Maya & Marty

As an SCTV fan who admired the comedic genius of Martin Short since his "Shower in a Briefcase" days, I knew I had to check this out, and it did not disappoint. Fully understanding that this is a variety show, I did not expect every skit to be a home-run-- and it wasn't. Some funny bits, some not so funny-- and I could personally do without the serious Broadway numbers. That said, I can not remember that last time I laughed at anything harder than Jiminy Glick's Larry David interview (Episode 1). It was 7+ minutes of pure Martin Short insanity. After that, I was hooked. I wanted more Jiminy Glick! Yes, Maya Rudolph is very talented and funny, Kenan Thompson can make you laugh with just a look, and Steve Martin saying, "I am currently traveling in Europe and can not attend" was comedy gold-- but it's all about Jiminy Glick stupid! Do I believe this show will last? Probably not because it doesn't cater to 12 year-olds, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Love AGT and now the following Maya and Marty. Not a blockbuster but a mildly funny respite from the crazy world. The clear winning segment of the show is the totally obnoxious Jiminy Glick lightly scripted impromptu back and forth with that week's guest and watching them try to hold it together with the genius of Short's arguably finest characterization.

All in all, I would have to agree the script writers fall just a little short but the state of TV with wall-to-wall reality shows and the like, M&M fills a niche when glitz and glamour or the overdone sitcom hammers the audience incessantly. Two likable artists applying their craft once a week, nice formula. If you prefer "Wives of . . ." and scripted reality, have at it.

Maya Rudolph and Martin Short are both very talented performers. They are also very unique - they need writers who understand their strengths, and their limitations, and can write for their unique talents.

The writers of this show have apparently never seen either Rudolph or Short before....they also apparently have never ever seen a variety Show before - because they have no clue how to do their jobs.

This muddled mess ends up being just painfully bad - despite the best efforts of Short and Rudolph. Martin Short is particularly at a disadvantage with these writers.

NBC should be ashamed of wasting the talents of these folks with such incredibly awful writing.

I'm a big fan of Maya Rudolph, but I didn't particularly enjoy her first attempt at doing a variety show ("The Maya Rudolph Show"), but Martin Short brings a unique freshness within the collaboration. I'm a millennial so I have heard of Martin Short before, but never really knew who he was, but I absolutely fell in love with him (particularly his character Jiminy Glick). The comedy is definitely modern and seems like it's for a niche market (hence the split in reviews).

I really hope NBC renews this show for a couple more seasons. The ratings seem to be on par with SNL so I don't know why they wouldn't?

I can't get enough of Jiminy Glick!

Bottom line: Not that entertaining or funny.

It's just like Saturday Night Live, hit and miss, but with less of the firepower behind the "hit" (smaller cast and writing staff, I think - either way, it's shorter, so two unfunny skits is like 1/3rd of the show).

Personally, Rudolph was perfect on stage, but Short was a little too old school hokey for me (I like him in SNL skits, movies, etc., but on stage, he overdoes it, like he wants to make sure the senior citizens get the jokes).

There were five skits, and two musical numbers. I only thought one skit out of everything was funny (Short doing his Jiminy Glick character with Larry David, which I always really like). I had ZERO interest in Miley Cyrus's song and the second musical number: tap dancing!

I think Networks are going to have to do some serious belt tightening. Now, with streaming so pervasive, and only growing, consumers have the option to watch EXACTLY what they want. They no longer have to put up with shows, skits, or music they don't like just to get to the stuff they do like, which is exactly what "Maya and Marty" is.