10 Funniest Lines From Steve Martin’s AFI Tribute
If there’s one thing everyone could agree on at the American Film Institute’s tribute to Steve Martin, who received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award, it that he’s one of the good guys. The multi-talented performer has done basically everything — stand-up, stadium tours, Saturday Night Live appearances, starring roles in movies, writing books and plays, playing bluegrass with several musicians — and by all accounts, he’s never been anything but the complete opposite of a jerk. But that didn’t stop a bevy of Martin’s pals, including Tina Fey, Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, Carl Reiner, and Diane Keaton, from poking fun at the wild and crazy guy, ribbing him for everything from his physique to his love of the banjo.
The ceremony aired Saturday night on TBS, but unlike, say, your typical Comedy Central roast, the special didn’t threaten to devolve into a cringe-worthy mess. Famous person after famous person proclaimed their genuine admiration and affection for Martin, who teared up throughout and delivered his own heartfelt (and funny) speech at the end.
Of course, when you get a bunch of comedians in a room, there are bound to be some excellent one-liners. Here are some of the best, funniest lines from the tribute’s broadcast.
1. “Ohh. . .I’m picking out a Thermos for you. Not an ordinary Thermos for you.”-Jack Black
Black was there to perform “tonight’s anthem,” but rather than singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the Tenacious D frontman instead crooned “The Thermos Song” from Martin’s breakthrough comedy, 1979’s The Jerk. A marching band accompanied him as two flags (one emblazoned with a Thermos) waved alongside, setting the silly tone that would carry through the rest of the evening.
2. “I remember the first time I saw one of Steve’s movies. It was on the plane ride here today.”–Tina Fey
Fey and Martin have, of course, worked together plenty of times: on SNL and in the movie Baby Mama, most notably. Fey also shared pieces of “advice” Martin has given her over the years (“If you’re going to pick up Marty Short, remember to support the neck”) and thanked him for the ways he’s helped her over the years, including “marrying a woman who is the younger, thinner, smarter version of me, just to keep me hustling.” (Martin’s wife, New Yorker editor Anne Stringfield, handled that crack with aplomb.)
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