In a life marked by tragedy, Martin Short still chooses joy

If there's a lean run along separating laughter and anguish, so a young Netflix documentary out Tuesday reveals Martin Short's walked that line for most of his life.

In Marty: Life is Short, directed by longtime friend and fellow Hollywood legend Lawrence Kasdan, viewers see that behind every career triumph — every moment he lit up the stage or screen with his wry, trademark grin and playful antics — Short quietly endured profound personal loss.

And yet, when asked about friend Tom Hanks once describing him as someone who "operates at the speed of joy," the 76-year-old Canadian comedian brushed aside any deeper analysis.

"If that's his review for me, I'll accept it," he told CBS Morning, while reflecting on his five-decade career ahead of the documentary's global premiere. "But I think I do have the happy gene, and I think my orientation is to be happy."

His optimism is a head scratcher considering how early tragedy entered his life.

Short, the youngest of five, was just 12 when his older brother was killed in a car accident. And he was still a teenager when both of his parents died.

"What it developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief, and a perspective on it," he said.

Short said those losses also shaped his fearlessness as a performer on stage. 

"I think if you've gone through that, an audience not liking you is really not that important anymore."

The documentary — which Kasdan admits he had to persuade Short to do since it "was not a natural instinct of his" — traces his rise through Toronto's famed Second City comedy troupe, which he joined in 1977, alongside future icons, including John Candy, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara. The film is dedicated to O'Hara who died in January.

For more than 50 years, comedian Martin Short has been a bright spot on any stage or screen. And when you know what he has endured in his private life, his irrepressibly sunny attitude is all the more astonishing.<br><br>"Marty: Life Is Short," a hilarious and heartbreaking Netflix… <a href="https://t.co/6uXsQIxoNM">pic.twitter.com/6uXsQIxoNM</a>

"There was no one more brilliant," Short said, reflecting on the loss of his friend.

"There was no one sweeter, and there no one funnier."

The film also captures the loss of Short's wife of 30 years, Nancy Dolman, who died from ovarian cancer in 2010.

"She was funny, she had lots of edge," Short said. "It was an equal Ping-Pong match … although Tom Hanks would go up to Nancy and go, 'Aren't you tired of laughing at his jokes?'"

This past February brought another blow. One of the couple's three children, Katherine, died by suicide after a long battle with mental illness. The film is also dedicated to her.

"It's been a nightmare for the family," said Short. "But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife's, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal. And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health — borderline personality disorder, other things — and did the best she could until she couldn't."

Short's home, where he has lived since the late 1980s, was miraculously spared in the devastating fires in California's Pacific Palisades last year. His son's home, however, was not.

Looking back on all the losses over the past year, Short admits he found himself overwhelmed, questioning the point of it all. 

"My son Oliver and his wife are temporarily living in Newport Beach because their house burned down," he said. "And I must say, when I was getting in the car that day and I was thinking, 'OK, I'm 75, why am I continuing? Like, really why? I'm not gonna crash my car, but why? What is the point of this?' And then I got to Newport, and these two grandsons, five and four, just jump, 'Papa! Let's play giant!' And suddenly you go, 'Oh, that's why.'"

In many ways, that sanguine disposition and outlook has become central to Short's ability to cope with grief.

When his wife got sick, Short recalls how she wanted him to keep working, which he did — even when it meant stealing away privately to gather himself before returning to set. 

"That's what you have to do," said Short, even though he says he doesn't think it helped to push past the pain.

"People have to do things in difficult times, and the mark of the man is: Can you do it?"

Even now, after decades in the spotlight, Short continues to "do it," balancing projects including another season of the hit comedy-drama Only Murders In the Building and discussions of a potential Broadway collaboration with Meryl Streep.

"We are trying to figure out something, we're just not sure if the box office would be there," Short joked. "It's a gamble. You never know how Meryl's gonna do at the box office, but let's hope."

Martin Short on his late friend, colleague Joe Flaherty

Perhaps that resolve, that proclivity towards keeping people laughing in the midst of his own pain comes from a higher calling or sense of purpose. He alluded to this in the documentary when actor Ron Howard asked Short, "Why do you continue?"

"I just think it's important if you're gifted to share that gift with people, I don't know — like you," Short replied.  

Asked what he tells himself to get through every chapter of grief he's been through, Short said: "You head for the light."

Journalist

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