Top 68 Quotes & Sayings by Martin Short

People do think I'm Jewish. But we're Irish Catholic. My father had a brogue.

One of my great influences was Don Knotts as Barney Fife.

I've never done an improvised movie as a fictitious character. I think that's the challenge.

I've done lots of improv things but not a whole movie.

I pretend I'm one of the royal family when I'm in a hotel and that the hotel belongs to me - it is a palace.

Any time you're honoured by your home, it's a bigger deal than most.

I was a huge fan of Steve Martin, as everyone I knew in comedy was.

All these things that enter your head are assignments. You write them up and then throw them out there and if someone wants to do it, your assignment is done.

Anytime there's originality and comedy combined, it's very potent for people who love comedy.

All you're trying to do in an improvisation is get as much material as possible for the editing room.

My natural state is to be happy. I'm naturally buoyant. I wake up feeling, 'What a great morning!' I've had some tragedy in my life, absolutely, but I don't know one human being who hasn't. You either learn from it and become empowered by it, or you become a victim to it. It's life, after all.

I think that even though the characters were heightened, the 'SCTV' cast were all such strong actors they found a certain truth in playing them. I think that's why the show stays fresh and timeless.

Someone once asked me what was the weirdest question I was ever asked. And I was stymied.

Eugene Levy is my closest friend.

There's a lot of insecure, sad people in any profession.

My mother was the concert master of the symphony. Absurdity and eccentricity were not criticized.

I know if I were to drop dead now, people would probably write nice things in the obit.

Trump is Trump. Some people find him hilarious. I don't find it hilarious, but you can't say it's dull. There's nothing credible about Donald Trump.

I remember, as a kid, nothing struck me funnier than seeing Richard Nixon look into the camera and sincerely tell everyone he didn't know where the 18 minutes had gone from his tapes. But there was all this sweat on his upper lip. We knew he was lying. He knew we knew he was lying. But he was determined to tell the lie.

When kids like Steven Spielberg were eight and nine and 10, they had little cameras, and that's all they wanted to do. When I was 10, I was in my attic pretending to host my own variety show. Spielberg wasn't. That's why he's a film director, and I'm doing what I'm doing.

'Nice' is not a common label for comedians, but it is for Canadians. I like it.

I have a kind of objective luxury about my career.

When you get to a point where you're successful enough that you can say, 'I don't have to take any job anymore,' and you're still good at what you do, how do you decide what work to take on? I think the answer is that you pursue what you enjoy. In my case, it's variety.

No one is any one thing.

I have sometimes imagined my own death and brought myself to tears.

I hate to lull the audience into letting them think that something is something. It's always fun to defy expectations.

I've always thought one of the tricks of being an actor for a long time is keeping yourself interested once you've figured out how to pay the rent.

You try to figure out things to keep yourself interested. It's very easy to get lulled.

What's great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It's not about the gloss of your eyebrows.

You go through publicists because it's easy for a publicist to say to another publicist, 'No'.

Everything alters and changes with time. Some things that are considered triumphs, and 10 years later, they're considered minor.

Some people you work on a film with, and then they disappear.

I think I'm funny because my family, my siblings were funny.

Being the youngest of five, you're adored, you're fueled with confidence.

What I learned, a little too late, was that the 'traditional' Martin Short target viewer weighs under 300 pounds. Unfortunately, I was on during daytime.

I'm just drawn to the odd guy, the man who is full of it, the guy who has limited talent but is pretending he's a genius.

Why does 'I Love Lucy' still make people laugh? Because she's a specific character who has real reactions.

Comedy is a weird thing.

I think Canadians are great satirists because we sit in the middle of these two giants: Great Britain and the U.S.

I think loss can fuel how you lead your whole life.

Sometimes people get passionate about the obscure jokes.

Often audiences vary... but I've always found Milwaukee to be a fabulous place to play with great audiences and very hip.

The mark of the man is how he responds to situations. You're not going to avoid tough times. We're all over the barrel some of the time. What are you going to do about it?

No one doesn't have loss. No one doesn't have pain.

I've chosen to treat my life more like a party than something to stress about.

My job is not to analyze my career. But I am proud of the amount of work I've done and the amount of commitment I've given to it. That makes me proud.

Comedy is so subjective. If you trip and fall down, some people will laugh, and some people will say, 'Oh, physical comedy is so pedestrian.' Some people look at Three Stooges as lowbrow; some people consider them artists. No one is wrong. It's just a personal take.

David Lynch and I almost made a movie together in the late '80s. We had lots of dinners and lunches. He's a very cool, hip guy. This film, let's face it, is like an homage to him, I would imagine he'd find it funny.

You can do 12 great takes, but if the director is no good, he'll end up picking the wrong one.

The thing you can always rely on, your core person, comes from your family's attention and love.

A few years ago, I won a Tony for Little Me and I learned two important lessons from that experience. 1. Fair-weather friends are so much more interesting to be around and 2. It's amazing what this award fetches on E-Bay.

A musical is only as good as its director. The same can also be said for the CIA.

If you have wonderful moments, don't second-guess them, just enjoy them.

[Ed Grimley] lives in a retirement home in New Jersey. It's called the Retirement Home in New Jersey for Characters Who Were Interesting in the '80s for About an Hour. He's there with the Whiners, Gumby and Jon Lovitz's 'That's the ticket' guy.

When you have to worry about paying the rent, you're never bored. You're just happy to have that job. But once you don't have to worry and reach the point where it's no longer about the money, you're able to look at other opportunities outside of your comfort zone.

I still do live concerts all over the country - about four a month - with singing and characters and improv. It keeps me limber. I'll never lose that. And comedy is still the bread and butter.

I think I've been really lucky to keep my career so varied, and to be open. There's safety in repetition, but there's also a trap there.

The thing in comedy is that once you start worrying about something not succeeding, you're frozen. There's no verdict on anything. You can make ¡Three Amigos!, and some people will at the time say, "Oh, that's too silly." Then five years later, silly is hip. Now it's considered art. I never comment on anything I do, because if I say anything negative about X film, or X TV show, or X project, people who saw it and loved it go, "Well, am I an idiot?"

Comedy is a weird thing. You have to understand, it's the weirdest thing you can do. There's no consensus. It's not like... People say, "I saw Saving Private Ryan, and that scene on the beach is just so moving." I can't imagine anyone who would say "I don't find that moving!" But you can show, whether it's Laurel & Hardy or the Three Stooges or Jiminy Glick In Lalawood, some people are going to look at it and say "That's the funniest thing I've ever seen." Some people will say "I don't get it." Who's right, who's wrong?

I'm totally aware of how lucky I am. I have health, family, children. I do work that gives me total joy and allows me to make a living, and maybe, if I'm lucky enough, I'll feel I've fulfilled a little bit of service to society because I brought other people some laughter.