Steve Martin had a bit of a scare this morning. It wasn’t “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels calling to ask him to play Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz or anything related to his 2-year-old Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever , Sonny, who, since we last spoke, has mostly outgrown his chewing and now seems content to listen to banjo music all the livelong day.
No, the alarm had to do with Wordle, which, yes, Martin eventually solved. But it took him five tries . (I got it in six.
I mean, “macaw”? Really?) Martin’s wife, Anne Stringfield, solved it in four. Martin makes a point of telling me it took him only two guesses to nail the puzzle yesterday. He’s a Wordle disciple, sometimes literally carrying the banner on top of his head .
Filmmaker Morgan Neville watched Martin solve dozens of Wordle puzzles in the many months he spent with him making the Emmy-nominated documentary “Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces,” and believes they’re a key to understanding Martin’s drive. “One thing I started to see as a pattern in his life was that he likes working on puzzles,” Neville told me over the phone. “And if you look at the things that Steve has invested himself in his life — magic, banjo, stand-up — these are things that take thousands of hours to master.
And that’s what Steve likes. He likes working the problem.” Right now, frankly, I’m trying not to be the problem Steve Martin is working.
He joined me on Zoom from the exercise room.