Tim Allen Names Martin Short As The Fastest Off-The-Cuff Comedian On The Planet

Plenty of talented comedic actors, from past to present, deserve proper recognition. And Tim Allen is undoubtedly one of them. The 72-year-old actor has put up credits such as "The Santa Clause" franchise, "Galaxy Quest," and "Wild Hogs." Oh, and he also starred in one little sitcom called "Home Improvement," which ran for over two hundred episodes. However, when shown an old photo on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Allen is obviously humble when speaking about the comedy legends that were captured in the pic. In fact, Allen appears eager to chat about his thoughts when Clarkson asks how he feels seeing the old photo consisting of himself, Bob Saget, Jon Lovett, Rodney Dangerfield, and Robin Williams.

In the photo, these hilarious icons are clearly enjoying their time when the shot was taken. Allen explains that the laughs from the group actually stemmed from the nonstop jabbering of Robin Williams, while Dangerfield was trying desperately to get a word in. "Robin...you can't keep up with him," Allen explained. "I'm really good off-the-cuff. Not as..." However, right at that moment, when Clarkson's audience and viewers are being led to believe Allen is about to talk about Williams' comedic speed, he shifts that title to another comedy legend (and "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" costar), Martin Short.

On "The Kelly Clarkson Show," when Tim Allen was discussing the individual comedy icons present in an old photo shown to him, he quickly shifted his admiration from Robin Williams over to Martin Short. That's because he finds Short to be the fastest off-the-cuff comedian ever. "When you go to a party with Marty Short, you're sick to your stomach laughing," Allen said. "He won't shut up!" Allen recalled how he observed Short's constant flow of funny when he worked with him in the past. Allen explained, "I've done a couple movies with him. The directors never, ever, tell Marty Short, 'can you go bigger?'" As for Short's indirect way of explaining his quick wit, the Canadian-born comedic actor explains that it stems from his improv background.

When sitting down with Brian Williams in an interview for MSNBC, Short talks about mastering the skill of improvisation and how that knowledge can help bring comedy potential to just about every single word a character says. "For an actor, whether you're in comedy or you just stay in drama, the ability to improvise within a character...you might say things, even if it's not funny, you don't think it's going to be funny, it is going to be funny because you're within character." Well, no matter how he does it, it's should come as no surprise to fans that when ranking comedy speed skills, Short is at the top of Allen's list.