Key Points
Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and more look back at their 1972 production of Godspell in a new documentary.
The trailer for You Had to Be There features Short recalling his reaction to watching Gilda Radner’s audition.
Short went on to date Radner, who died in 1989.
Martin Short remembers exactly what Gilda Radner’s audition for their 1972 stage production of Godspell in Toronto was like, and, though the two would go on to date, she didn’t come off especially well.
As she wore pigtails and sang “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” Short found himself thinking, “That is the most tragic thing I’ve ever seen,” the Only Murders in the Building star recounts in the new trailer for an upcoming documentary about the stage show.
Former Godspell cast members Short, Eugene Levy, Victor Garber, and others look back on the production, which was famously filled with future stars, in You Had to Be There. Executive produced by Judd Apatow, the project also stars celebrities such as Mike Myers and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
While the context of the comment is unclear, Short couldn’t have known during Radner’s audition that she would go on to perform characters, including young girls on Saturday Night Live, where both of them would spend time in the years to come. She was one of the show’s original cast members and stayed until season 5, while Short joined the sketch series for a year in 1984.
Short was also unaware that they would go on to date after meeting on the production. He was 22, while she was 26. They were in a relationship on and off for a couple of years.
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He went on to marry their Godspell costar, Nancy Dolman, in 1980.
Meanwhile, Radner tied the knot herself in 1980, when she wed musician G.E. Smith. They divorced in 1982, but two years later, she married Young Frankenstein actor Gene Wilder, whom she was with until she died of ovarian cancer in 1989.
Short remembers Radner fondly.
In March 2025, he told another SNL alum, Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast, that his ex was the coolest.
The ‘Godspell’ castCredit: Greenwich Entertainment
“I’ve said this before,” Short noted, “but every girl wanted to be her best friend, And every guy wanted to go out with her.”
He explained that Radner had been “the happiest person in the world.”
You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution opens at New York’s Film Forum on Sept. 18, then expands to theaters nationwide Sept. 25.
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