Catch Palisadian Martin Short in ‘Only Murders in the Building’

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter 

Former Honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades Martin Short can be seen in Hulu’s latest true crime parody “Only Murders in the Building,” which was just renewed for a second season on the streaming service.

Short is joined by his longtime friend Steve Martin and Selena Gomez in the Upper West Side of New York, forming a trio of murder-mystery podcast devotees. The show follows the three as they find themselves in the middle of a death investigation, documenting the quest on their own podcast.

“‘Only Murders in the Building’ follows three strangers … who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one,” according to Hulu. “When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive … apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. As they record a podcast of their own to document the case, the three unravel the complex secrets of the building, which stretch back years. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another.

“Soon, the endangered trio comes to realize a killer might be living among them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.”

Martin takes on the role of Charles, a former television star who played a detective in a network series for years, but has been out of work for some time. Short’s Oliver is described as a “flamboyant but struggling” Broadway director facing financial concerns and the dread of potentially losing his apartment. Gomez rounds out the group as Mabel, a young artsy woman living out of the same apartment building.

“Martin and Short, real-life friends for decades, have an instant rapport, and the relationship between them and the decades-younger Gomez is surprisingly solid, too,” according to a review by Slate. “For all that Gomez’s casting might seem like a stunt, she fits in with her co-stars without a hiccup.”

Short spent a number of his days as the town’s honorary mayor in 1998 and boasted about the community to the Palisadian-Post in 2014, sharing that it became his permanent home since purchasing a house in 1987.

“When I first came to LA, I couldn’t figure it out. It’s so sprawling; there’s no center,” he said.
“Even Santa Monica is too undefined. But then we came to visit our friends in the Palisades and right away, I understood—it was like a little village. It had a center, it was elegant.”

He and his late wife Nancy Dolman went on to raise three children in the Palisades.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Short said to the Post. “Pacific Palisades is the only place to live.”

The series, currently consisting of nine episodes, premiered on Tuesday, August 31, with Hulu having “green-lit” a second season series in September. New episodes air every Tuesday.