Martin Short in 1985: 'You wonder if someone is gonna say, Back to Hamilton!'
The comedian receives a GG Performing Arts Award this week. Flash back to this interview from his SNL days
Martin Short will receive a Governor General's Performing Arts Award Thursday at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. It's a lifetime achievement award, but then, the 67-year-old comedian's never shown signs of slowing down. He's the kind of performer you could call the hardest-working man in Hollywood, or Toronto — or wherever he happens to be making them laugh — and the same was true back in 1985 when this interview aired on CBC.
SCTV had wrapped the previous year, and Short was then a Saturday Night Live cast member with his cult classic comedy ¡Three Amigos! (1986) on the horizon. It was a new career high, but in this interview, Short tells CBC host Valerie Pringle how he stays grounded. "Each time you sit down to write something you wonder if that's it — if you've just kind of exhausted any little bit of talent you had and that someone is gonna tap you on the shoulder and say, 'Back to Hamilton!'" When it comes to his performing career, his philosophy at the time was this: "I've always thought in terms of just working."
Livestream the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards at cbc.ca/ggawards, June 29 at 8 p.m. ET.
A one-hour anniversary special celebrating 25 years of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards airs Friday, June 30 on CBC-TV and watch.cbc.ca.