I Must Say

This is a winner, a case where the audiobook is far superior to the written version. No one but Martin Short himself could tell his story in such a funny and poignant way. The star of "Saturday Night Live," "SCTV," Broadway, and a host of television shows and movies, including "Three Amigos," tells the fascinating story of his rise from obscurity to what he would call "semi-fame" in just a decade or three. Short is everybody's best friend, a creative artist who has now added another notch to his belt--audiobooks. He tells the story of his life, frequently allowing his characters, such as Ed Grimly and Jiminy Glick, to take over. He talks lovingly about the love of his life, his wife, Nancy, whose death almost shattered him. This is one not to miss. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

February 16, 2015
Short's delightful memoirâpacked with hilarious stories from his classic work on Second City Television in the 1970s through his inimitable and clueless interviewer Jiminy Glick in the 1990sâmore than proves that he is a very funny comedian. The ready is left with the impression of just how nice a guy he isâ as he was grounded in his upbringing in a Canadian family who completely supported his seemingly natural-born need to perform. Short is never less than complementary to the host of superstars who became his friends, from Gilda Radner and Bill Murray in Canada's version of Chicago's legendary improvisational group Second City to Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks and other friends and colleagues he gained after he moved to Hollywood. Through it all, he pays a sweet tribute to his wife Nancy, who died of cancer after thirty years of marriage and a "dynamic" with Short that kept him groundedâand continuing to be funnyâover a long career that is yet to be finished.

October 15, 2014
Actor, singer and spasmodic funnyman Short delivers a memoir with cameos by his famous characters. The youngest of five children, Short (b. 1950) credits his quick wit to a Darwinian struggle for the last word at family dinners, as the children battled the acerbic sarcasm of their father. A precocious child, the author would record his own bedroom variety show, but he'd never considered show business a legitimate future until his senior year of college, when he gave himself a year to pursue his dream. Luckily, Short got his first big break as part of the Toronto production of the off-Broadway smash Godspell. Short even boasts the scene had a "Paris-in-the-'20s thing going on" due to all the would-be stars that were around, including John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Dan Ackroyd and Paul Shaffer. Most of them were associated with Godspell or with the comedy group Second City, which Short would later join, eventually landing on Saturday Night Live and then a film career. For all his success, Short notes with genuine pathos that it wasn't without sacrifice; he suffered the loss of his oldest brother, mother and father all by the time he was 20. He also recounts the loss of his beloved wife to cancer. Ever positive, he reflects that these tragedies gave him a fearlessness about life. Though he was tenacious, Short jokes that his tombstone will bear only the word "Almost," as her never quite ascended to official movie stardom. Matching the successes of films like Three Amigos and Father of the Bride were misses like Clifford and a daytime talk show that failed to be the career second coming Short imagined. He experiences all this doubt despite winning an Emmy and a Tony, which again only proves his drive and versatility, rightfully earning him the nickname "Mr. Entertainment." A true vaudevillian, Short is always on as he delivers funny anecdotes from a diffuse and storied career.

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