Martin Short is having quite a unique Emmy season, and he knows it. His name is all over this year’s nominations, via three very distinct projects: As an actor, he’s nominated for outstanding comedy lead via Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” (He also has a comedy series nom for the show as an executive producer.) As a game show host, he landed a nod for ABC’s “Match Game.” And then he’s the subject of director Lawrence Kasdan’s Netflix documentary “Marty, Life Is Short,” which scored three noms this year.
Short isn’t actually a part of the production team on “Marty, Life Is Short,” so he won’t get an Emmy if it wins for outstanding documentary or nonfiction special. But he gave the film, and Kasdan — whom he’s known for 40 years — his full support.
“[Kasdan] phoned and said that he and Ron Howard and Imagine would love to do this documentary on me, and I kind of went, ‘I don’t know, I’ve written a book, I’m Canadian, we’re a little more reserved, let me think about it,’” Short says. Kasdan then left an eight-minute message explaining why Short’s story — about celebrating life, using humor to work through grief and more — was an important one to share.
Kasdan also knew Short had a ton of material to mine: “Through all these years, I’ve always had a camcorder,” Short says. “With all my kids, I would just film. And I’d have them transferred to DVD. Because of my relationship and trust with him, I was able to take these shelves of movies and just say, ‘here you go.’”
