Review: I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend

I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve always liked Martin Short as a comedian. But he wasn’t ever in my mind in the same class as my favorites, including many stand ups. Short just seemed a bit different, approaching comedy from a different base, and always trying hard while sometimes showing how hard it can be. Kinda like the Tony Danza of comedy. But I liked his book.

The book really didn’t hit me until Short started dropping names, like Gilda, and Paul Schaeffer. This happens early on, as Short was part of the Toronto comic actors that became SCTV and populated SNL. I greatly enjoyed his stories of other comedians. I also found his extended description of his Christmas parties to be quite funny. This isn’t all fun, though, as Short describes the loss of his wife to cancer, and the impact to his family and his own life that has made. Very touching and sincere. (And Short’s story makes me kinda wish I had a friend like Kurt Russell.) I listened to this an audio, and Short’s narration, with impersonations and character voices that you are familiar with, really added to the presentation.


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