Amy Poehler, Martin Short, Maya Rudolph & Tina Fey Honor Steve Martin At AFI Life Achievement Gala

Amy Poehler, Martin Short, Maya Rudolph and Tina Fey all showed up at the 43rd AFI Life Achievement Award Gala at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre Thursday to honor Steve Martin.

AFI Life Achievement Award Gala

A number of Martin’s colleagues and costars turned out last night to honor – and roast – him while presenting him with the lifetime achievement award for his many years as a comedian and actor.

Short, who starred alongside Martin in the Father of the Bride movies and is currently on a joint comedy tour with him, had a ball up onstage chiding his longtime friend.

“There are very few people that I truly admire. Steve Martin is very close to being one of them,” Short quipped.  “There’s so many different ways to describe Steve Martin: comedian, actor, writer, musician, recluse, hermit, needy, vindictive, overrated. Steve has won – it’s amazing – five Grammys, the Kennedy Center Honors, an Oscar, a Mark Twain prize and an Emmy. But tonight, the trophy is different. Because tonight’s trophy, he really, really doesn’t deserve it.”

As for Fey, who worked with Martin on Baby Mama, she recalled some advice Martin once gave her.

“He said to me, ‘To be early is to be on time. To be on time is a sign of weakness. Never shake hands when an open-mouth kiss would suffice. There are no small parts, only small actors.’ And then he just listed a bunch of actors under 5’2″.”

“He told me to always find a way to give back,” she went on. “For example, Steve donates all his old white suits to lesbian commitment ceremonies. He told me, ‘Always be nice to the little people because then at night they’ll sneak in and fix your shoes. You know what? Don’t bring a gun to a knife fight, just enjoy it from the stands.”

Poehler, who also worked with Martin in Baby Mama, went a more self-deprecating route, admitting that she had such an obsession with The Jerk that she wrote down every word of it. “It remains the best thing I’ve ever written,” she dead-panned.

Jack Black, Sarah Silverman, Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah all paid tribute to Martin as well before Mel Brooks, who received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, presented the award to Martin.