WATCH ABOVE: Lynn Colliar and Jay Durant talk with Martin Short about his newly released memoir.
Martin Short says that if he didn’t include stories of tragedy in his new memoir, “It would just be series of anecdotes you could might as well go on Letterman and tell.”
Short’s memoir I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend was published earlier last month, and takes a look at the highs of the Canadian comedy icon’s career, including his time on both SCTV and Saturday Night Live.
But it also includes some of the lows. His wife Nancy Dolman died of cancer in 2010, and Short said learning to cope with her loss provided inspiration for the book.
“I was 60 years old, and I had to figure out how to regain my natural thing of being happy. Not just for me, but my three kids,” said Short.
“When I was a kid, I was youngest of five children, happy Irish-Catholic funny family. And then when I was 12 my eldest brother died in a car accident, my mother got cancer and died when I was 17, and my father died by 20. Suddenly at 20 I had to figure it out. Either be empowered by this and learn something about life…or become a victim. I wasn’t going to be a victim,” he said.
“It struck me that at 20 and 60 I was in the same situation. And that’s when I thought maybe there is a book other than funny stories about meeting Frank Sinatra.”
Short will be singing copies of his book at the Chatpers on Robson street at 7 p.m. tonight.