I Must Say audiobook

If you are reading this right now as a physical book, put it down right now and get the audiobook. Martin Short narrates it himself, and does all the singing, characters (Ed Grimley, etc), and celeb-friend impressions. It's a performance piece you miss out on when you just read it.Although this book is very funny, Short's life has also been touched with tragedy. It's all here.

4.5 starsMartin Short has always come across to me as one of the genuinely nice guys in Hollywood. Someone you could easily strike up a conversation with at a bar and he'd have you laughing hysterically within minutes. After reading his memoir and learning more about his close friendships that have spanned decades and the love he has for his family, I feel very justified in saying he's one of the good ones.Martin was the youngest of five children growing up in Canada, and by the age of 20 he had lost both his parents and his oldest brother. His big break came as part of the cast of the Toronto production ofGodspell and it was there where he would develop friendships with other actors who would go on to find success including Eugene Levy, Victor Garber, musician Paul Schaffer, and Gilda Radner, who Martin dated for a few years. ( I'm very well-versed in random pop culture facts like this but even I was shocked to learn they dated.) Martin would later go on to become part of the cast of SCTV and Saturday Night Live as well as act in movies like Three Amigos and the Father of the Bride series. He's definitely had a respectable career even if some of his projects weren't quite so successful.There were two things that really stood out to me with this book. The first being, Martin does come across as a down to earth guy but he definitely has a ton of famous friends. There's plenty of stories about Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, etc. and remarkably it doesn't come across as bragging that he's friends with half of Hollywood, it's more just funny or touching conversations or experiences he's shared with the people he's close with. The other thing I think makes this book worth reading is Martin sharing his thoughts about his wife's battle with cancer and his life after her death. There are really some touching passages that brought me to tears. Highly recommend reading if you enjoy celebrity memoirs! I don't even think you have to be a big Martin Short fan to find this a good read.

As with most memoirs by comic performers, I partly listened to and partly read Martin Short's I Must Say: My Life As A Humble Comedy Legend. Turns out that was a good decision.Even working with a co-writer (David Kamp), Short isn’t the best scribe. But he’s a first-rate impressionist. And so when he’s telling stories involving his famous friends (Tom Hanks, Nora Ephron, Steve Martin, Eugene Levy, Paul Shaffer, Gilda Radner, et al.), he brings them to life in the audiobook with quick, sharp impersonations – sort of like a master caricaturist creating a portrait in a couple of seconds.This book reminded me why I like Short so much. He’s an eternal optimist, something that’s rare in show business. All of that comes through here, even though he’s experienced a lot of pain: the early death of an older brother in a car crash; the loss of both parents by the time he was 20; and, most movingly, the death by cancer of his wife, Nancy, in 2010. She was – pardon the cliché – the love of his life. You’ll need a box of Kleenex when reading the book’s closing pages.In fact, the stories about his family – he grew up in a large brood in Hamilton, Ontario, about an hour away from Toronto – provide the memoir with its heart.On the career front, Short’s experienced a lot: from the highs of SCTV, Second City and the legendary Toronto production of Godspell, featuring future stars Radner, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, Shaffer and Dave Thomas, to the lows of commercially unsuccessful leads in films like Three Amigos, Clifford, Innerspace and Cross My Heart. His obnoxious critic character Jiminy Glick makes an appearance, but Short doesn’t say anything about the disastrous box office flop that was the Glick movie.Not that he holds back a lot.He talks candidly about his unhappiness at Saturday Night Live, where he lasted one season, and he discusses failed TV talk shows, early pilots and really, really bad theatre when he was just starting out. In one chapter, he addresses his awkward Today show interview with Kathie Lee Gifford, in which she kept discussing Short’s dead wife, Nancy, in the present tense, obviously not knowing she had passed away. His reaction – good Canadian boy that he is – was generous and charitable, with nary a sarcastic comment about the show's research team.What you end up with is an entertaining memoir about the life of a working actor. Short has created some of the funniest characters in TV history: Ed Grimley (whose catchphrase gives the book its title and whose shtick often worked as a buffer between Short and his wife when they were arguing), old school mogul Irving Cohen, insincere lounge singer Jackie Rogers Jr. and critic Glick.I didn’t realize that his dim-witted character from SCTV, Lawrence Orbach (see below), was also part of the famous male synchronized swimming duo sketch from SNL (with Harry Shearer). Seeing how he created these characters, and how they emerged physically, is fascinating.Many of these famous characters get little “interludes” in the book, and they’re among the funniest parts.And his descriptions of his colleagues' work is dead-on. He gets right to the heart of why a Radner or a Martin or a Catherine O'Hara is so special.What’s remarkable is that even before he started playing all these characters, going on talk shows (where he always arrives incredibly well-prepared, he tells us) and throwing glamorous Christmas parties with A-list celebrities, he would essentially be doing something similar all by himself in his Hamilton bedroom.His life and enduring career – which includes a scene-stealing performance in 2014’s Inherent Vice, and solid dramatic work in one season of Damages – demonstrate that sometimes one’s dreams really can come true.The book came out before Short’s recent controversial plastic surgeon character from the Netflix series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. His blond-maned, eerily ageless looking Dr. Franff bore a striking to resemblance to real-life surgeon to the stars Dr. Fredric Brandt, who ended up committing suicide shortly after the episodes aired.Wow... apparently Brandt suffered from depression, but to have caused someone's death, even inadvertently, because of one of your satiric characters? How must that feel? Did Short and the writers and producers of the show go too far? Perhaps. I'd like to hear what he has to say about comedy, truth and responsibility.Maybe that's another book.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me..." Now we seem to feel the same about celebrity and wish to know everything. In fact, it is much easier now for the famous to become rich. If you are one of those who do not disdain (in your heart of hearts) the cult of celebrity, the fact that Martin Short is a "comedy legend" should only enhance your enjoyment. This is popular culture through the eyes of a long-term participant.Short has had success (and failure) on radio, TV, stage and screen. His filmography lists 87 movies in which he has acted and 17 in which he wrote or co-wrote the screenplay. He has won two prime time Emmys and two Tonys....and he started his life as the 4th son of a Canadian steel executive. (His mother had most of the musical genius.)This is a very measured and crafted romp through over sixty years of an entertainer's life. One that started with little Marty making recordings of his own prime time variety show before he was 12. An innovator on SCTV, and voted the best of Saturday Night Live during the 1980's, Short has had the knack of finding his audience's funnybone. His book seems very unvarnished as it describes his down periods as well as his successes. It includes breakout commentary by most of the characters he made famous, from Ed Grimley to Jiminy Glick. Is it "as good as it gets" in celebrity autobiography? Not if you fail to listen to the audiobook read by Short, himself. He does all of his characters' breakouts and some had me rolling on the floor. That could merit 5 stars. I read the book and listened to the audiobook and I still would not hesitate to listen to it again on a long car trip. Enjoy!

martin short wrote a book and i read it 7 years ago and it was funny and nice like him. and short, which works on multiple levels.part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago

All I have to say is, "Damn you, Martin Short!"I fully expected this book (audiobook, actually) to be another mediocre, ghost-written celebrity autobiography about a not-so-interesting life. Boy was I wrong. Martin Short has completely exceeded my expectations in this autobiography. He has written and performed a touching, funny, and cohesive story of his life. Other celebrities should be required to read (and/or listen to) this book before attempting to share their stories. I laughed out loud and cried out loud during this book. I related to Martin Short's life. I may just have to stop checking out celebrity memoirs because they will all pale in comparison to this book. Martin Short, you've ruined a genre for me by doing too good of a job.

I listened to this driving from Chicago to Tennessee. Came close to driving off the road or into other cars half the time because I was laughing so hard. He apologized for dropping so many names. I don't think it is dropping names if they're actually his friends. The best part of listening to it is all the voices he does. Whether he's talking to Katharine Hepburn (before she decides to change seats), or doing a Bette Davis impression to her face.Very funny, but filled with sadness too when he recounts the loss of family members. But he learns how to take something positive out of these losses.Hey, he's from Hamilton, Ontario and my car once broke down in Hamilton.

I knew this would be 5 stars before I even started. I would have been shocked if it had been anything less. Martin Short is a talented, 5 star plus entertainer. He can do anything and do it in such an amusing manner that I look forward to his every appearance on TV and film. He has an engaging personality, he reminds me of a naughty boy even though he is well into his 60's. I listened to this on Audible because I wanted to hear him narrate it. Needless to say, he was a fantastic narrator and his life and show business stories are interesting and funny. He is the youngest of 5 children and grew up in Canada. When he was a child, he taped his family secretly at the dinner table. Afterwards, he wrote up the dialogue of this family dinner and has his own children perform it every year because his family cracks him up. He gave a sampling and it made me laugh and wish I had recorded my own family. I can still remember the family dinner when I was a child and my grandmother was talking about some actor she had recently seen and admired. She couldn't remember his name or the name of the movie, but she went to great lengths to describe him. Myself, my parents,my aunt and uncle, and cousins, etc. all made guess after guess. All were incorrect. We finally gave up. A half hour or so after the last guess had been made, she exclaimed, "John Gavin!!" None of us knew who he was....lol. How I would love to have the Martin Short spin on this evening, which I remember as a family night of fun and exasperation. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves him and/or loves to laugh.

Listening to this was a surprise for me on so many levels. I bought it not expecting much as Martin Short was just this actor from some silly 80s movies that I didn't know much about.So the first thing that surprised me was how much he had done, his career and work, most of unheard here in Germany (unless you dive deep into the internet I guess). I really enjoyed listening to him talk about his insecurities and how he came up with characters and how his work life looked.The other thing I hadn't expected was to hear about his familiy and friends, how close they are and stable (meaning, long-lasting and true), aside from reading like a who's who from the '70s and '80s showbiz.And lastly I found it very inspiring to hear bout his life, and his thoughts and the characters that make up his portfolio.I can only recommend this to anyone.

Some reviewer complained Martin Short does too much “namedropping” in this memoir. He’s Martin Fucking Short! He dated Gilda and he’s BFFs with Steve Martin. GTFO. (Listen to the audiobook, as he acts out many of his famous characters.)