On May 30, 2012, Martin Short appeared on The Today Show to promote his upcoming movie, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. At one point during the interview, host Kathie Lee Gifford started asking Short about his wife, Nancy Dolman. “You and Nancy have got one of the greatest marriages of anybody in show business,” Gifford began. “How many years now for you guys?” she continued. It was the first of several questions Gifford had for Short on the subject that day.
Gifford also confirmed that Short and Dolman were still in love. As for why, Short jokingly told her, “I’m cute.” But Gifford wasn’t done; on top of that, she asked Short if he and his wife made each other laugh. He nodded politely, and they moved on to another topic. You can watch the segment in question right here:
“So what’s wrong with that?” some of you are probably thinking. Here’s the issue: Short’s wife died from pancreatic cancer almost two years before that interview took place. Though Short chose not to address it on the air and answered all of Gifford’s questions, he told her about his wife’s death when the show went to commercial, and the host apologized for her error afterward.
She addressed the situation on Twitter that same afternoon as well.
I send my sincerest apologies to @MartinShort and his family. He handled situation w/enormous grace and kindness and I’m so grateful.
— Kathie Lee Gifford (@KathieLGifford) May 30, 2012
The Martin Short Interview That Became One of the Most Infamous Moments in ‘Today’ Show History
It wasn’t the first time Gifford made a mistake like that, either. She reportedly once asked singer James Taylor how his brother was, unaware that he’d died more than a year earlier. But for his part, Short graciously accepted Gifford’s apology, acknowledging that it was just an oversight and that no ill will was intended.
He later told Howard Stern that he didn’t think much of it at the time, but his phone started blowing up immediately, with calls coming in from people like Paul Shaffer, who said, “I can’t believe what I just saw.”
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