Beverly Hills, Calif., Oct. 30, 2001– As an accomplished actor, comedian, magician, author, playwright, screenwriter, Oscar host, New Yorker columnist and banjo maestro (he duets with the legendary Earl Scruggs on an upcoming album), Steve Martin may be Hollywood’s leading Renaissance Man, but he hasn’t forgotten his old friends.
At a media junket to promote his upcoming film Novocaine, a sly and subtle send-up of the crime noir genre in which the comic plays a dentist embroiled in a seamy murder plot, Martin surprised journalists by popping into a suite at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons with his frequent co-star Martin Short in tow. who just happened to be staying at the hotel. Although Short doesn’t appear in Novocaine, he’s co-starred with Martin in three big screen projects (Three Amigos and two Father of the Bride films).
Short burst into the room on Martin’s heels and it seemed he could easily take over the interview session with his trademark high-volume energy, but instead practiced restraint, only occasionally tossing off what Jiminy Glick might call “the patented Marty Short zinger” from his seat on the couch while the silver-haired actor fielded questions from the press.
“I’m a lazy guy,” said Martin, dismissing the notion that to be so diverse and prolific he must be constantly in front of the camera or the word processor. “I know it looks like I’m always working, but I’m not.”He also reacted calmly to claims by some dental professionals that their profession is often maligned in the pop culture. “Only twice. By me,” he said, referring to his over-the-top turn as a laughing gas-huffing oral surgeon in Little Shop of Horrors (1986). His worst experience on the other side of the dentist’s chair? “All of them!”
When I asked if he would ever consent to be interviewed by the portly and perpetually misinformed Hollywood chat host Jiminy Glick on Comedy Central’s Primetime Glick again, Martin angrily shot back “Never!” then winced as he realized that Glick’s alter-ego was glaring at him from the sofa. “Oh God, Marty’s in the room,” Martin whispered, then diplomatically explained that Jiminy was looking for fresher faces to grill these days.
Indeed, Short told me–after indulging me with a few resonant “wonderful, wonderful” Glickisms, which my more easily amused friends and I are hopelessly addicted to–he had just come from another Four Seasons suite where he had interviewed Ben Stiller and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in his full fat-suit regalia–which explained why I spotted the former Seinfeld star in the lobby earlier. “Steve wandered up and now we’re having lunch,” Short said.
The two comedy legends split to break bread before I could ask if they were working on an upcoming project together. But as Jiminy might say, I haven’t heard anything about it but I know that it’s wonderful, wonderful.
