No, my headline is not a misprint. With their usual flair for funniness (and with a pinch of self-deprecation), legendary comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short subtitle their ongoing national tour show “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life.” Their next stop: Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater on Sunday, Oct. 8.
Steve Martin achieved almost instant fame with his banjo, broad grin and arrow-through-the-head shtick on “Saturday Night Live” back in the ’70s. What followed was a meteoric rise to the first-rank of comedy through numerous television appearances and feature films. As time’s gone on, Martin not only became a more serious actor, but has delved successfully into writing and performing music live and on record. He’s now won Emmy, Grammy and American Comedy awards, among other honors. His banjo was far more than a mere comedic prop. He has always been quite serious about music. Over the past decade or so, he’s been spending much of his professional life playing, recording and touring.
Canadian American actor and comedian Martin Short is best known for his superb work on the old “SCTV” comedy series and, like Steve Martin, his many appearances on “Saturday Night Live.” He’s starred in many films throughout the ’80s and ’90s and, in 1999, won a Tony Award for a leading role in the Broadway revival of Little Me. He’s much less known as a singer—certainly not as a serious one. He’s embodied Jerry Lewis and funnily crooned as such; he also created the would-be lounge singer/rock star Jackie Rodgers Jr. Steve Martin, however, was quick to explain—in my recent interview with both of these fine actors and comedians—that Short is a seriously good singer, too.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
“I have to tell you something about Marty [Short] here,” Martin observed. “Marty has won a Tony Award and is a superb, superb musician as a singer. He has incredible pitch and great tone… he’s just incredible. I’m amazed, actually. Anytime I’ve heard him sing a note sharp, he makes it up by singing the next note flat.” To which Short was quick to respond, “It all evens out!”
This is not their first trip to Milwaukee, by any means, together or separately. “We’ve both played there many times,” Short said, adding, “I played there when Milwaukee was called Detroit.” Martin said that he’s “played in Milwaukee since the ’70s; either on my own or when I was opening for the Carpenters…” Both were at the Riverside, their current show’s venue, just a couple of years ago, in fact.
So, what about this upcoming show? Who’s all in it? What’s the balance of music and comedy?
“We have two excellent musical guests,” Steve Martin pointed out. “We have the Steep Canyon Rangers and, by the way, they have a record coming out this month, and we have Jeff Babko with us. He was the piano player for the “Jimmy Kimmel Show;” he accompanies Marty. So music is intertwined throughout the show.” He added that “It’s really a comedy show, but there are a few moments for what we like to call ‘show-off music.’” And, yes, the banjo will be there, but no arrow through the head, alas. “The arrow has been retired,” Martin said of his iconic early prop. “That’s a shame, by the way,” Short responded.
As for that aforementioned Steep Canyon Rangers album, Steve Martin himself is on it with the bluegrass group; it’s actually their second album together. “They’re Grammy winners for their music, and I’m a Grammy winner for my music, and so it’s a double-Grammy-whammy,” Martin said. The music played at their show will be, according to Martin, “bluegrass and crooning; Marty does crooning, and I do bluegrass, and that’s just what we do.”
As for the legendary characters they’ve both created over the years in film and on television, one does participate in the show. “Jiminy Glick makes an appearance in our show!” announced Steve Martin, to which that loveable character’s creator, Martin Short, replied, “Yes he does. We don’t want to reveal exactly how, but he does.” But, other than that, the show is not a nostalgia act in any sense. As Steve Martin wanted to point out, “It’s very new. We don’t rely on a lot of old bits; we have a film montage at the top, but for the most part it’s a new thing.”
Besides their “Forgettable Evening” tour, which will continue its run throughout 2018, both men have their own additional projects in the near future. “I’ll be voicing a character in a new animated feature, The Willoughbys,” Short announced. Meanwhile, Steve Martin said, “I have a play that I’ve written opening on Broadway in November and starring Amy Schumer. It’s called Meteor Shower.” But for now, catch them right here in Downtown Milwaukee.
At The Riverside Theater, 116 W. Wisconsin Ave., Sunday, Oct. 8. For tickets, call 414-286-3663 or visit pabsttheater.org.
|
|
