From the mad sprite Ed Grimley to Oliver Putnam, the flamboyant, forever failing Broadway director he plays in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” — for which he’s nominated for an Emmy — Martin Short has a gift for playing colorful characters who take up a lot of space. This summer he’s become eligible for a different category of Emmy as well, as host of ABC’s “Match Game.” (Also big, also colorful.)
“You reach a point where you’ve done everything,” Short, 75, said by Zoom recently, about taking that job. “But you haven’t done that. It could be fun — or it could be a big mistake. And that kind of challenge is still provocative to me.”
You were nominated as lead actor in a comedy this year, but your co-star Steve Martin wasn’t. Did that occasion any interesting conversations between you?
Oh, yeah. Steve called me up midafternoon and said, “I’ve been out all day and I’ve been hiking and hiking. Heard anything about the Emmys yet?” But I think Steve’s pretty confident in who he is, what he does.
In 1982, you won an Emmy for writing on “SCTV.” As a Canadian, did an American award mean something special to you?
Absolutely. Being in Canada, you weren’t in an igloo somewhere; you were living 50 miles from the border. You got CBS, NBC, ABC — my whole world from the time I was born was watching American television. I knew every show that was on in every hour or half-hour of prime time, on all three networks. And of course, the family in those days watched one show together, so usually parents dictated anyway.
Did any of that find its way into your own work?
When I was in my 20s, I’d put in a circle beside some script “DVD” or “SL” — “Do Dick Van Dyke” or “Stan Laurel.” You’re not going to do your own style. You don’t have one. I had a lot of “JL,” Jack Lemmon. There was a kind of rhythm, a fast staccato he could get. You were just delighted to see him.
When I was 12 and 13, television was mainly variety shows, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Danny Kaye. And you respond to the sketches and you’re influenced by them. I mean, I was most influenced by Nichols and May; they had a Broadway show that was basically variety, and they played sketches.
When did you first feel you wanted to be part of that world?
Oh, very late. In my mid-20s, I would say.
Before then?
I was in social work. I was about to do a master’s [degree], and I took a year off to explore this interest I had in theater — ’cause I was doing plays, Shakespeare and all these things, with [future “SCTV” co-stars] Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas at McMaster University in Hamilton [Ontario]. And in the course of this year I gave myself, I got the show “Godspell,” and that begat other things. But I thought of myself as musical performer, an actor — maybe I’d be Sinatra someday. That’s where I was thinking. Not, “I want to be Jerry Lewis.”
What are the pleasures of being in a double act with Steve Martin, and a triple act with Selena Gomez?
Well, even when I was a cast member at “SNL” and having a relatively successful year, I was in two pieces a show. So I think less is more. What’s great about sharing a stage or sharing a television show is that the camera is not always on you. And then when they see you, they kind of like to see you again — hopefully. I came from Second City improv; to me, the reaction was as powerful as the action. You look at a film like “The Philadelphia Story,” and Cary Grant is dealing with a drunken Jimmy Stewart, just reacting. But Cary’s just as funny.
What’s it like working with Selena, who’s from a different generation?
She’s a different generation, but she’s also just a sweet, lovely person — you can be lovely at 80, lovely at 20, or the opposite. But also she’s a pro, she knows her lines, she’s on time. I think the thing that’s been most beneficial to the success of the show is that the three of us work in a similar way — loose, fun, laughs on the set, mistakes laughed at, no tension. Because that’s the only thing you can control. You don’t know if the film’s going to be any good, but you can control the working situation.
You’re very physical in “Only Murders.” Do you have any sort of regimen to stay in shape?
I think a lot of that’s DNA and luck. But I always have done Pilates, which is all about stretch and core.
Is there also a psychological element to how you fly through the world?
I think it all goes to health. I remember when I was turning 30 I decided to get into the best shape I’d ever been in in my life. And I was going to the gym and working out, and two days before turning 30 I pulled my back lifting weights and could barely walk, and felt like I was 90. But I have great health; I don’t get up [and] go, “Oh that’s right, I’m not spry anymore.” That might affect my behavior. But I don’t put an age on myself, because I don’t feel restricted by age.
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