For the 22 years that David Letterman hosted The Late Show, Paul Shaffer served as his band leader, musical director and trusty sidekick. But Martin Short delivered a pretty hilarious run for that latter title by appearing opposite Letterman dozens of times.
Short guesses that it was “definitely in the 50s” while Letterman and his team counted at least 40, plus all the random times he would show up to cover for another guest who canceled at the last minute. The Late Show team made it pretty easy on Short to turn up because, in a way, it was like family to him since Shaffer has been one of his best friends since they met in 1972.
The trio put their chemistry on full display inside Hollywood’s Montalban Theatre Thursday night for Netflix is a Joke Presents: This Better Be Funny With David Letterman. And it was. Letterman hosted Short in the lights at center stage for a 90-minute conversation capped by a single song performance featuring Shaffer at the piano, Short on the microphone and Letterman looking on with a grin from his chair. Just like old times.
As for the tune, Short belted out an original Netflix-inspired tune in a piece of corporate synergy: Netflix presented the special event, Letterman hosts the long-form conversation series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction and Short has a new Lawrence Kasdan-directed documentary Marty, Life Is Short due to hit the streamer on May 12. (Kasdan was in the audience Thursday night as was Short’s entire team, including longtime manager, Brillstein’s Marc Gurvitz, his WME agents and Imagine Entertainment president Justin Wilkes. And Letterman was on stage two nights after an earlier Netflix is a Joke event with John Mulaney.)
“You got to do treat the Netflix lady kind. You’ve got to give her your respect. Then she’ll suck your face till you can barely stand. There’s no pressure for commitment. Dating month to month will do. Then she’ll let you ream and stream her on demand. So, in closing, Mr. Letterman, take to heart the message I’m saying, this chick serves up one hell of a happy ending,” Short belted out. “Just remember, Netflix is a lady. Netflix is a lady to make up and reconcile once you filled up your free trial and you kiss your lady bye-bye.”
The performance closed the show, and the audience responded with a standing ovation, one of multiple during the event. The audience first got on their feet when Letterman came out to start the show, again when Shaffer surprised the crowd moments later and again when Letterman welcomed his pal Short on stage for the conversation. And much like their back-and-forth on The Late Show — well documented in this YouTube clip featuring Letterman and Shaffer — Short came out swinging.
“Let me just say something to you, because sometimes you imply that I’m kind of artificial, but I’m telling you from the bottom of where my heart should be, you have never looked younger in your life. No, really, because earlier today I saw you from a distance and I thought, wow, whatever he’s doing, he should stop,” Short quipped. “But I’m looking at you now. You look like a kid. Is it the RFK all-day pet raccoon diet? That’s what it is. Is it gluten-free Ensure? Because you have that Pete Hegseth post-bombing glow. A lot of people don’t like the beard. You’ve heard that, right? I just wonder if you are here, who’s working the Chuck Wagon? That’s the only thing. You look like someone whose letters would be read at the end of a Ken Burns documentary.”
Letterman loved the loving insults. “Marty, when I think of you, which is not infrequent as a matter of fact, I think of you as somebody who has provided happiness and joy and real fun in my life over the years,” he said in return before getting serious. “Here lately, as I have thought of you in this year, it’s not been that so much. It’s been great sadness for you, and I’m very sorry for your loss, and I’m so happy you could be here with us tonight.”
Short responded with a brief “thank you” as Letterman offered his condolences for the loss of his 42-year-old daughter, Katherine Short, who committed suicide in October. It was one of the few serious moments in a rousing conversation, with the other coming near the end of the conversation when Letterman noted how much loss Short experienced in his youth. His older brother died in a car accident, and at his funeral, his mother started coughing, which telegraphed a cancer diagnosis. She passed three years later, and his father died within a year of that.
Aside from those moments, the rest of the conversation found Short and Letterman in lively conversation as they traced Short’s biography and resume, beginning with being raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, before enrolling as a pre-med student at McMaster University. He wound up graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in social work and during his college tenure, he started getting involved in acting and performing in school plays.
After graduation, he was cast in a Toronto production of Godspell, and Letterman quizzed him on the show’s plot and how it paved the way for his career in the arts. He also asked about dating one of his Godspell co-stars, Gilda Radner, who went on to find fame as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
“She was absolutely as fabulous as you would dream she would be. Every girl wanted to be her best friend and every guy wanted to go out with her because she was just hilarious and in the moment,” said Short, who had previously detailed their relationship in a podcast interview. “I remember the first rehearsal, she came up and went, ‘Hi, I’m Gilda. I’m really excited to see you.’ And then she had a big zit right here [using her finger to cover it on her forehead]. She was as funny as anyone could be and everyone adored her.”
Short and Radner eventually broke up and a few years later, he found love with a woman named Nancy Dolman, who happened to be Radner’s understudy in Godspell. They were married for 36 years until her death in 2010 from ovarian cancer. Short recalled a story from early in their courtship when they were supposed to have dinner with Shaffer and Bill Murray, who at the time was a breakout star on SNL.
“As we were walking there down Flores Avenue, I just said to Nancy, ‘I have to sit down,’ and she said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because I can’t go and have dinner with Bill and pretend to be happy for him while I am sinking [in my career like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic]. We sat there on the bench. About 15 minutes later, Nancy said, ‘How long are we going to sit here?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, but I can’t move forward or back. I don’t know.’ Anyway, we went home. We didn’t have dinner with Bill and Paul and then the next night I saw this group in L.A. called War Babies and it changed my life and inspired me.”
So inspired in fact, that he called up Andrew Alexander, former CEO of Toronto’s Second City and said he was ready to join. “And he put me in.” He joined the troupe and eventually became a cast member on Second City Television opposite comedy greats like Eugene Levy, John Candy, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas and Catherine O’Hara. He segued to Saturday Night Live and the rest is, well, history.
Letterman and Short revisited some of that history, including 1994’s Clifford, Mulaney, Maya & Marty, Primetime Glick, The Associates and more. He also asked Short about his longtime friendship and comedy bond with Steve Martin. He told Letterman that after appearing on his show in May 1985, he immediately went over to Lorne Michael’s apartment to discuss a Western that Michaels had written with Martin and Randy Newman.
“Then the next day I flew to Los Angeles and went to Steve’s house to pick up a script for ¡Three Amigos! I went into his old house on Bedford Drive, and it was a beautiful house, but you walked in and you couldn’t believe what you were seeing — the art and the statues. There was a Picasso, there was a [Roy Lichtenstein], there was a [David Hockney] and I said to him, ‘How did you get this rich because I’ve seen your work?’ And he went, ‘Oh, I think I like this guy.’”
They went on to work together loads of times and Short said that he and Martin made a pact to not do that typical show business thing of working together for months on a film, becoming extremely close and then never seeing each other again. “Steve and I made a conscientious point to not do that,” he said.
At multiple points in the conversation, Letterman brought up Short’s close bond with so many famous people. “I’m in awe of you, and I didn’t really want to get close to you because you have a long, long list of really important friends,” Letterman said. “How do you get that long list of important friends?”
“Well, you have to be kind,” Short quipped of his roster that includes the likes of Martin, Levy, Shaffer, Kasdan, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell to name just a few. To nail the point, Letterman played a clip from Marty, Life Is Short that featured Spielberg filming Hanks and Short on a yacht recreating a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid scene with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It had the crowd in stitches, like they were for most of the night, in a reflection of Short’s many appearances on Late Show.
“There were a handful of guests when they appeared on our show, we knew it was going to be fantastic,” Letterman said, praising his pal. “But I knew also I didn’t really have to do much because you would take over and be great and it was just putting on a show for me and I loved it.” Just like old times.
