What They Look Like Today! tour]. We do 35 a year or something. So we weren’t looking for that at all. Steve had been at a party about 12 years ago [and] saw three elderly actors sitting on the couch together talking, and [the party’s host] said, “You should do a show about them.” And Steve has always loved true crime, so he thought, Gee, that could be interesting. Three guys that live in the same building and there’s a crime.
Is there something you want to do that you haven’t done?
No, I’m 72 years of age and, at this point, if I haven’t done it, it’s because I didn’t want to or maybe shouldn’t have. I’ve been asked to direct movies and stage, but I like being in front and I like being onstage. I think Steven Spielberg was a 9-year-old with a camera, so it makes sense [for him]. But I wasn’t; I was a 12-year-old in my attic bedroom pretending to have my own TV show.