Monday, February 16, 2015

The Comically Absurd Martin Short



One of my favorite SNL cast members was Martin Short (1984-1985). I loved his over-the-top crazy characters like Jackie Rogers Jr., Nathan Thurm and Ed Grimley. Previous to SNL he was a cast member on SCTV (1981-1984) along with comedy greats like John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara and more. In 1994, he starred in a short lived comedy show, The Martin Short Show. This program featured appearances by Jan Hooks (SNL), Steve Martin, Andrea Martin and Casey Kasem. He appeared in the films Father of the Bride 1 and 2, Three Amigos, Mars Attacks! and more.

From 2001-2003, he had a show on Comedy Central called Primetime Glick. In the show he played a clueless Hollywood celebrity interviewer who would ask insane questions. Jiminy Glick (shown in photo above), was an overweight oaf with an odd voice and he had comically large glasses. He often knew very little about his guests. He seemed obsessed with old Hollywood. One of his shows had him reenacting the death of Sal Mineo (Rebel without a Cause) with puppets. His musical director on Primetime Glick was Michael McKean (Laverne and Shirley, Spinal Tap). He was named Adrian Van Voorhees and he played the harp. On You Tube you can find clips of his interviews with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Cheri Oteri, Goldie Hawn, Regis Philbin, Tom Hanks, Mel Brooks, Ray Romano, and more. Here is an interview with film icon Steven Spielberg.

In recent years, Short has become a regular guest on David Letterman's show. He has known Dave's bandleader and fellow Canadian, Paul Shaffer, for decades. Short will usually begin his appearance on Dave's show by screaming to the audience "Thanks for remembering!" Currently Short is touring venues around the country with his old friend Steve Martin.

*Some information from www.imdb.com.