An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life
Netflix · 2018 · 74 min
Two veteran comedians trade music, roasts, and showmanship.
Steve Martin and Martin Short do not perform stand-up comedy so much as they throw a high-end, self-deprecating variety show. Their shared set is built on decades of showbiz mileage and a mutual desire to roast each other under the guise of an old-school Hollywood bromance. While the modern comedy landscape often demands heavy thematic weight or vulnerable truths, this performance leans entirely into the polished silliness of a lost era. It is a breezy mix of musical numbers, retrospective banter, and character bits that treats their decades of fame as a punchline rather than a monument.
Filmed at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina, and released on Netflix in 2018, the 74-minute special caught the duo in the middle of a highly successful, multi-year touring partnership. The show moves between joint banter, including an opening duet comparing their egos to Chris Christie’s appetite, and solo segments. Martin delivers dry, deadpan observations and plays the banjo with his bluegrass band, the Steep Canyon Rangers, while Short injects physical energy, a bagpipe gag, and a late-segment revival of his celebrity-skewering character Jiminy Glick. The special received four Emmy nominations, praised by critics for its nostalgic charm and the genuine affection anchoring the two performers’ rapid-fire roasts.
The set list
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Hollywood Insults and Left-Handed Compliments
The duo exchange barbed compliments, explaining that insults are how Hollywood figures express love and flattery, accompanied by jokes ribbing each other's childhood photographs.
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Jiminy Glick Celebrity Roasts
Martin Short brings back his celebrity interviewer character Jiminy Glick as a ventriloquist puppet to deliver offensive, biting one-liners about political and cultural figures while Steve Martin reprimands him.
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Off-Broadway Song-and-Dance Routine
Martin Short performs a high-energy, nearly nude theatrical song-and-dance routine during his solo spotlight, daring Martin to top it.
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Banjo and Bluegrass Performance
Steve Martin showcases sincere, award-winning banjo playing accompanied by The Steep Canyon Rangers and pianist Jeff Babko interspersed with comedic banter.
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The Buddy Song
Martin and Short assemble with the musical ensemble for a comedic musical finale celebrating their partnership.
How it plays
- Tone
- Aggressively affable, nostalgic, witty, self-deprecating, and affectionate.
- On stage
- Martin Short performs with exuberant mugging and wild tangents, while Steve Martin acts as the dry, sarcastic, deadpan foil and voice of sanity.
- Pace
- Off-the-wall energy combined with vaudeville-era schtick, cozy conversational pacing, and tight musical transitions.
- About
- showbiz careers and celebrity encounters, longtime friendship and Hollywood compliments, aging and vanity, bluegrass music
What the critics said
Brimming with sidesplitting laughs and off the wall energy, Steve Martin And Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget For the Rest of Your Life is a nostalgic celebration of two comedy legends.
In the room: Warm, cozy, and highly responsive to the unforced chemistry and precision timing of the two performers.
Backstory
Adapted from their collaborative live touring show developed over three years, blending standup, Hollywood reminiscences, and musical sets.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- Peace Center, Greenville
- Runtime
- 74 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Marcus Raboy
- Honors
- Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) (2018)Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special (2018)Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special (2018) and 2 more
- Topics
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