Martin Short Responds To Rumors About Dating Meryl Streep

There’s no couple that TikTok is shipping more than Meryl Streep and Martin Short. The only problem is they’re not actually a couple. On the Jan. 28 episode of Bill Maher’s podcast Club Random, Short addressed the dating speculation surrounding him and Streep, and dashed any hope that fans may have had.

“We’re not a couple,” he confirmed. “We are just very close friends.”

That said, fans aren’t the only ones hoping they’ll go from friends to “power couple,” as Maher called them when he argued why they’d be a great match. “Well, you should because there’s nothing more powerful in Hollywood than a power couple,” he said in response. “It worked for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, it worked for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.”

Only Rumors In The Building

Rumors about the Only Murders in the Building co-stars dating started spreading after fans thought they were getting close and cozy at the 2024 Golden Globes. Their characters, theater producer Oliver Putnam and failed actor Loretta Durkin, also fall in love onscreen, fueling speculation that it may have translated into a real-life romance.

In October, it was reported that Streep had secretly been separated from her longtime husband, Don Gummer, so the timing also made sense. “Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for more than 6 years, and while they will always care for each other, they have chosen lives apart,” her rep told PEOPLE.

Shipping Streep & Short

They’ve continued to provide funny, heartwarming moments on the Only Murders press trail, like when Streep jokingly shoved Short’s face aside at the AFI Awards after the Globes. That only made fans ship the pairing more. While the two aren’t an item, they think highly of each other, with Short sharing how nervous he was to work with Streep at a “For Your Consideration” event.

“I will tell you honestly, I’ve known Meryl a little bit through the years but on the first day of shooting, I was a little unusually nervous for me, because I was thinking, ‘I’m doing a two-person scene with Meryl Streep,’” he recalled.

It turns out the feeling was mutual. “Meryl said to me, ‘OK, so my nerves are now down to half.’ So I guess she was nervous working with me,” he added.