Dana Edelson/NBC(LOS ANGELES) — Steve Martin was presented with the American Film Institute’s 43rd Life Achievement Award — America’s highest honor for a career in film — at the 2015 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Steve Martin, which took place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Thursday.
Celebrities from film and television, including Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, Brad Garrett, and Sarah Silverman, gathered for the private black tie gala to celebrate Martin’s 40-year career, which includes film, TV, theater, books and music.
When asked to name his favorite Steve Martin film, Short, Martin’s Father of the Bride co-star told ABC Radio, The Jerk, explaining, “It’s so completely original and so as funny as it ever was.”
Aykroyd recalled learning many things from Martin, most importantly, “Generosity.” He added Martin also taught him that, “It’s okay to, to push it, to go out to the boundaries, ’cause he’s an absurdist and a very courageous and bold artist. So articulate, such a great writer and intelligent man.”
Silverman said Martin showed her that “an audience can see you sweat and you can be as smart as you want, but none of that matters when you’re on stage.” She added, “You know he’s brilliant, but he’s aggressively silly and, and uh, and that’s what it is, he makes comedy art.”
Garrett noted he was “humbled” to be in the presence of the multi-talented entertainer, who won a Grammy Award in 2010 for his album, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo. “It’s so great to be one of the best comedians ever, and then go, “Yeah, I’m gonna play the banjo, and do that better than anybody,” declared the Everybody Loves Raymond star.
Despite the praise Martin received for his impressive body of work, he told ABC Radio he’s never thought of himself as being funny. “I think of myself as really wanting to be funny,” he noted. “And I remember that from being early on in my life, from age 10.”
The AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Steve Martin will air in a special broadcast June 13, at 10 p.m. Eastern on TBS, with an encore at 11:30 p.m. Sister network TCM will replay the special on July 30, at 8 p.m. Eastern during a night of movies starring Martin.
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