Quick summary
- “The Best of Steve Martin & Martin Short” tour plays Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, on Friday, 15 January, according to the Sun Sentinel.
- The show mixes stand-up, character sketches, video montages and bluegrass music, with guests Jeff Babko and the Steep Canyon Rangers.
- Both comedians spoke to the Sun Sentinel on 2 November about Florida, backstage routines and their long friendship.
- “Only Murders in the Building” returns for season six on 8 December, the Sun Sentinel reports.
Martin Short and Steve Martin are taking their comedy double act to South Florida, and the Martin Short Steve Martin tour is now a few months from its Hard Rock Live stop. The pair told the South Florida Sun Sentinel, in an interview published on 2 November, that the show is built on more than 40 years of friendship and a lot of mutual skewering.
What the show involves
According to the Sun Sentinel, the evening at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood combines stand-up, character sketches, video montages and bluegrass. Martin plays banjo, and the musical guests are Jeff Babko and the Steep Canyon Rangers.
Short described Babko as a phenomenal musician he has toured with for more than 20 years, and said he leads Jimmy Kimmel’s band. Martin said he began playing with the Steep Canyon Rangers around 2011, though he wasn’t certain of the year. By his count that is about 15 years of shared work, including albums and songs written together. Both parties have won a Grammy, he said.
The pair have been on the road together since 2015, when they launched a first live show called “A Very Stupid Conversation”. Their screen history is longer. They worked together first on the 1986 film Three Amigos, then on “Father of the Bride” in 1991 and its 1995 sequel. In 2018 they made a Netflix special, “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life”.
Florida, rituals and a little needling
Asked what he would whisper to the audience before they walk in, Martin said he’d tell them to relax because they will probably enjoy it. Short’s line was that Marty looks better than Steve.
Backstage, the two keep different routines. Short warms up his voice with a singing tape from 1992, which he said refers to election day and Bill Clinton heading for the presidency. Martin said he tries to lie down and be zen in the hour before a show, or “bedrotting”, as he put it.
Would the show poke fun at Florida? Martin said they tend not to put down a place until after they’ve left. He added that the state has a soft spot in his career. He started out at a small club called Bubba’s in Coconut Grove, played to about 40 people, and later worked college shows around Tallahassee and at the Beef & Bottle Club in Gainesville. “Florida would hire me, early on,” he said. Short admitted he hasn’t spent much time in the state but is always struck by how beautiful it is.
Martin also recalled a charity show in West Palm Beach for about a hundred people, which he said turned out to be one of their best.
A different kind of quote on the same day
Short was also in the headlines for older words. On 2 November, The Times of India ran a “quote of the day” from his memoir “I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend”, first published on 4 November 2014. The line reads: “My happiness was never predicated first and foremost upon my career. It’s an outlook that has served me well.”
Zoom TV covered the same passage. Both outlets note that the book deals openly with loss: Short’s parents and older brother died before he turned 20, and his wife of 30 years, Nancy, died of cancer in 2010. The outlets present the quote as a view on keeping self-worth separate from professional success. That is their reading of the line, not a new statement from Short.
Neither piece reports fresh comments from him. The material is from the 2014 book.
Only Murders returns on 8 December
The Sun Sentinel also confirms that both men star in “Only Murders in the Building“, and share producing credits with Selena Gomez. The Hulu series returns for season six on 8 December. Its guest list has included Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Tina Fey, Nathan Lane and Shirley MacLaine, among many others.
For more on Short’s recent work, see our earlier report on his reunion with the SCTV cast in a Netflix documentary, and browse more celebrity news and TV & Dramas coverage.
What happens next
The Hard Rock Live show is on Friday, 15 January, and “Only Murders in the Building” season six arrives on 8 December, so fans get the series first. The Sun Sentinel’s report does not list further tour dates or a ticketing update, so check the venue for availability.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Martin Short and Steve Martin show in Florida?
They play Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Friday, 15 January, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Who else is on stage with them?
Jeff Babko and the Steep Canyon Rangers join them. The show also includes stand-up, sketches and video montages.
When does Only Murders in the Building season six start?
The Sun Sentinel reports that the Hulu series returns on 8 December.
How long have the two toured together?
Since 2015, when they launched “A Very Stupid Conversation”. The Sun Sentinel puts their friendship at more than 40 years.
