Martin Short used to feel jealous of Bill Murray's success.
The 76-year-old actor has recalled feeling so intensely envious of Bill, the former Saturday Night Live star, that he tried to avoid going for dinner with him one night.
Speaking in his new documentary, Marty, Life Is Short, the comedy star explains: "Nancy [Dolman, his late wife] and I were walking there and I just was overwhelmed with, 'I can't. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't.'
"I'm out of work now. Hadn't worked in a couple months. Had no prospects and didn't really know where I was going. And I said, 'I can't go and pretend to be happy for Bill, because I don't know what I'm doing. I need to sit down.'"
Martin refers to the moment as "breakdown corner". However, the crisis ultimately proved to be a turning point in his life and career.
Martin - whose film credits include Three Amigos, Innerspace, Three Fugitives, Father of the Bride, Captain Ron and Clifford - shared: "We sat there for about 10 minutes and didn't speak. Finally, Nancy said, 'How long are we going to stay here?’ I said, ‘I don't know.’
"So we went back to the apartment, and I woke up in a funk. And then we saw War Babies, who were an improvisational group. It was so funny. It was fresh. It was inspiring. I felt inspired just witnessing it. It was like the lightbulbs went off. 'Of course, this is what I should do.'"
Martin now views success in showbusiness as requiring a mix of "talent, luck, and endurance".
The actor freely acknowledges that he's been very fortunate in his career.
Martin said: "I would say my career has been 80 percent failure, and I would say those are pretty good odds.
"Show business is talent, luck, and endurance. But you can have talent, you can have tenacity. You can take the hits, but if you don't have the confidence to get up there and fail, then you can't do it."
Martin previously admitted that he felt the pressure and weight of expectation when he starred on Saturday Night Live.
The comedy star told The Hollywood Reporter: "I went through a fraught, tough few weeks near the beginning.
"I had a one-year contract, so I was treating every show like a special. The first three, especially the first one, had gone very strongly for me. I was like, “How do I top that? Oh God, do I do another Ed Grimley? Am I whoring the character?” So then we had a week off and I went back to our house in Toronto, and we had a new little baby and I remember on Sunday, I had to start the next week of SNL, and I didn’t want to go back."
