By Paul Freeman [December, 1991]

In 2018, Martin Short and Steve Martin toured together, much to the delight of audiences. We chatted with Short 27 years prior, just as their soon-to-be smash movie "Father of the Bride" was about to be released.

Martin Short is not above engaging in larceny. With outrageous, wildly imaginative characterizations, he effortlessly steals scene after scene.

In "Father of the Bride," a warm and witty remake of the 1950 MGM classic, he plays a small, but showy part and walks away with the movie. Steve Martin and Diane Keaton star as a couple whose 21-year-old daughter (newcomer Kimberly Williams) is planning an elaborate wedding. Short plays Franck, an extravagant wedding coordinator who is determined to create a spectacularly sumptuous event, even if it bankrupts the parents of the bride.

Director Charles Shyer ("Baby Boom"), who co-wrote the script with Nancy Meyer, encouraged Short to improvise. "The inspiration was to get as loose and free as possible," Short says. "It was just that kind of role."

Off camera, the soft-spoken Short bears little resemblance to the zany characters he has created. Dressed in a blue T-shirt and black suit, he appears relatively normal. He is in the process of grappling with serious subjects, such as aging and death. There is, however, a touch of the manic in his naughty green eyes. He insists that it is the performance that's important, not the size of the part.

"I try to find roles about which I can actually say, 'Gee, I wonder how many people could play this?" he says. "If the number is very small, I'm interested."

If some in the audience assume that Franck is gay, they're mistaken. "He's spirited," Short says. "Of course, there are people who think he must be gay, because of his occupation. But that type of people will label someone by the way they cross their legs. It's the mentality of John Wayne referring to the characters in 'Midnight Cowboy' as 'those two faggots.'"

Among Franck's distinctive features are his teased hair, exaggerated gestures and hilarious, murky accent. "It was in the script that he would have an accent that Steve couldn't understand, but that others would," Short explains. "Some of the words were spelled out phonetically for me. From there, I had a lot of leeway. There was inconsistency in the accent, like maybe the guy's from Poland, was educated in England and has developed a French affectation. It's a mishmash."

Short, a Canadian, is married and has three children, ages two to seven. The movie made him think about becoming a father of the bride. "Every time I watch my seven-year-old daughter sleep and think about how tiny she used to be, it boggles my mind. Time is going so fast. The issue is your own mortality and how you accept that someday you'll be a grandfather, then you'll be a great-grandfather, then you'll be in an urn somewhere. That's the way of life.

"I bought a house in 1977 and signing a mortgage was like having as acid experience... I thought, 'Why the panic?' I realized that it was about the fact that I was 27. My father died when I was 20. Now I was my father, because I owned a house. He had died and I was going to die someday, too. So, I think, in the movie, Steve's character is not just saying goodbye to his daughter. He's saying goodbye to maybe his best years and coming to grips with his own mortality."

Martin is one of Short's best friends. They met while working on "Three Amigos!" "He has a very well-placed ego," Short says. "It's not icky in its humility, nor does he view himself as a genius, as others do. What I admire most about Steve is how hard he works. He takes nothing for granted."

Short, a favorite with Carson and Letterman audiences, has made his greatest impact to date through television, particularly "SCTV Comedy Network" and "Saturday Night Live." Among his memorable characters are super-nerd Ed Grimley, slick and slimy lawyer Nathan Thurm, irresistibly obnoxious celebrity journalist Jiminy Glick and Jackie Rogers Jr., the nightclub singer from hell.

Many of those who have been part of "Saturday Night Live" have described it as a hellish experience. "My memories of it grow fonder, the longer I'm away from it," Short says. "Truthfully, everyone was nice to me, treated me with great respect. They let me do my odd little sketches, my odd little characters. But I'd done 'SCTV' for three years before, and I found it such a superior way to do that kind of show. There was so much pressure involved with 'Saturday Night Live.'"

The movie industry has yet to find the right vehicle for Short's talents. He has appeared in such light fare as "Innerspace," "Cross My Heart," "Three Fugitives" and "Pure Luck." He earned his best reviews in another small, flamboyant role, that of the terminally insincere agent in "The Big Picture." He has high hopes for the upcoming "Clifford," which he co-wrote. He plays a 10-year-old in the film, which also features Charles Grodin and Dabney Coleman. At the moment, the movie is in limbo at Orion Pictures. It may be released in the spring.

Short thinks that comedy movies in general do not get the respect they deserve. "If you make a slapstick film today, you know it will get badly reviewed in this country. There's a perception of, "What's so tricky about falling down?" An audience can be screaming with laughter and the critics' response is, "Yes, but that's Three Stooges time,' as if the Three Stooges weren't doing art.

"Cary Grant never won an Oscar. With the work Steve has done in the last couple of years, it's amazing he hasn't gotten a nomination. Comedy is dismissed as being an easy form. If it's easy and we get the worst reviews, that must mean that we're idiots. If it's hard, why not give a nomination when we do it successfully? I always think I might win an Oscar at the age of 58 for playing some old dub. Everybody will say, 'Isn't it great? Where has he been?'"

He believes the prevailing attitudes about comedy will change. "In the 20s, in this country, physical comedy was the art form that was held on the highest pedestal. It will come back to that. If Chaplin were around today, he'd be doing Pepsi or Nike commercials."

Comedy always came naturally to Short. "I come from a funny family. I was the youngest of five. I think it was the trickle-down comedy theory. I never decided to make people laugh. It was second nature. I never got in trouble in school. If the teacher was weak, I was the class clown. If the teacher was strict, I was as good as gold.

"I was always a mimic, doing impressions of teachers, kids. That's a great way to get into doing characters. I must say, most characters I've done have been composites of people I've met. Mimicry gives you a good foundation. You need a lot of truth in there for people to relate to."

Gradually, Short has learned to be satisfied with what he created, regardless of the box-office results. "It's dangerous to be too hard on yourself. It's okay to beat yourself up, if you haven't done everything you could on a project. You can't beat yourself up about fate. I can tell you honestly, if 'Clifford' came out and no one saw it, it'd be a drag, but it wouldn't defeat me. I'd sit back and say, 'A film exists forever.'"

Now 41, Short is struggling with the trauma of aging. "I haven't lost my hair. I still have energy. But, 'Actor has heart attack at 42' does not seem as weird as 'Actor, 38, has heart attack.' I love my wife. I love my children and I don't want to go away from them. Over the years, I've had movies and TV series whose success seemed like life and death to me. I've come to realize how big a part luck plays in this business. Now what motivates me is, am I healthy? Is my family healthy? Not how did the film open in Des Moines."