“If you get offended by anything, please just send an email to my team. toughshitnorefunds@gmail.com!” Comedy legend Steve Martin opened yet another sold-out show with mediocre comedian (to him, anyway) Martin Short with.
Were there offensive elements? Sure. But was the show itself a riotous, comedic mess in its own ideal way? Without a doubt.
The superduo released a special on Netflix a year or two ago, entitled An Evening You Will Forget For The Rest Of Your Life. And though this string of dates, properly titled The Funniest Show In Town At The Moment, takes place two years later, there wasn’t really much in the way of material unseen in the special. There was a smidge more commentary during some portions though, which probably explains why the evening was about 45 minutes longer than the Netflix special.
Once a montage of the headlining duo’s best moments in film went black, the original Wild And Crazy Guy came out around 8:15. Almost immediately after his warnings about there being no intermission, and how he doesn’t care if you get offended, he introduced his “lesser-known” sidekick.
“Just because I said thank you doesn’t mean you have to stop applauding!” Marty jabbed almost immediately. A few insults and anti-compliments later, the two burst into song, with Jimmy Kimmel Live! pianist Jeff Babko, admitting that they have over-inflated egos, but were about to kick some serious comedy ass.
First and foremost, some childhood images of the comics were displayed on a big screen that normally magnified the two. “That was the year I was voted ‘Most Likely To Marry A Cousin!’” Marty admitted upon seeing his high school senior photo. “GET THAT OFF THE SCREEN!” Steve hollered, upon coming face-to-face with a picture of the two making out at an AFI event.
Most of the night consisted of roasting each other on how chubby or old they once looked for their age, or how painfully lame and unentertaining each other’s work was. But after teaching three guys from the audience The Three Amigos salute, a sliver of civility finally came out when the two sat in their living room-style chairs, and just reminisced for about twenty-five minutes. They were mainly short anecdotes about their extensive careers, from when Marty actually met Katharine Hepburn, to when Steve told about a time him and Marty went to St. Barts for Christmas, and The National Enquirer shot a rather unflattering photo of the two in the ocean.
“We’re gonna keep doing this until we’re not having fun anymore.” Marty confirmed. Steve responded by standing up and striding offstage. With that, Babko came back out, and Marty carried on with talking about his life, his parents, and auditioning for many a Broadway show. He then presented a snippet of what was said to be his first show, “a nude version of the second best story ever told, Stepbrother To Jesus.” By the end of it, even Babko was in a nude suit, flopping around his hand down by his…never mind. “Come on, Jeff, I’ll show you somethin’ huge!” Marty yelled as Steve shooed the two offstage in utter disgust.
If you didn’t know, Steve has been a prodigious banjo player for over 50 years, claiming to have written over 100 banjo songs. He was even kind enough to explain the difference between the banjo and the guitar. “The guitar can get you laid.” he proclaimed.
He sat down and started plucking away effortlessly on a medley of songs he’s written over the years, joined by critically acclaimed country quintet, The First Ladies Of Bluegrass. Before the quintet alone got fifteen minutes devoted to their twangy tunes, the six onstage rocked out to a newer song, I Can Play The Banjo.Every time a break in the lyrics came, one of the First Ladies would do a solo of some sort on their instruments. Steve would then present a dirty look, as a reminder that this was his moment to shine. Nope, no sign of King Tut anywhere.
Once the group’s set ended, Steve came back out to talk some more about ticket prices, until Marty and crew member Jesse Lundsford interrupted him, both slowly marching out in Scottish regalia. He picked Marty up, who put his thumb to the side of Jesse’s mouth, and while rhythmically kicking his right rainbow-socked foot, non-mournfully ululated Amazing Grace, as if he were Jesse’s personal set of bagpipes.
“I can’t believe you laughed at that.” Steve annoyingly poked.
Next came a “puppet” of Marty’s Jiminy Glick, saluting a time when Steve was supposedly doing ventriloquism. Like in the Netflix special, and in general, the two only did one thing together: Roast the hell out of political figures, and Kim Kardashian.
“This is what she looks like without makeup!” The photo on the screen changed from Kim Kardashian to Steven Tyler. Brilliant. Also, apparently Bernie Sanders looks like a used tissue, and Kim Jong Un looks like a bouncer in a lesbian club.
Jiminy ran (yes, ran.) offstage, and out came Marty in his standard suit and tie. Ending the show were eulogies written by each other, for each other, just in case they don’t die together. As you can imagine, Marty’s was full of true sentiment and grief, while Steve’s was just affronting, in his own, perfect, Steve Martin way. “Wow, small turnout. Normally, when the world loses a comedian, everyone’s sad.”
All jokes aside, here’s to many, many more years from the two egomaniacs. We need them immensely, even if their schtick remains more or less the same.
Josh Bradley Live 