Steve Martin and Martin Short talk standup, politics and their live show

The two friends are back on stage together. Has their style of comedy changed?

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Steve Martin and Martin Short are totally relaxed. Sitting in a New York hotel suite for what must be the ten-thousandth interview of their half-century careers in comedy, they come across as mellower versions of their screen personas: Martin, even-toned with an undercurrent of the bizarre; Short, alert and mischievous.

They are talking about the latest in their string of two-man live shows — this one called The Funniest Show in Town at the Moment — and they insist that being themselves is precisely the point.

The show is “an extension of who we are and what makes us laugh”, Short says. They are past the point of reinvention — Martin is 74, Short turns 70 this year — and on to perfecting their best selves.

Anyone who has seen one of their dual appearances on late-night TV, or the Netflix special they made of an earlier tandem show (An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life), can attest that they are very different types of comic.

I suggest that Short acts as a stimulant, while Martin’s effect is more hallucinogenic. Do they try to bring out that contrast? Short takes a moment to think. “I don’t think we’ve overly analysed it, but I do think you’re on to something.”

The two friends at an American Film Institute gala honouring Steve Martin in Hollywood, June 2015. Martin claims he is a different kind of comedian now: ‘I don’t want to back to what I did, the crazy dancing thing… I’m, like, a little bit dignified now’ © Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Turner Image

He looks earnestly at Martin: “If I came out like you, with no energy or blood flowing, would that be a conflict?” It appears to take Martin a moment to realise that Short is having him on.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Short adds with a giggle.

Martin follows up, deadpan: “I tell you what you did hit on — I sell LSD, and he sells cocaine.”

This sort of back-and-forth has been part of the two men’s friendship and work together since they met on the set of The Three Amigos in 1986 (they had not yet overlapped on Saturday Night Live). That movie, co-starring Chevy Chase, will probably be remembered for the chemistry between the stars rather than any other virtues.

Martin, having made his name as a star in the late 1970s with The Jerk, went on to a big movie career, heading up classics such as Roxanne and LA Story. Short has carved out a unique place in Hollywood, both as a comic foil and a surprisingly effective actor.