Marty, Life is Short

It’s three characters that have made Martin Short my all-time favorite comic actor: SNL’s Ed Grimley, the zany, triangle-playing man-child with gelled hair and pants pulled up to his thorax; Franck Eggelhoffer, the fussy, weirdly accented wedding planner in the Father of the Bride series of movies; and Oliver Putnam, the charmingly self-absorbed theater director solving murders on a podcast in Only Murders in the Building.

For my husband, it’s Jiminy Glick, Short’s pompous alter ego who interviews celebrities and asks them outrageous questions. I’m not a big Jiminy Glick fan, but I adore Short anyway.

He’s played oodles of characters over his long career, and he will be the first to tell you not all of them have worked.

In fact, Short is clear that most of them have not worked. Many of his movies have flopped, either with audiences or critics or both. But in this intimate, heartwarming, and human portrait, Short has a fascinating take on the flops and the missteps: “98 percent of it is failure; nothing works and then something works.” In another part of the film, he says 90% of things you try creatively are going to fail. “That’s the job,” he tells younger actor John Mulaney, who was crestfallen about the low ratings for one of his projects.

As a creative person myself, I found this oddly comforting. Like Edison reiterating the lightbulb a gazillion times before that first light burned like a star, Short’s career has been a study in bursts of success with long periods of failure.

Through it all, Short has resolved to be himself and not anyone else. “Playing a role 200 actors could do” was never for him. This reminded me of how God has bestowed every image bearer with a singular set of talents and ways of contributing to the world. We are most at home in our souls, abiding with God, when we are living just the way he made us.

For Short, his gifts go beyond the screen to a rich, devoted family life and deep, authentic friendships. I had read of his devotion to wife Nancy Dolman, to whom he was married for decades until cancer took her life when she was 58. Watching the film, though, I got to know Nancy in a new way through home movie footage. What a winsome, joyful, funny woman, and what a tragedy that she died so young.

Short was already experienced in suffering by the time his beloved Nancy died. He was 12 when his adored oldest brother died in a car crash, 18 when his mother died of cancer, and 20 when his father died, leaving him parentless as a college student.

His Irish family was loving, close knit, and hilarious, and from that foundation he was able to move on in one piece, terrible though his losses were. Short had the support of his three remaining older siblings, and then the friendship of Eugene Levy, Catherine O’ Hara, and other Canadian comic treasures.

Seeing Short through the lens of his famous friends—including O’Hara, who filmed the documentary before her death this year—viewers discover a man with a gift of friendship, who made it possible for Hollywood royalty such as Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Goldie Hawn to be themselves, ordinary humans, not just stars.

Much of the documentary takes place not in Tinseltown, but in Snug Harbour, Ont., at Short’s cottage. Here his family—which included three adopted children—were at their happiest. Short was born to be a father, said friend Andrea Martin, and viewers can see why in the touching clips of home movies.

His role as a father loomed in my mind and likely many other viewers’ minds as I watched the film. Just a few months ago, Short’s eldest child, Katherine, who suffered from bipolar disorder and depression, took her own life. The film was finished before her death, although it is dedicated to her and O’ Hara.

As a fan, I was so saddened by the news. Another tragedy had befallen this dear man, who has made me laugh countless times. I resolved to pray for him, that God would comfort him and hold him close.

As far as I know, Short is not a man of faith. There are few clues in the film, but at one point, he talks about Heaven as if it might exist, not as a certainty.

Christian viewers of the film might want to pray for Short, his family, and his friends. They will be encouraged by this portrait of a man who “is good at life,” as Mulaney says. He exhibits a wisdom and resilience born of suffering and failures and still shows up with laughter and kindness.

As the title declares, “Life is Short,” you may as well laugh as well as cry. Viewers will laugh and cry and reflect on Proverbs 17:22. Laughter is like medicine, even in tremendous affliction. Martin Short’s life exemplifies that beautifully. (Netflix)