Martin Short, CM (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer who was a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1984 to 1985 with only one season (Season 10). Before he became a cast member of SNL, Short was also a cast member of Second City Television (SCTV).
On SNL, Short helped revive the show with his many characters for the show's tenth season (the last one produced by Dick Ebersol), which was in danger of falling in quality, thanks to the departures of Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, so Ebersol decided to fill his cast with experienced actors and comedy performers in order to keep the show alive (Lorne Michaels would attempt the same thing in season 11, with disastrous results). Short's SNL characters included manic man-child and Wheel of Fortune fan Ed Grimley, which he borrowed from his SCTV days. The Grimley character became more popular on SNL than it did on SCTV. He also was recognized for his impressions of such celebrities as Jerry Lewis and Katharine Hepburn. SNL proved to be Short's springboard to a long career in film and TV.
He hosted SNL on December 6, 1986, on December 7, 1996 and on December 15, 2012.
Characters/Impressions
Characters
- Ed Grimley
- Irving Cohen
- Jackie Rogers, Jr.
- Lawrence Orback
- Nathan Thurm
Impressions
- Doug Henning
- Jerry Lewis
- Katharine Hepburn
- Larry David
- Lawrence Grossman
- Mick Jagger
- Paul Simon
- Robin Williams
SNL Career
- 1984-1985: Repertory Player
- December 6, 1986: Host
- December 7, 1996: Host
- April 16, 2005: Cameo
- November 11, 2006: Cameo
- December 15, 2012: Host
- March 9, 2013: Cameo