Review Roundup: Can Martin Short & Maya Rudolph Revive the Variety Show with MAYA & MARTY?

Last night, NBC premiered its new variety series MAYA AND MARTY. From executive producer Lorne Michaels, the incomparable Maya Rudolph and Martin Short join forces for an all-new comedy show jam-packed with music, stars, and the unique characters and charisma of two of the biggest icons in SNL history. With Kenan Thompson and a dream team of surprise celebrity guests joining them each week, this dynamic duo is ready to unleash the full range of their talents and bring the house down like never before.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Maureen Ryan, Variety: Every variety show is going to have some dead spots, but what's disconcerting about the first episode of "Maya and Marty" is that the team behind the show thought that these sketches were the strongest ones they had in their arsenal. If these bits were the pick of litter, I can only imagine what's on tap for next week. But I would prefer not to.

Robert Bianco, USA Today: A few of the bits were funny: Short reviving his fatuous interviewer Jiminy Glick, with David; Rudolph as the Civil War's worst letter writer. Others, in that time-honored, SNLtradition, fell flat or went nowhere, which was the fate of every skit involving the show's other SNL transfer, Kenan Thompson. Nothing felt fresh or alive - a problem that could at least be mitigated if the hosts stopped pushing and performing for a few minutes and allowed us to believe we were seeing them as they truly are.

Daniel Feinberg, THR: Other than the disorienting night and time period, Maya & Marty was disappointingly easy to pigeonhole. What audiences were treated to in the premiere was basically a not-hugely-funny episode of Saturday Night Live, an hour that occasionally made use of its gifted stars, but more frequently left them in sketches that fizzled out before reaching a real crescendo.

Robert Lloyd, LA Times: The best segment brought Short's obese celebrity interviewer Jiminy Glick back from the foggy mists of time, with Larry David, who had his own brief run at "SNL," as his guest. Glick, a creature of fawning slights and backhanded compliments whose voice runs from bass to treble like a glissando on an out of tune piano, taps straight into what is most brilliant and weird about Short.

Evan Slead: Entertainment Weekly: The show really kicked off with a full hand to play by parodying Tom Hanks' star appeal. The Astronaut is a film that seems to take Hanks back to his Apollo 13 days as a loving husband forced to leave his wife behind for the great space frontier. Of course once there, he takes some needed time alone watching CHICAGO FIRE (which we learn from his wife, played by Rudolph, is "not her thing"), eating Burger King chicken fries in his car with his friend Rod (played by Martin Short), and staying at the Radisson near NASA. The seriousness that usually come with a Hanks film is tossed aside for the absurdity that can accompany even the most dire of ways to just be alone.

Photo: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

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