Martin Short had a one-season run on Saturday Night Live 40 years ago — alongside several other big names — but he was so nervous making the NBC sketch comedy show that he tried to quit after the first few weeks, as he revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“I had a one-year contract. Because it was a very weird year,” he told host Jimmy Fallon during the Tonight Show’s December 19 episode. “You know, Eddie Murphy had left and Joe Piscopo had left, and they thought the show was going to be canceled. So, Dick Ebersol, who was running it then, not Lorne [Michaels], called it the George Steinbrenner year.”
Short joined stars like Billy Crystal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer in SNL Season 10. “[Ebersol] hired these guys that had been on television. I had done SCTV. Billy was already a big star. And Chris Guest and Harry had done Spinal Tap that summer. And they hired us for a one-year contract.”
But Short was “terrified every show” and wanted out at one point, he admitted. “During the fourth show, on the Tuesday, I went in to try to quit. Being Canadian and savvy, I said to Dick Ebersol, ‘I haven’t cashed any checks yet.’ And he said, ‘Well, you do have a contract, and if you leave now, we’ll look bad, and you’ll look bad. But if you stay to Christmas, I’ll let you out of your contract.’ Because he later told me, if I made it to Christmas, I would have figured out how to do the show. But it was always nerve-wracking to me.”
Related‘SNL’: Chris Rock Takes Swipes at Clinton, Trump & Musk as Adam Sandler Cameos
Fallon, for his part, said that the pressure of SNL made him nervous, too. In fact, Fallon got nervous just watching Saturday Night, the recent film about the making of SNL’s first season, he said.
Short, now starring on Only Murders in the Building, has made many Saturday Night Live appearances since Season 10. He’ll host the show for the fifth time on Saturday, December 21.
Saturday Night Live, Saturdays, 11:30/10:30c, NBC
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Weekdays, 11:35/10:35c, NBC
More Headlines:
Martin Short Says He Tried to Quit ‘Saturday Night Live’ After 4 EpisodesAre You a ‘Final Jeopardy’ Genius? Test Your Brainpower With These Clues (12/16-12/20)‘Gold Rush’: Tony Beets’ Son & Nephew Clash as Tensions Boil Over‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React to ‘Easy’ Daily Double & Contestant’s Personal Tragedy‘Inside Outlander’ Aftershow: John Bell & Izzy Meikle-Small on Ian & Rachel’s Unique Wedding (VIDEO)
