Yesterday, I was privileged enough (thanks to a generous girlfriend) to witness two of my favorite comedians together on stage. It was the conclusion of TBS' Just for Laughs Chicago festival and I daresay the cherry on top. For me, it was an opportunity to laugh and listen to two people that inspire me. It was also a chance to feel what it's like to nearly explode from joy.
The event was billed as a "Very Stupid Conversation" that would feature two of the three amigos. I didn't know much else going into the show but when I got there there was a piano on stage and chairs.
The show started about ten minutes late, with me becoming more and more agitated as people slowly gravitated towards their seats. I take my role as an audience member very seriously and I don't care if "the wheelchair access elevator is out of order." Get to your seat already.
The show began with a series of clips showing our heroes at their best. Steve and John Candy. Martin Short as Jerry Lewis. The Father of the Bride. Marty as Liz Taylor. King Tut. Ed Grimley.
I was surprised at how these clips affected me. While watching the clips I became overwhelmed with emotion and started to tear up. The only explanation that I have is that the work of these two performers has provided me with so much entertainment and bliss that it was moving to know that I was going to see them in person. I am very passionate about Steve Martin and have many times defended his honor in drunken arguments until 4 in the morning.
I never understood how young teenage girls would scream, sob, and try to attack their favorite musicians from Beatles to Bieber. Can't they control themselves? What's the big deal? They are just people like the rest of us? Then I saw Steve Martin live on stage. It was as if I was Popeye and Steve Martin was my spinach. It was as if I swallowed the Sun and its energy surged through my veins. It is also probably what it is like to have a hundred erections on a hundred different penises that are all somehow attached to your body. Somewhere inside of me I restrained my inner teenage girl and didn't cry out, but in a way I wish I did.
The show opened with a little banter like this.
Then Marty sang a song from his musical Fame Becomes Me which previewed in Chicago and I saw. After that the conversation began. Even though a lot of the conversation was similar to Steve's memoir and Steve and Marty's other talk show appearances (which I've obsessively YouTube'd) there were a few tidbits of new information which fueled my inner nerd. There is also something really wonderful about watching two people that are really funny and really like each other. They made jokes about each other but it was all in good fun. A bed was pulled out for Steve when Marty began to sing his second song, and then Marty gently made fun of Steve.
The jokes never got mean because we knew that no matter what was said, these guys were buddies (in Spanish, amigos.) To me, what was better than the responses to the seemingly ordinary questions was the little side comments. Steve would give a long winded honest answer to one of Marty's questions and then Marty would just make a comment that he would eventually like a turn to speak. Needless to say the audience ate up every word that was said and erupted in laughter. This was the dynamic which produced an excellent comedic team. Steve was the intelligent, soft spoken, humorist and Marty was the outrageous, loud, performer. Together they gave the audience everything they could want. Interestingly though, at the end I didn't think either was funnier or outshown the other. It was truly a team effort and I will use the word magical. One magical moment was when Steve swung a microphone towards his banjo which was also by his crotch. Marty quickly said, "Woah I didn't know where that was going to end up!" And Steve replied very quickly, "You don't know where I sing from." It was right after Steve had complimented Bill Murray and Russell Brand for having the quickest ad libs he's ever seen.
Steve also performed a banjo song while Marty got ready to return to the stage as master interviewer Jiminy Glick. Jiminy gave Martin Short the chance to be even more outrageous and rude to Steve. Hilarity ensued. Then Martin and Steve returned for questions from the audience. I did not have the guts or the oxygen to ask a question but many people did.
The final part of the show was another part that made me teary. It was a gentle song about Steve and Marty's 30 year friendship. It began with Steve handing lyrics to Marty which Steve said he had written for the occasion. It was a great way to end a great show. Even watching the video now makes me teary. I am a pussy. But who cares.
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