Martin Short. Eugene Levy. Gilda Radner. Andrea Martin. Dave Thomas. Victor Garber. Paul Shaffer. All in one 1972 Toronto musical about Jesus, before they were famous.
Our friend Jenny Cooley put this on our Watch List after seeing the New York Times review!
Trailer for “You Had to Be There”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Not one of the show’s 488 performances at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre was filmed. But Martin Short secretly set up microphones and a tape recorder. His illegal recording is one of the only ways we can hear this legendary cast perform together.
- Short also recorded the cast hanging out at the Friday-night parties he and Eugene Levy hosted at their apartment at 1063 Avenue Road. So more than 50 years later, the doc lets us eavesdrop on young Short, Levy, Radner and friends before they were stars.
- Gilda Radner and Martin Short fell in love during the production and dated for about two years. Short later married another “Godspell” cast member, Nancy Dolman.
Watch “You Had to Be There”
“You Had to Be There” opened in limited U.S. theaters on September 18, 2026, with a wider rollout beginning September 25.
The Blu-ray and DVD are scheduled for November 24, 2026.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 90/100 (Users); 91/100 (Critics)
Release Date: September 18, 2026 (limited U.S. theatrical release)
Director’s Note: Nick Davis directed this 98-minute doc and co-wrote it with Jane Mendelsohn. Judd Apatow is one of the executive producers. Davis comes from a serious filmmaking family: his father is Oscar-winning documentarian Peter Davis, and his grandfather was Herman J. Mankiewicz, co-writer of “Citizen Kane.”
Other Unique Stuff
- Eugene Levy was the guy who spotted the open casting call and encouraged friends from McMaster University to audition. Martin Short and Dave Thomas were among the people in that circle.
- Martin Short and Eugene Levy shared a home on Avenue Road in Toronto. Short remembers it as a hangout where actors and comedians would drink, smoke weed and bounce ideas off each other.
- Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989 at only 42, which makes the surviving cast’s memories of her some of the doc’s most emotional material.
- John Candy was famously not in this “Godspell.” Years later, he joked that he’d spent 20 years listening to all his friends reminisce and sing “Day by Day” at gatherings.
Wrap Up:
“You Had to Be There” is basically the origin story for a huge chunk of North American comedy hiding inside a musical about Jesus. I loved hearing Short, Levy and the gang before they became legends. The secret recordings make you feel like you somehow got invited to the party.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc