I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend

Bought this for my son for Christmas. He loves the book. Only issue I had is that it was shipped to my home instead of his. I used his shipping address but it came to me anyway.

This is a review of the audiobook edition.I bought this book because I was curious to learn more about a fellow Canadian who made it big in American show business, particularly because of his reputation for irrepressible cheerfulness. It seems to be an unusual trait among comedians in their private lives, and apparently is one of the reasons he is popular within the performing community. By the time I finished this book, this favourable impression had been tarnished.As he will remind you throughout this autobiography, the author is a good friend of Steve Martin. Perhaps this is why he decided to follow in his footsteps in writing a memoir. Unfortunately, as with his career, his efforts come up short (sorry, couldn’t resist) compared to his friend. Steve Martin may be stealthily ironic in his endorsement comment that he read the book backwards. The final chapter was one of the few times I felt the author was sincerely connecting with his readers!It’s true that Martin Short is a talented performer. When he appears in voice as one of his many characters, one of the advantages of the audiobook version, I often laughed out loud. It is also true that he overcame the loss of his brother and parents at a relatively young age, and lately his wife, with a grace and resilience that was another inspiration to listen to his story. But I found the goodwill from these attributes slowly eroded by his incessant name-dropping, even though he even mocks this habit himself.At first I thought the name-dropping may have been a deliberate attempt to increase reader interest. But an unsettling pattern emerges. The A-listers are usually mentioned in a way to flatter his own importance. When I got to the part where he describes himself as “a top-feeder, always gravitating to the smartest people in the room”, these anecdotes suddenly turned from titillating to snobbish. Outside of his own circle, people are often referred to in condescending or belittling ways. It turns out that, without exception, all his characters are based on mocking the weaknesses of people he has known. In other words, if he's not top-feeding off people, he's mocking them. This may also explain why he repeatedly tells us about the exclusive areas in which he has bought homes.Personal revelations are sometimes made without any apparent humility or insight. Like when he smugly mentions never having to hold a mundane job as the young heir of a steel company executive. Or when he admits to a rare feeling of depression not over personal losses, but because his career seemed to be stalling. Then there is the candid but creepy discussion of how he spreadsheets his life into nine categories, and subdivides his film career into those in which he considered himself a leading man. Having watched these films, it never occurred to me to think of him as a leading man. I am even starting to wonder if there was any intended irony in his reference to himself in the subtitle as a comedy legend. A better subtitle would be “How to succeed in show business through relentless narcissism”!

Martin Short's memoir is a very likable and touching account of his life thus far. From his humble, somewhat tragic (due to the loss of two immediate family members) beginnings in a suburban Canadian home, where he put on shows in his bedroom, to his growth as a comic and actor in first Toronto, then the U.S., this is a gentle, funny and philosophical read. His remarkable marriage to his wife Nancy is always described as a joyful, playful and stimulating union, and her comparatively early death in 2010 brings a sorrowful, but hopeful, end to the story. One particularly enjoyable and revealing episode describes how, when they had a disagreement, Nancy would summon the mentally challenged Ed Grimley to solve the argument, and he somehow would have the exact right thing to say to clear things up.Martin Short, as one would expect, knows everyone, and is quite close to many of the bigger names in show business (Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, Steve Martin and his wife Ann, to name a few, and of course the Second City Toronto crew of Gilda Radner, John Candy, Andrea Martin, et al), so we read about some riotous times involving them. (He actually dated Radner, which he describes as fairly bombastic. She brought a lot of insecurities to the relationship.)When they found they couldn't have children, he and his wife adopted three, and it's clear that they were spectacular and loving parents. There is occasionally a sense of regret in his prose, one that wishes he had gotten more recognition, or work, or something. At one point, he bemoans that fact that his career "almost" took off. I'm not sure how anyone could say that Martin Short does not have a successful career, but he is saying it sometimes. Many of his endearing characters - and there are dozens - put in an appearance in the memoir, and are always welcome reminders of his fertile imagination and sweet nature.

I just finished reading Martin Short’s autobiography, I MUST SAY: MY LIFE AS A HUMBLE COMEDY LEGEND. ‘I must say’ that I enjoyed it very much. We are close in age and my experiences growing up in midwestern Ohio were very much like his own in Hamilton, Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s. His anecdotes were hilarious and his writing style made me feel as if I was sitting across from him in a very intimate conversation. Mr. Short’s personality fills the pages and his deep feelings for his wife, Nancy, and their children, family members and friends were very emotional for me.I enjoyed his memories of his work in Toronto’s Godspell production, his SCTV work and all his work that came afterward. Those programs and his friends and costars are still my favorite comedic personalities. I found several sketches on YouTube and watched them all - my favorite being the ‘Battle of the PBS Stars’ when Mr. Rogers knocked out Julia Child with his King Friday puppet. Absolutely hilarious.Mr. Short added many insights to Canadians and Canadian comedy which I appreciated. I would like to quote from his book, “While Second City Chicago was often more pointedly topical and satirical, Second City Toronto’s material seemed to be more character-based and just plain strange. Canada is a sparsely populated nation, a mere 34 million people across a vast expanse of land. Consequently, as you grow up there, you encounter more weirdos who have been given a wider berth to stew in their weirdness and become gloriously eccentric. These are precisely the kind of folks who served as our comic muses in Toronto. On top of this, the performers in SC Toronto were a particularly nice, un-mean group, so the characterizations were sweet and empathetic rather than cruel.”I love Martin Short and his comedy. I am a big fan. I am also a fan of his autobiography. A very good read.

I love Martin Short. Always have.From his days with SCTV and later, SNL, he is a comic genuis.This book is a welcomed addition to his many years of brilliant comedy.Funny, but achingly touching, sometimes downright sad.I devoured the book, wanting more.Can't recommend it enough!!!

Very entertaining! Super combination of personal and professional reflections... Comes across as a very nice guy, but one devoted to his craft. Excellent reading, wish he would write another!

Only negative thing is that there is that there is a line in what appears to be a marker on the bottom of the book. Doesn't bother me but it is something to keep in mind when purchasing this book used.

Watch Marty sing to Steve Martin at his AFI tribute. The book is a two-day emotional rollercoaster version of that.

Really easy and fun read. Dont need to be a fan of Martin Short or know his career specifically. Hilarious bio