Television
In addition to his work on SCTV and SNL, Short has starred in several television specials and series of his own. In 1985, Short starred in the one-hour Showtime special, Martin Short: Concert for the North Americas. This is Short's first live concert, interspersed with studio sketches and a wraparound featuring Jackie Rogers Jr. Co-produced by the CBC, this aired as The Martin Short Comedy Special in Canada in March 1986. In 1989, Short headlined another one-hour comedy special, this time for HBO, I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood, Short's classic send-up of all things Hollywood. It featured many of his characters including: Lawrence Orbach, Ed Grimley, Jackie Rogers Jr, Bradley P. Allen, Troy Soren, and Dale O'Day (the dancing fence); released on VHS, it is now out of print.
Short has had no fewer than three shows called The Martin Short Show, including a sitcom (The Martin Short Show, 1994), a sketch comedy show (The Show Formerly Known as the Martin Short Show, 1995), and a syndicated talk show (The Martin Short Show, 1999). Short starred as Jiminy Glick on Comedy Central's Primetime Glick (2001–03). In addition to his own series, Short has guest starred on several shows including Arrested Development, Muppets Tonight, Law & Order: SVU, Weeds and most recently in a critically acclaimed turn as Leonard Winstone on FX's Damages. As of August 2010, Short is the voice of the Cat in the Hat in The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! on the Public Broadcasting Service.
Short recently shot a new comedy special for television in Toronto (in September 2011). The special, "I, Martin Short, Goes Home" follows Martin's return to his native Hamilton, Ontario and has a cast that includes Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty and Fred Willard. The special aired on CBC television on April 3, 2012 at 9:00pm EDT.
In 2011, Short joined the cast of How I Met Your Mother for its seventh season, playing Marshall Eriksen's manic boss. He is a judge on the upcoming Canadian reality show Canada's Got Talent.
Read more about this topic: Martin Short, Career
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“What is a television apparatus to man, who has only to shut his eyes to see the most inaccessible regions of the seen and the never seen, who has only to imagine in order to pierce through walls and cause all the planetary Baghdads of his dreams to rise from the dust.”
—Salvador Dali (1904–1989)
“In full view of his television audience, he preached a new religion—or a new form of Christianity—based on faith in financial miracles and in a Heaven here on earth with a water slide and luxury hotels. It was a religion of celebrity and showmanship and fun, which made a mockery of all puritanical standards and all canons of good taste. Its standard was excess, and its doctrines were tolerance and freedom from accountability.”
—New Yorker (April 23, 1990)
“Anyone afraid of what he thinks television does to the world is probably just afraid of the world.”
—Clive James (b. 1939)