Growing up, I heard the name Martin Short, and I understood he was kind of a big deal, but I don’t think I ever had a solid concept of who he was until a month ago.
Last month, I decided to watch the rest of the Christmas trilogy The Santa Clause. I’d seen the first Santa Clause growing up, but never the sequels. A family friend literally assigned me to watch the sequels, so I did, and I enjoyed them! However, an unexpected result of watching these movies was my brain latching on to the character of Jack Frost, the antagonist of the third film, played by Martin Short. I love a good villain! Eventually this led into wanting to see more of Martin Short as an actor, and recently I had the joy of watching more things with him in it, and I went down a rabbit hole of discovering what else he’s been in too. There were actually a lot of things I recognized, and some of the things he’s been in I’ve seen in the past but had no clue he was part of it.
Honestly, this is just my info dump about the stuff I’ve seen him in or the things I found out he was in—I want to share!
So here we go!
Where It Started for Me: The Santa Clause 3
My introduction to Martin Short as an adult was The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), and it was a crazy movie. The plot was all over the place, but I think I liked it on the premise of seeing more content of beloved characters, laughing at how insane the whole movie felt, and Martin Short’s performance as Jack Frost. If you want to know my unfiltered thoughts about the movie, you can read my review here!
Martin Short played a textbook narcissist and a character who felt genuinely threatening, and he was good at it. He was the perfect person to play Jack Frost: he pulls off a healthy balance of threatening and selfish with comedic and goofy. He looked fantastic as well—I love the lean into his elfish features with him having pointed ears, and the glittery suit and glittery hair. I’m super impressed with whoever was staffed in the makeup and costuming departments for this movie.
I Need to See More of Franck
Earlier this week, I got snowed in with my family. My mom and I decided to have a girls night—we watched Father of the Bride (1991). I think I saw a good 70% of this movie when I was a teenager, but prior to watching it this week I couldn’t remember if I had. The movie stars Steve Martin as the main character, a middle-aged dad dealing with the ups and downs of his daughter’s upcoming wedding. Martin Short comes into play as Franck Eggelhoffer, a flamboyant wedding coordinator with an unidentifiable European accent and an expensive array of wedding services up his sleeve.
Steve Martin (left) and Martin Short (right) as George Banks and Franck Eggelhoffer in Father of the Bride.
Martin was so freaking funny. From the barely understandable accent to the way he raised his eyebrows at people, everything about this character made me grin—I got so happy whenever I saw Franck was part of a scene.
The movie as a whole was fantastic, and I think it’s a new favorite for me. My favorite scene was when the dad has a meltdown about hotdogs vs. hotdog buns in a grocery store. Obviously Martin Short was another highlight for me.
My mom offered to watch Father of the Bride Part II (1995) with me, but I declined. I wasn’t sure about the second one because sequels can be so hit or miss and I didn’t want it to ruin the first movie for me. She did say, though, that Franck is in the sequel (that got my attention), and she thinks the sequel is just as good as the first one.
I don’t know when I’ll get around to the sequel, but I’m most looking forward to seeing Martin Short in it!
Barbie?!
I found out that Martin Short was Preminger in Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (2004)!
WHAT?!
It’s such a random thing!
In the 2000s, a bunch of poorly animated direct-to-DVD Barbie movies came out, and they were iconic to 2000s girlhood. I remember owning some of these Barbie movies on DVD and watching them with my sister—I know for sure we had Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, Barbie: Fairytopia, and possibly Barbie as Rapunzel, but I had no clue until a few days ago that Martin Short was part of the former. I mean, to be fair, what kid knows about celebrities.
Martin Short’s character in Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is a fabulous villain named Preminger who is the selfish royal adviser to the queen, and he wants to rule the kingdom himself. Very weird character, very shrill, but that’s what makes Preminger so iconic.
Preminger from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, voiced by Martin Short.
These Barbie movies currently exist as a niche cultural phenomenon on the internet, with many memes circulating online about these movies. I was not only shocked but found it hilarious that Martin Short was the one behind Preminger because Preminger was one of the big Barbie memes for a while, and upon learning this I immediately looked up clips of the character to see if I could hear that it was Martin Short. I really feel like he put his heart and soul into his performance as Preminger, which is just amazing. I wonder if the studio making the movie approached him, or if he approach them to ask to be in a poorly animated direct-to-DVD Barbie movie? Either way, I love him for putting so much effort into such a random, almost obscure project.
He was in a GHIBLI MOVIE!
I don’t watch Studio Ghibli movies often, but the ones I have seen are absolute works of art. Ghibli is known for its breathtaking animation paired with heartfelt stories and wonderful English dubs, effectively creating unforgettable masterpieces that are unique to any other movies in circulation in the West, and Martin Short got to be in one of those masterpieces.
Martin did the English dub for a character named Kurokawa in The Wind Rises (2013), a part-fiction part-biographical story about engineer Jiro Horikoshi and his career in the 1920s through 1930s. I haven’t seen this movie myself, but I might have to look into it seeing as it’s Ghibli and Martin Short.
Kurokawa from The Wind Rises, voiced by Martin Short.
Fun fact: according to Wikipedia, The Wind Rises was supposed to be legendary director Hayao Miyazaki’s last movie, but he later came out of retirement to create The Boy and the Heron (2023). Studio Ghibli can’t make Miyazaki stop! Haha!
PBS Kids, Where You At?
Martin Short was the Cat in the Hat in The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That (2010-2018)!
Ahhh this was such a nostalgic discovery for me. I was a PBS kid: I loved Arthur, Sesame Street, Between the Lions, Dragon Tales, Zooboomafoo and all those other classics. I never ended up seeing the Cat in the Hat, though.
However, I have distinct memories of seeing commercials for The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and I can also distinctly remember the Cat’s voice in those commercials, and absolutely you can tell it’s Martin Short voicing the Cat.
The IMDb poster for The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!
Even though I didn’t watch it myself, thinking about this show brings back a lot of sweet memories for me of growing up and watching PBS Kids. Good times.
Honorable Mentions
There’s so much more that Martin Short’s done, but frankly I don’t want to go through it all, so here’s some honorable mentions of roles and media he’s been in:
Ned Nederlander in ¡Three Amigos! (1986).
Clifford Daniels in Clifford (1994).
One of the pharaoh’s magicians in The Prince of Egypt (1998).
B.E.N. in Treasure Planet (2002).
A cameo on Arrested Development in 2005 as Uncle Jack.
Thimbletack in The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008).
Stefano in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012).
Mr. Frankenstein, Mr. Bergermesiter, and Nassor in Frankenweenie (2012).
Garrison Cootes in How I Met Your Mother.
A guest appearance on Tough As Nails (2023) (literally my favorite competition show that I haven’t kept up with in a while. Guess I need to catch up now)!
And I’m going to stop here because this list could go on for a while.
And don’t forget he was part of SNL… That’s kind of a big one… Really big one.
In Conclusion
It’s always fun discovering an actor for the first time and falling in love with their work and getting to explore their film catalog, and it was definitely a rollercoaster for me finding out what Martin Short’s been in. Gosh, I’m still not over his voice acting credits.
With so many films and TV shows in his catalog, I won’t run out of things to watch for a while if I decide to start tackling his filmography… Speaking of, it snowed again this weekend, so maybe this calls for watching the second Father of the Bride? We’ll see!
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