Demetri Martin came to stand-up comedy late. He didn’t start until he was 24 years old and now, at 36, he’s got his own television show on Comedy Central and is one of the most popular comics around, especially on college campuses.
His jokes are all about observation. He writes what he sees or hears or notices about the nuances of life, and he makes it funny.
“Sometimes when I think of a joke, it’s like somebody just told it to me, like they whispered it in my ear or something,” Martin said in a conference call on Monday. “And if I think it’s funny, I’ll tell it to other people, but it’s hard to get a handle of who your audience really is. All I can do is hope that what I find funny will be funny to other people.”
Whether it’s in his quick, one-liner jokes – “The worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades” – or his longer comments -- “I like clothes, you know. I dig fabrics. One of my favorite clothing patterns is camouflage because when you’re in the woods it makes you blend in, but when you’re not it does just the opposite. It’s like, ‘Hey, there’s an asshole.’” – it’s clear that Martin has found success.
It’s through his intelligent observations and quirky sense of humor that draws an audience to his show on Comedy Central, “Important Things with Demetri Martin,” which entered its second season last night and will air throughout the spring semester on Thursdays at 10 p.m.
Martin says he tends to focus on abstract concepts and everyday life not only because it appeals to him, but also because topical humor tends to have its own expiration date.
“If you’re doing jokes about George Bush, those aren’t going to work much anymore,” he said. “But if you do something like jokes about balloons, those are going to last a lot longer.”
“Important Things with Demetri Martin” starts with some jokes, runs through a few wacky sketches and it all centers around one theme, one “important thing.” Martin said the show’s format would stay the same throughout the second season, but since it changed filming locations – from New York to Los Angeles – he’s had to change his daily routine.
“When I was in New York, I’d just walk around: go to coffee houses, get on the subway,” he said. “You can’t do that as much in LA, but I learned how to doodle and write while I drive. I don’t know how safe or smart that is, but I got to the point where I can keep a notebook on the hump between the seats and doodle without looking.”
Martin enjoys the show, but he said it takes a lot out of him. He’s not sure where it will go or how much say he’ll have in the matter, but he’d like to continue it for at least another year if possible.
“After the first season I was really tired,” Martin said. “I wasn’t sure if I’d be up for it again. If [season two] does do well, I guess I’d like to do it for another season.”
Even if the show doesn’t grab viewers this year, Martin has bigger hopes and dreams in mind for the future. He’s currently working on two screenplays in hopes they’ll be adapted to film, and he also branched out to movies last summer as the lead role in Ang Lee’s comedy, “Taking Woodstock.”
“Even if I’m just standing in line at the pharmacy, I like to be reading or writing, just doing something productive,” he said.
Martin clearly has his influences, including the quick-witted Stephen Wright from whom Martin has picked up a knack for short jokes that don’t require segues, but in the modern generation of comics, he’s in his own world. He writes only what he finds funny, and that’s the only comedy he knows.
“One of the great things about being a comedian is that I can just go anywhere with a notebook and just daydream,” he said. “I can just think about things and talk about the stuff that’s out there.”
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