Martin Short’s secrets to life? ‘DNA and luck’

The ‘Only Murders’ star isn’t hung up on age. He still just wants to try doing new things

- Story by Robert Lloyd

FROM THE MAD SPRITE ED Grimley to Oliver Putnam, the flamboyant, forever failing Broadway director he plays in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” — for which he's nominated for an Emmy — Martin Short has a gift for playing colorful characters who take up a lot of space. This summer he’s become eligible for a different category of Emmy as well, as host of ABC’s “Match Game.” (Also big, also colorful.)

"You reach a point where you've done everything,” Short, 75, said by Zoom recently, about taking that job. “But you haven't done that. It could be fun — or it could be a big mistake. And that kind of challenge is still provocative to me.”

You were nominated as lead actor in a comedy this year, but your costar Steve Martin wasn’t. Did that occasion any interesting conversations between you?

Oh, yeah. Steve called me up midafternoon and said, “'ve been out all day and I've been hiking and hiking, Heard anything about the Emmys yet? But I think Steve's pretty confident in who he is, what he does.

In 1982, you won an Emmy for writing on“SCTV.” As a Canadian, did an American award mean something special to you?