At five feet eight inches, Martin Short may not stand as tall as other men, but he’s a comedy giant. And being a fan is not required for appreciating Marty, Life Is Short, a multi-dimensional documentary about his personal and professional life that offers some interesting perspectives about comedy and people.
Born in Ontario, Canada, in 1950, fully equipped with a wild sense of humor, Martin Hayter Short was the youngest of five children and his family’s steady source of entertainment. His talent, delivery, and material would lead him through a 50-year career in show business that hasn’t slowed down. In addition to his comedy roles in film, TV, and the Broadway stage, Short continues to collaborate with his friend Steve Martin in the TV series Only Murders in the Building, with a sixth season pending. On the flip side, experience taught Martin that show business is a long shot with an 80 percent chance of failure. This was not a warning to avoid Hollywood, but an alert to be prepared for the odds. And if by chance you do succeed, celebrate like crazy.
Marty, Life Is Short offers a glimpse into his loving, harmonious upbringing. Martin’s youth was filled with family humor that inspired his own comedic performances. His ambition was acting, which his mother fully supported. And as he grew older and began getting work, he flexed his talents: singing, dancing, comedy, and hysterical impersonations of famous people. (He does a great Katharine Hepburn.) He also had the encouragement and assistance of his brother Michael, an award-winning writer who once worked for Toronto’s Second City TV, and has written for many TV series, including Schitt’s Creek. Martin’s comedy career took off when he joined the cast of SCTV. But when the show folded in 1984, he was recruited by Saturday Night Live, where he barely lasted one season. Unlike the SCTV cast members, who collaborated on material, each SNL cast member worked alone. And that lonely isolation was putting Martin’s imagination to sleep.
Martin’s early ambition was primarily movie roles. Decades later, his long roster of comedy films includes Three Amigos, Mars Attacks!, and Father of the Bride. He has a gift for making “crazy” funny. But his best performances (according to me) embody the fictional TV interview host Jiminy Glick, whose razor-sharp comebacks keep the guests off-balance, since entertaining the audience is Short’s priority. If Glick can keep the viewers laughing, he assumes the guest will recover. Martin was born to inhabit this fast-talking, overweight, hysterically obnoxious character that he still revisits. And I’m still laughing.
We also meet the love of Martin’s life, his wife and soul mate, Nancy Dolman, an actor and singer. She met Marty when she was an understudy for Gilda Radner, who was alternately dating and breaking up with Martin. When Nancy and Martin started dating, Nancy was equipped with just enough “crazy” to appreciate Marty’s sense of humor. She was a keeper.
But no one’s life is always funny, especially when they’re losing a family member. When Martin was 12 and at overnight camp, his beloved brother David died in a car accident. Martin woke up that morning feeling depressed and then learned David had died. Soon after, he was “visited” by David, who assured him everything was wonderful and they would be together again. A few years later, when Martin’s parents died, two years apart, Martin describes the loss of three family members as being on speed dial with the funeral parlor. But he learned to accept their passing as part of being alive. Later, when he lost his perfect wife of 30 years, and then his daughter Katherine, Martin focused on remembering them, while looking forward to reuniting. Death gave him a bigger perspective that made everything else, like his fear of auditioning and performing, look so small.
Marty, Life Is Short is directed by Martin’s longtime friend and renowned Hollywood screenwriter-director Lawrence Kasdan, whose writing credits include four Star Wars episodes and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yeah. Kasdan guides us through the extraordinary flavors of this tale. His depiction of Martin’s life—and everyone it includes—feels personal and intimate, but never sappy. And we glimpse Martin’s deep friendships with Hollywood favorites like Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, lifelong friend Eugene Levy, and especially one of the film’s narrators, Catherine O’Hara, now departed.
We also see Martin’s ability to communicate with children and make them happy, especially the three kids that he and Nancy adopted. Martin is as playful with kids as he is with friends. As Catherine O’Hara describes him, “Marty has an outer child.”
Marty, Life Is Short tours the historic rise of an original entertainer whose unique story fascinates, entertains, and inspires. This is not the documentary you want to miss. Netflix can help with that.