The Untold Truth Of Martin Short

In the pantheon of comedic actors and performers from the past 50 years, it would be difficult to select one as richly talented and unique as the hilarious Martin Short. Contemporary audiences might know him from his role as Oliver Putnam in the recent hit series "Only Murders in the Building," or perhaps his portly, obsequiously unfiltered alter-ego Jiminy Glick, but true comedy heads know him from the early days of "SCTV" and his brief but brilliant tenure as a "Saturday Night Live" cast member. 

Short's peerless Jerry Lewis impression and the Olympic Synchronized Swimming sketch, featuring fellow '80s "SNL" players (and comedy legends in their own right) Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest, are just some of the comedic delights to spring forth from his time on television.  Of course, Short has also given us the gift of the most effusively enthusiastic, triangle-playing, Pat Sajak-stanning nerd ever, the gravity-defyingly coiffed Ed Grimley. 

As legendary as his television career has been, Short's talents have not been confined to the boob tube. He's also been a celebrated performer on stage, in film, and as a voice artist in animation. Despite a daunting series of tragedies in his personal life, Short continues to share his immense comedic gifts and generosity of spirit with the world. Let's take a closer look at the untold truth of the "completely mental" comedic genius Martin Short.

Growing up in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Martin Short already had an entertainment career, albeit only in his imagination. In his memoir, "I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend," Short recalls idolizing crooners like Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra. Locked away in his attic and kitted out with a tape deck and professional microphone, Short recorded his own cover version of Sinatra's 1965 album "September of My Years" and called his version "Martin Short Sings of Songs and Loves Ago." While hip teenagers were rocking out to '60s rock and roll, Short spent his days imagining himself not only as a singer, but a titan of showbiz, crafting a fantasy variety program called "The Martin Short Variety Hour," complete with witty host banter, musical interludes, and charming celebrity guests.

Of course, his attic recordings never hit the charts and his television show didn't top the Nielsen ratings, but for Short, playing Hollywood proved to be a formative experience for his career as a multi-talented performer. While his parents were supportive of his fantasies, Short himself didn't actually believe he could make it as an entertainer. He writes in his memoir that stardom seemed distant to him as a Canadian kid. Luckily, adult Short found his foothold on stage and screen, his hours spent in the fictional setting inside his head paying off.

An effervescent, good-natured comedic presence, Martin Short's cheerfulness belies a personal life scarred by tragedy. Short's childhood was marked by a series of personal losses. In 1962, when Short was 12 years old, his beloved older brother David died in a car accident. After David's death, Short writes in his memoir that life was "a blur of sadness and confusion." Yet in his grief, he learned a valuable life lesson, "that something terrible can happen to you, and yet, the day after this something, the sun still rises and life goes on." He was soon reacquainted with familial loss, with his mother Olive dying in 1968 and his father Charles dying in 1970. With both parents gone by the time he was 20 years old, Short measures time in his life as "Zero to 20, Marty with Parents; 20 to the Present, Marty without Parents."

As an adult, Short's family life flourished. He married actress Nancy Dolman in 1980 and together they adopted three children. They remained dedicated partners and devoted to each until Dolman's death from ovarian cancer in 2010. Of his decades-long marriage to Dolman, Short told AARP Magazine that "our marriage was a triumph."

Martin Short and Steve Martin's decades-long friendship and creative partnership has been a gift to comedy lovers everywhere. By the time the pair met on the 1986 movie "¡Three Amigos!," both were established comedians in their own right. Short, coming off his one season on "SNL," was jump-starting his movie career, while Martin had walked away from his phenomenal stand-up comedy career to become a moderately successful Hollywood actor, with memorable '80s films like "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," and "Roxanne" still in his future. Short and Martin became fast friends and appeared together on the big screen again in "Father of the Bride" and "Father of the Bride Part II," with both also doing voices for the animated movie "The Prince of Egypt."

It was Martin who came up with the idea to make a comedy performance for the stage. According to CBS News, after the death of Short's wife Nancy Dolman in 2010, Martin suggested he and Short work together as a way for Short to process his grief. Martin and Short regularly tour together, even releasing a Netflix special of their act, "An Evening You Will Forget For The Rest of Your Life," in 2018. Their creative partnership continues to thrive with their hit Hulu series, "Only Murders In The Building," which according to Emmys.com, generated the streaming service's largest-ever audience for a comedy premiere. Even though Short and Martin have been pals for decades, it seems like they're just hitting their stride.

Called "the hardest working talk-show guest in the business" by The New Yorker, it's no surprise that Martin Short had a shot at hosting his own chat show. In his own way, Short had been preparing to helm "The Martin Short Show" for most of his life. According to his memoir, "I Must Say," Short played pretend showbiz in his attic, telling the Washington Post, "I was on television since I was 14 in my mind." By the late 1990s, Short's television career was not merely a figment of his imagination. He had become an established television performer on shows like "SCTV," "SNL," and even had his own sitcom, also called "The Martin Short Show."

With all his performance experience, it seemed like Short was a shoo-in for syndicated talk show success. "The Martin Short Show" launched in 1999, and Short writes in his memoir that its mix of "SCTV"-inspired comedy and traditional chat show wasn't quite ready for daytime — or anytime, quite frankly, as the show fell victim to inadequate scheduling. Even his new character, Hollywood sycophant Jiminy Glick, couldn't save the show's declining ratings. "The Martin Short Show" never found its niche, was canceled after one season, and has become just another credit on Short's illustrious resume.

Jiminy Glick, Martin Short's delusionally acerbic Hollywood gadfly, is one of the comedian's most recognizable character creations. An entertainment reporter more interested in himself than his celebrity interview subjects, Glick's bullishly ignorant line of questioning lampoons the often-absurd world of the showbiz press circuit. First launching on Short's talk show, "The Martin Short Show," Jiminy's toxic mix of sycophantic eagerness and bloviating ignorance is in line with other Short creations like nightclub singer Jackie Rogers Jr. Glick's schtick proved so popular that he was spun off into his own television series, "Primetime Glick," and the movie "Jiminy Glick in Lalawood."

Short pulled from a number of sources to create Jiminy Glick. In an interview on "The Off Camera Show," Short says that Jiminy is a riff on "morons with power" that he encountered while making "The Martin Short Show." In "I Must Say," Short writes that he pulled from a childhood neighbor, entertainer Merv Griffin, legendary Hollywood agent Swifty Lazar, and even his father for Jiminy's demeanor and look. It's also been noted that Jiminy Glick was inspired by celebrity interviewer Skip E. Lowe and his public access show "Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood." Short told David Letterman that Glick was "a little bit of Skip E. Lowe," adding that Lowe "talks to people but he gets confused with tremendous enthusiasm" (via Hollywood Reporter).

Which film about a devilishly precocious 10-year-old boy played by a 40-year-old man was beloved by both Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Taylor? It's Martin Short's 1994 film "Clifford," a comedy that tanked at the box office and was panned by critics, yet has gone on to become a beloved cult classic decades after its initial release. Short writes in "I Must Say" that "Clifford" suffered from numerous streaks of bad luck. For one, the movie, actually made in 1990, sat on the shelf for years due to the demise of its studio, Orion Pictures. When it finally hit theaters in 1994, most critics hated it, with Roger Ebert declaring it "irredeemably not funny" and a "movie that shouldn't have been made."

Despite its incredibly harsh reception, "Clifford" was already cultivating a dedicated following upon its release. In his memoir, Short remembers being approached by freshly-minted Oscar winner Nicolas Cage about his love for "Clifford," exclaiming that he watched the movie so much that the tape jammed in his VCR. Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor also loved the movie, telling Short she was "a total 'Clifford' freak." Hollywood celebrities aren't the only fans of "Clifford," as the movie has received a cultural reassessment in recent years. Vulture called it "beautiful, crazy, misunderstood" and the A/V Club has deemed it "the only movie that let Martin Short be Martin Short."