Steve Martin & Martin Short on Tour
As two titans of comedy, Steve Martin and Martin Short have conquered film, television, and the stage in the course of their long, dazzling careers. But the live shows that grew out of both their friendship and their undeniable comedic chemistry create something special enough to stand out even among the many achievements of these two show-biz veterans.
In 2015, they worked up a show that combined both of their quirky gifts and started taking it around the country. Even more people got a share of the laughs when one show was filmed for the 2018 Netflix special An Evening You’ll Forget for the Rest of Your Life, where Short and Martin joke, jab, and jibe with each other and inject a little music into the mix as well. Martin showed off his Grammy-winning banjo prowess and Short displayed his Tony-winning vocal chops.
Later that year, the pair announced a new tour: Now You See Them, Soon You Won’t. It presented an evening of all-new material and reunited them with Steve’s Grammy-winning bluegrass compatriots — the Steep Canyon Rangers — for a couple of hot-picking musical moments in the bargain.
Steve Martin & Martin Short Background
Steve Martin debuted his offbeat brand of stand-up comedy in the 1960s, when he first reached a wide audience via the TV shows of the Smothers Brothers and Sonny & Cher. His appearances on Saturday Night Live in the mid ’70s helped him become one of the most successful stand-up comedians on the planet. His idiosyncratic, often absurdist style translated to sold-out arena shows and platinum albums.
In short order he became a film star, with movies like The Jerk and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. It was on the 1986 film Three Amigos that he first worked with Martin Short, who had become famous for his outrageous characters and sketch comedy mastery on SCTV and SNL earlier in the ’80s.
Short went on to plenty of big films himself, and the two teamed up again in 1991’s Father of the Bride as well as its 1995 sequel. Short became a Broadway star in the ’90s with shows like The Goodbye Girl and Little Me, and he inhabited the classic character Jiminy Glick in the ’00s for his Comedy Central series Primetime Glick. But for all the many accomplishments lining both their legacies, when Martin and Short come together for their live performances, they create an utterly unique comedic force.
