Only matches in the building
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Martin Short hosts "Match Game."
Jan Thijs/Disney
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Which brings us back to that drum roll (or series of rim shots). Short was born to soar in that firmament the way Joe DiMaggio was born to patrol center field or Toscanini to take the podium. All the way back to his 'SCTV' days, Short has been an unrivaled master of sincere insincerity and winkingly self-aware phoniness. His jokes are that much funnier for his always, always being in on them. He says on that first 'Match Game' 'Wow, time flies when you're phoning it in.' What other game-show host would dare say such a thing, let alone be able to get away with?
The classic game-show host is to smarminess as musicians are to perfect pitch or basketball players to height. It's practically a job requirement. Think of Rayburn, Bob Eubanks ('The Newlywed Game'), Richard Dawson ('Family Feud'), Monty Hall ('Let's Make a Deal'), the list does go on. Even the sainted
Martin Short as Jiminy GLock.
Al Levine/Business Wire via AP
Short takes the cause for such scorn, turns it inside out, and ties a bow on it. Playing smarm for laughs, he's so over the top he's just where he should be. It's hard to imagine someone better suited to host a game show. Well, wait, there is someone:
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Mark Feeney is a Globe arts writer
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Mark Feeney can be reached at
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