Martin Short is a international treasure and Bill Maher had him on his show so Bill could promote his own book.
Martin Short, as Jiminy, came prepared. Please to enjoy!
If you have not seen, Martin spent most of his time on Conan O’brien’s shows ripping him as well, which was also much fun.
I recommend his book too!
I have not seen that, but I will give him credit for asking Mel Brooks the best possible interview question.
“Mel, what’s your big beef with the Nazis?”
I’ve never seen Maher or any other host break up like that. He was practically crying with laughter.
And I don’t know why. Short did his standard stuff as Glick, probably “ad libs” that he had thrown out dozens of times. I thought he was remarkably unfunny.
But I didn’t have five pounds of makeup being shoved in my face.
Things are generally much funnier when they’re about you!
I didn’t think Glick was “remarkably unfunny”, I just thought it was a lot less funny than Maher’s convulsions made it out to be. I often defend Maher, but in this case I think he was rather shamelessly promoting both himself and his book. But after hosting an incredibly successful show for 22 years, I think he’s entitled to have some fun with it.
This will be Maher’s sixth book. His first was a novel, True Story, a roman a clef about the 80s sudden boom in comedy. The characters are certainly based on or composites of his real-life contemporaries.
I liked back in the day but he doesn’t talk about it now. Considering that the five white male characters were nicknamed Dick, Shit, Fat, Chink, and Buck, you can understand why. I’m totally prepared to believe they were truly representative of the times and anyone who wants a sociological deep dive into why women and minorities had - reputedly still have - such a tough time in comedy will have tons of material to work with.
I love this line from the Times review.
"when True Story works, it works because of Mr. Maher’s energetic intelligence and his creation of characters whose prolonged sophomorism has distinct qualities
Maher at least is honest about not being a nice guy. Many - most? - standup comics aren’t but try to hide it.