Steve Martin and Martin Short will soon entertain the crowds all over Florida. You can enter Shenanigan along with Selena Gomez in “The Only Murder in a Building” in the fifth season of their hit full show.
But they sometimes spend time apart. Like a Zoom interview with the Tampa Bay Times on a recent August afternoon when Martin called from Santa Barbara and Short joined from Los Angeles.
“We don’t actually live together,” Short said with a laugh.
The comedy legend will take place on October 5th in Clearwater at two shows, “The Dukes of Funnytown!” Bring tours, jokes, music and loving jabs to each other. The pair have been friends and collaborators for over 40 years, starting with the 1986 film Three Amigos.
Prior to their performance, they chatted about manatees, long friendships, famous Florida friends and more. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
It’s exciting to be back at Loose Eckard Hall.
Martin: It’s good to go there. It is very open, the streets are wide and the sun is shining. It negates my time with Mr. Dommy.
You’ve both been to Clearwater before. What made you come back?
Short: Money.
Martin: No, that’s not true. Because we really love doing shows. And when we come to Florida, you try to do it together like two or three shows. It’s economical and Clearwater is a great stop for us. The water is very clear!
Short: Also, that’s because the audience is so great. However, I played Ruth Ecker Hall on my own many times.
Martin: It’s interesting to note that when Marty played himself, not me, the house was half full.
Short: That’s not very true. Three-quarters.
There is a lot of stupidity in Florida. Is there anything about the time you spent in the state that sparked your jokes before?
Martin: When we’re just coming from Florida, we sometimes joke. “We had a show in Florida yesterday at 3pm.
Short: I say I love Florida because I love visiting Manatees. Incidentally, the manatees are tasty.
What is on your Florida bucket list while you’re here?
Martin: I have a lot of friends in Florida. The great comedy writer Dave Barry lives in Florida. i love him. He wrote when I was an Oscar host. I thought he was so funny that I called him out of the blue, so I spent time with him.
Short: I saw him with Bill Maher. So he said the 77 was the new 75.
Martin: He was also joking, but that should probably not be quoted. He said, “Florida has a bad reputation. But why should 23 million people get a bad reputation for the actions of 21 million people?”
Are there any other famous Florida people you’re a fan of?
Martin: Well, I don’t know everyone’s locale. I give some names. Please tell me if they are from Florida.
Short: I understand.
Martin: Oscar Wilde?
Short: I was going to say Mussolini.
Martin: It’s just a stab wound in the darkness.
Short: Listen, Florida is in a beautiful state, and God blesses it. We are excited.
What is it like to work together and become friends for a long time, then tour together?
Short: The reality is that rent is covered. The reason we do these shows is because we have so much fun with Steve and myself, as well as (musician) Jeff Babco and (bluegrass band) The Steep Canyon Rangers.
Martin: I need to fix it. You’re covering rent.
Short: The reason we do this is because of fun dinners and fun rehearsals because we love to do shows and love the people we work with.
MARTIN: Another small reason is that it keeps us in shape. We don’t work for a year and don’t want to say, “What was our show?” You know, we like to keep it fresh.
They help perform when they’re on stage live, working on comedy timing, having audience-like sounds in their heads, and even if they’re not there, they’re not there, doing “juvenators alone (building).” It’s all fed into one thing. I think it’s just going to be active.
It’s been 10 years since our first tour together. Has things changed since then?
Martin: The structure of the show has not actually changed, but the content of the show has changed. I mean, I’ll come out and introduce you to Marty, we have some jokes, we do some bits. After that, Marty has a solo spot. There is a solo spot.
Short: At some point, we sit together and chat.
MARTIN: The anecdotes are different, but there are many new materials in their shapes. Obviously, we don’t have political material, but we make some modern jokes about celebrities and so on, so those things are constantly being updated.
Marty, where are you?
Short: I’m at the Peninsula hotel.
Martin: Yes, it’s because it looks good, not like your home.
Short: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Martin: So, were you asking something?
Has it been a while since you all hang out? Do you miss each other?
Short: Steve was in my cottage just two weeks ago.
Martin: We were a week early, but we celebrated it as if it was my birthday. We just finished work together in June. So we are reluctantly always in each other’s faces.
Short: Five Movies, Endless Concerts, Five Years of Television Series. You know, we spend a lot of time on each other, so there’s a natural rhythm. And the reason we do that is because we think we are very professionally superior to each other. We also have fun.
Are there other projects you want people to know?
Short: In October, a bluegrass music album that I did with Alison Brown, a leading American banjo player, came out. She and her husband had a record company and we just started writing some songs together. We’re very grateful as we already have some hit records.
There’s a joke written for us, Marty. You say, “What were you doing with your summer? I say,” oh, I was working on my nonprofit organization. ” And you say, “Oh, your music career.”
Short: (laughs) I put that in.
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If you’re going
“The Duke of the Funny Town!” Tickets can be purchased at Ruth Eckerd Hall at 1111 McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater, at 8pm at 4pm and 8pm, from $128.25 to $305.25, available at Rutheckerdhall.com. Call Raymond James Central Ticket Office at Ruth Eckard Hall at 727-791-7400.
