Description of a fight that took place in 1977, found in "Martin Short Plays Bit by Bit/The seventy-one-year-old comedian on his early ambitions to be a singer, his circle of funny people, and the wisdom he’s gleaned from the likes of Joni Mitchell and Neil Simon" (The New Yorker).
September 23, 2021
"During the fight—which Short notes was about nothing at all, as most relationship squabbles are—Nancy did something unexpected."
"She asked to speak with Ed [Grimley] rather than with Martin. Short immediately transformed into his alter ego. When Nancy asked 'Ed' what her boyfriend’s problem was, he suggested that Martin was 'jealous of your beauty and wisdom and saddened by his own tragic limitations.' He then added, 'Although his endowment has certainly been blessed by the Lord.' Nancy thanked Ed and told him to go away. Argument over."
Description of a fight that took place in 1977, found in "Martin Short Plays Bit by Bit/The seventy-one-year-old comedian on his early ambitions to be a singer, his circle of funny people, and the wisdom he’s gleaned from the likes of Joni Mitchell and Neil Simon" (The New Yorker).
ADDED: Something I learned reading that interview: This is the first appearance of Ed Grimley:
"Is a snake the Devil?"
Description of a fight that took place in 1977, found in "Martin Short Plays Bit by Bit/The seventy-one-year-old comedian on his early ambitions to be a singer, his circle of funny people, and the wisdom he’s gleaned from the likes of Joni Mitchell and Neil Simon" (The New Yorker).
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16 comments:
He is so great.
I looked up Ed Grimley thinking he might be Wilford Brimley, and Ed's Wiki says "First appearance "Indecent Exposure - SCTV Movie of the Week: The Nutty Lab Assistant" SCTV November 12, 1982"
SCTV used to play in (very) late night syndication in the US. Many of us have seen them all...
I've only seen the trailer for Only Murders.... It looks like a rip off of Woody Allen, Selena Gomez and all (look it up). It's on Hulu which I haven't signed up for since I'm suffering from channel subscription proliferation at the moment. Clever cats are these programming directors. Excepting Netflix who doesn't give a damn about money and will gleefully promote unwatchable shows with A-list actors, these other networks invest heavily in star power for one good show to entice you to sign up, then there's nothing else that's watchable...
...as SCTV's Count Floyd would say ...one or two are good and the rest are klinkers!
Early SCTV and Monty Python were my steady diet back then. SCTV was absolutely hilarious, filled with talent. To this day, I still lose it when I see a Martin Short video of some of his schtick. Some of his stuff just hits me so hard, I hurt laughing. I dunno. Maybe it's just me, but apparently it's not.
Great interview. Loved the Elizabeth Taylor called QVC story.
How about that...I laughed out loud multiple times. I felt no resistance to the comedy and absurdity because I wasn't on guard for some put down of my political beliefs. That's why I can laugh with relaxation at old Monty Python routines.
I didn't know he was 71.
"Ed's Wiki says "First appearance "Indecent Exposure - SCTV Movie of the Week: The Nutty Lab Assistant" SCTV November 12, 1982""
In the article, Short himself is quoted as saying, "I remember when I first did Ed Grimley. I was doing this piece where he’s hypnotized by a snake. Dave Thomas came down and went, “I have no idea what you’re doing, but it’s hilarious.”"
Waasy back then! Interesting how long these artists work on characters before they show up fully formed on shows we like. My friend Vince was in The Groundlings with several future stars (early 1980s) when they were working out the details: Pee Wee, Elvira and then all the deadpan genius of Phil Hartman.
"I felt no resistance to the comedy and absurdity because I wasn't on guard for some put down of my political beliefs."
That reminds me of something in the article. Short says: "The trick of doing anything live is, half your audience is one party and half your audience is the other party, so do you make them feel idiotic, because they don’t agree with you politically? No, you can’t do that. If we’re going to do a joke on Marjorie Taylor Greene, we have to make a joke on, I don’t know, Governor Cuomo." And that was a reason to avoid politics.
IMHO, Short is one of the funniest people who’ve ever lived. A North American treasure…
It would disturb me to know that my partner's self-devised alter egos were capable of looking objectively at my partner's behavior and animating impulses.
Unfunny
...as SCTV's Count Floyd would say ... ..."Howl of the Woof Movie!"
Whew...the tone of this post made me suspect Martin had died last night. Thank god he's still alive.
If you haven't seen his Jiminiy Glick character, well, you need to fix that now.
He can act as well - see "Damages" with Glenn Close.
In the article, Short himself is quoted as saying,[snake]
Well, I guess he's a human with an imperfect memory.
The show Wiki claims is his first is dated 7 days before the snake show: Nov 12, 1982 vs Nov 19 1982. The snake show is also listed here but I can't figure out the dates, if any. I used to enjoy SCTV but don't recall seeing Short on it since he's pretty forgettable.
At one time wiki also stated, “Gloria Rachel Allred (née Bloom) was born with horns and cloven hooves on July 3, 1941…”
Just sayin’…
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