Today
A 1 9 T H E STA R- L E D G E R , A F FI LIAT E D W IT H N J.C O M F RI DAY, M A RC H 1 , 2 01 9
COMEDY
Martin and Short on ‘SNL,’ politics and more 2 ‘Amigos’ coming to Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown tonight
Distillers’ delicate dance with fire and wood. A24
CONCERT
How to get tickets to BTS at MetLife Stadium Bobby Olivier For The Star-Ledger
Last month, BTS announced a new run of worldwide “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” stadium shows and, to the elation of New Jersey K-pop fans, the genre megastars named MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford as the only East Coast stop on the tour. With the news came the memes; fans on Twitter and Instagram posted scenes from “The Hunger Games” to depict what the mad dash to get tickets to the first K-pop stadium show in New Jersey history would look like. Well, the time for chaos is almost upon us. Tickets for BTS’s May 18 performance go on sale today at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster. This is an old-school general sale — not a Verified Fan situation like Taylor Swift’s last stadium tour where pre-registration and access codes were required to try and snag a few seats. But that’s not to say these tickets will any easier to obtain. BTS just might be the biggest pop band in the U.S. right now, and fans will be coming from states away to see them. These tickets will go quickly. If you wish to buy the tickets at their retail value and not pay exorbitant markups on the secondary market, here are a few tips to up your chances:
Steve Martin, left, and Martin Short are bringing their Now You See Them, Soon You Won’t tour to the Mayo Performing Arts Center. Mark Seliger
Geoff Herbert gherbert@syracuse.com
Two of the three “Amigos” are coming to New Jersey, more than three decades after they met on the set of “Three Amigos” — and their love of humor and making each other laugh is just as fresh as it was in 1986. Steve Martin and Martin Short will perform tonight at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in a variety show of comedy sketches, musical performances and hilarious stories from their careers. The legendary pair will be joined on stage by bluegrass band Chatham County Line and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” pianist Jeff Babko. Martin and Short took a break from the Now You See Them, Soon You Won’t tour to talk about Martin’s recent “Saturday Night Live” cameo, whether or not “SNL” is more political than when Short was a cast member, how they avoid political humor in their own comedy and the possibility of a third “Father of the Bride” movie. Martin appeared on “SNL” in late January to play President Donald Trump’s confidant Roger Stone after Stone was arrested on charges related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. “I set up a donation page based on a phrase people have been yelling at me called ‘Hey Roger, Go Fund Yourself!’ ” Martin said in character as Stone. Martin noted in his recent comedy special with Short, “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life,” that he doesn’t typically do impressions. Short, whose characters have included Jiminy Glick and Ed Grimley, is better known for impersonations and used the special to reveal that his “SNL” character Nathan Thurm was based on a makeup artist who didn’t realize she was being mocked. “I don’t do impressions. And I don’t even try to. And if I ever try to, just backstage, Marty will mock me,” Martin said. “But I was asked to do Roger Stone and I thought, ‘You know, he and I are pretty close.’ I listened to his voice and I thought, ‘OK, he’s just a little bit gravelly.’ And I thought, you know, I could do this. And then the incredible help from the ‘SNL’ makeup crew, who did a great job — people couldn’t even tell I was wearing a fake nose. It’s incredible what they do.” “It’s so much more human,” Short chimed in. “Than the (nose) I actually have?” Martin shot back. ON POLITICS AND ‘SNL’
The skit was also different from Martin and Short’s touring comedy show, as the duo mostly avoids political jokes. “We feel that there’s so much political discord every time you turn on television that perhaps going to the theater, you’d like a respite from that,” Short said. “So we don’t want to make anyone feel that because they may not agree with us politically that we think less of them. So we’ll avoid it.” “We want to do real humor, we want people to really be laughing and say ‘that was really, really worth it,’ ” Martin added. That’s different from what “SNL” is known for these days, as the show’s most-watched skits over the past two years include Alec Baldwin’s Emmy-winning portrayal of President Donald Trump and Melissa McCarthy’s Emmy-winning impersonation of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Martin previously held the record for hosting “SNL” 15 times (Baldwin now holds the record with 17), and Short was a cast member for the 1984-85 season. “It was less political (back then),” Short said. “We had Jesse Jackson on, we had Mondale on.” “Actually, take that back, I remember Danny Aykroyd
Steve Martin and Martin Short The Now You See Them, Soon You Won’t Tour Where: Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St., Morristown When: Tonight at 8 Tickets: Limited amount of tickets still available; call 973-5398008 or visit mayoarts.org
doing Nixon,” Martin recalled. “I only did the show one year, but that wasn’t an election year,” Short said. “We were pretty political, but I would say it was not as must-see TV to see what the political stance is as it is now.” ‘FATHER OF THE BRIDE’ SEQUEL?
Martin, 73, and Short, 68, have worked with each other many times over the past 30-plus years, including roles in “Three Amigos,” “Father of the Bride,” “Primetime Glick” and “Maya & Marty.” Their recent Netflix comedy special, “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life,” was nominated for four Emmy Awards. Martin and Short said their current show is packed with new material, but much will feature similar good-natured ribbing at each other’s expense. And their dynamic hasn’t changed, even when their careers diverged. Martin, for example, has released six bluegrass albums in the past decade featuring his banjo playing and a variety of guests, including Edie Brickell and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Short has contributed to more movies and TV shows during that period, appearing in “Arrested Development,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “The Santa Clause 3,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Inherent Vice,” “Legends of Oz” and voicing “The Cat in the Hat.” “The more you get to know someone, the more you relax with that person. From the get-go, I think Steve and I had very similar approaches to working,” Short said. As Martin and Short tour together, rumors keep popping up about a possible third “Father of the Bride” movie. Martin played the titular father George Banks, freaking out over his daughter Annie’s (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) wedding with Short as an over-the-top wedding planner named Franck in the 1991 movie; they all reprised their roles for the 1995 sequel, and cast member George Newbern (who played Annie’s husband Bryan) told Us Weekly in 2017 that director Charles Schyer wrote a script for “Father of the Bride 3.” “We would do a sequel, but there’s always a chance we could die in the middle of it,” Short joked. “Well, that could be anywhere,” Martin retorted.
Be prepared: Again, the tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. today on Ticketmaster. That means your Ticketmaster account should be created and up-to-date, and you should have the ticket page open a few minutes ahead of time. Then, around 9:59 a.m., start refreshing the page. Then it’s go time: find the tickets you want and pray you aren’t left in “stand by, we are searching for these tickets for you” limbo. Considering how BTS shows have sold in the past, chances are you’ll only have a few minutes before all the seats are gone. Check your internet connection: The early bird gets the worm and the good wi-fi connection gets the tickets. Whatever you need to do to make sure your connection doesn’t get lost while your waiting for a screen to load, do that. If there’s a spot in your house that seems to get the best signal, go there. Use multiple devices: If you have the means, increase your odds of scoring tickets by using not only on your laptop, but also your smartphone and/or tablet (you can be signed into the same account on multiple devices at once). You can also try to use multiple browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) or windows in the same browser, but that technique runs the risk of Ticketmaster labeling you as “a bot” and banning you from the rest of the sale. Tag-team it: There’s power in numbers, people. Gather a group of friends and have everyone log on right at 10 a.m. Chances are someone will get the chance to buy a few seats. Don’t worry about sitting together: There is a six-ticket limit for BTS purchases but you’re better off going for two or even one ticket at a time, where there will be greater availability than a block of six seats in a row. You can always take your group selfies in the parking lot.
‘IT’S FUN’
Despite being known for dozens of movies and TV shows, it’s clear that Martin and Short love doing live shows. “(My favorite part is) the hanging before and after the show. I mean the show is great, and you love to do a great show, but the favorite part is: It’s fun. The truth is Steve and I are not trying to figure out how to get the laughs together. So if we’re not loving doing this, there’s no reason why we do this,” Short said.
K-pop band BTS will perform at MetLife on May 18. Tickets to the show go on sale today at 10 a.m. Matt Smith, for The Star-Ledger