I Must Say : My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend
Author(s): Martin Short
In this engagingly witty, wise, and heartfelt memoir, Martin Short tells the tale of how a showbiz-obsessed kid from Canada transformed himself into one of Hollywood's favorite funnymen, known to his famous peers as the "comedian's comedian."
Short takes the reader on a rich, hilarious, and occasionally heartbreaking ride through his life and times, from his early years in Toronto as a member of the fabled improvisational troupe Second City to the all-American comic big time of Saturday Night Live, and from memorable roles in such movies as ¡Three Amigos! and Father of the Bride to Broadway stardom in Fame Becomes Me and the Tony-winning Little Me.
He reveals how he created his most indelible comedic characters, among them the manic man-child Ed Grimley, the slimy corporate lawyer Nathan Thurm, and the bizarrely insensitive interviewer Jiminy Glick. Throughout, Short freely shares the spotlight with friends, colleagues, and collaborators, among them Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Gilda Radner, Mel Brooks, Nora Ephron, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Shaffer, and David Letterman.
But there is another side to Short's life that he has long kept private. He lost his eldest brother and both parents by the time he turned twenty, and, more recently, he lost his wife of thirty years to cancer. In I Must Say, Short talks for the first time about the pain that these losses inflicted and the upbeat life philosophy that has kept him resilient and carried him through.
In the grand tradition of comedy legends, Martin Short offers a show-business memoir densely populated with boldface names and rife with retellable tales: a hugely entertaining yet surprisingly moving self-portrait that will keep you laughing—and crying—from the first page to the last.
Review(s):
“This book is a wonderful combination of the very funny and the very poignant.”
“Very entertaining, lovely new memoir. I read it and wished I had read it again. It is nothing but delightful.”
“I read it back to front and was surprised by its shocking beginning.”
“I love this book...If you love comedy, you have to read this book. I don’t want it to end…every chapter is so fun and interesting and great.”
“Martin Short is a comedy superhero and this book is a peek inside his Fortress of Solitude.”
“As long as I’ve known him I’ve tried to figure out what makes Marty tick. Now I have to read this book to find out? What a rotten Canadian trick!”
“What a wonderful book! If only it was about someone else.”
“This book, like Marty’s life, is a nutty-mahvelous affair.”
“A true vaudevillian, Short is always on as he delivers funny anecdotes from a diffuse and storied career.”
“Short’s memoir is filled with all sorts of lovely anecdotes about…eccentric and endlessly interesting people.”
ISBN: 9780062309549