That’s what they could have named the new Netflix special, An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life, taking advantage of both performers having “Martin” somewhere in each name.
Anyway, I recommend the show. It appears to be all-new material, and I think both Steve and Marty work well together (and apart). Their comic timing is impeccable, and one thing I like is that they don’t step on each other’s lines and don’t compete (except in a faux way) for attention. They are both excellent straight men, and it shows.
The show gives the appearance of a real-time performance, although that might just be good editing. I do wonder how Marty can get in and out of the Glick prosthesis and makeup so fast. Excellent sound and video quality. And a damn good piano player (Jeff Babko) and band.
I enjoyed it a lot. The vaudeville style worked and they seemed to be having fun. I thought the Jiminy Glick portion had some clunkers, but otherwise it was consistently entertaining and flew by quickly.
In re the name: it seems as though they did use that name at one point, though I may be remembering the use of the joke by Steve Martin and Martin Mull:
Now that I think about it, Martin (the Steve one) humor is a lot like Martin (the Mull one) humor.
Although I’ve been a Steve Martin fan for a long time, I think most of his movies are awful flops. Some (Pink Panther, Dead Men) I can’t watch all the way through. But his Mixed Nuts is one of my favorites, one I make a point to watch again every Christmas.
Notice during the “Five more minutes” encore, they sing that they are required to perform, “An hour fifty-one,” yet the Netflix special is only 1:13. There’s nearly 40 minutes missing. I suspect a great deal of Steve Canyon Rangers performance was cut as they seemed to be brought out then were suddenly gone.
Wow, I couldn’t have had a more opposite reaction to this. I found it sad. I actually thought about starting a Dope thread on the subject of “over-rehearsing” and how this is the first time I’ve really understood what that looks like. It felt to me like two guys who are past it, and have no real interest in it, but are trying to squeeze the last dime out of their name recognition.
Please understand, I love these guys, especially Steve Martin, and I wanted to love this show. Not only am I their target audience, I’m a lifelong fan. But:
Martin Short pretending to be a bagpipe? Really? That wasn’t good; not even for a high school talent show.
The delivery was wooden, every joke was painfully telegraphed, and the material was like something Rob, Sally, and Buddy would have rejected saying “It’s been done.”
I mean:
Martin Short sitting on the piano, picking on the piano player, going waaaayyyy too far for a lousy joke, and then playing with his legs?
Steve Martin claiming they’d been told they have to do five more minutes? And trying to do the funny dances he is clearly no longer deft enough to execute?
The Elvis story was good, and the make-up artist. I also liked the “backhanded compliments” and the old photos. And I always like to hear anyone playing the banjo.
But my overall impression was that it was just pathetic and the timing was awful.
It is indeed the Steep Canyon Rangers. And I concur with TruCelt that the bagpipe segment had no place in this show. Perhaps some editing removed the premise? It happens.
I liked the show. Definitely old-style vaudeville-like. In sharp contrast to another Netflix comedy show - “the Break” with Michelle Wolfe who was the main speaker at the Whitehouse correspondents dinner which I just watched and was caustic (but funny).
Both Martins put on a good performance and were sharp and energetic. I found the whole show entertaining, but probably would not want to shell out for expensive tickets to see it. Just too old Pros reminiscing, with some clever bits.
Sounds like I’m better off that I’m seeing this show from the lawn at Ravinia. If the show is great, pay attention. If not, don’t and just enjoy picnicking.
I found it more entertaining than funny. Much of it was music and Steve and Martin reminiscing, though the stories were fun to hear if not funny. Overall, it was pretty good, but it lived up to its title.
I never thought that Steve Martin was anything more than a mediocre comedian, but he is a great comic actor. Playing a role, he can be wonderful. Doing standup, he never really was all that funny – he’s an actor overplaying a comedian, not a comedian.
