By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Tina Fey called him a genius. Sarah Silverman said he was her inspiration. Carl Reiner described him as "the most versatile human being there is on our planet as far as show business and making people laugh."
Steve Martin was the object of this affection Thursday night when he received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award during a private ceremony at Hollywood's Dolby Theater, where almost a dozen actors appeared on stage to toast his talents.
After being feted by Silverman, Fey and Reiner, along with Amy Poehler, Dan Aykroyd, Lily Tomlin, Steve Carell and others, Martin asked, "How do I top this parade of stars who've been so, so funny?"
"Easy," he joked.
AFI honored Martin for making it look easy, with successful careers as a comedian, actor, writer and now musician. A few of his colleagues even paid tribute in song.
Jack Black opened the evening, set to air as a special June 13 on TBS, with an earnest rendition of "I'm Picking Out a Thermos for You" from Martin's 1979 breakthrough film, "The Jerk." Queen Latifah sang a few bars from "Tonight You Belong to Me," from the same movie.
Carell compared Martin to Charlie Chaplin. Poehler called him "the best of comedy." Aykroyd credited him as a founder of the Blues Brothers. "I owe you a living, man," he said.
Clips were shown from his many films, including "Father of the Bride," ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles," ''All of Me," ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Three Amigos!"
Diane Keaton and Martin Short almost brought the guest of honor to tears when they each sweetly sang a song he recently wrote with Edie Brickell called "Friend of Mine."
As he accepted the award from Mel Brooks, Martin said, "When you called my name, it was a total surprise."
He said he loved sharing such an evening with his friends, even "darkly evil Martin Short," and was "humbled, honored and thrilled" by the recognition.
He thanked his many colleagues, including Lorne Michaels, who put him on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1970s.
"Lorne is really responsible for my being here tonight," Martin said. "Lorne, thanks for driving."
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More