(left image from Demetri's myspace page)
'Taking Woodstock' is the new movie by Oscar winning producer Ang Lee ('Brokeback Mountain', 'Hulk') and Oscar nominated screenwriter James Shamus ('Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'), and is also Demetri's big break into the movie scene (pun intended). The movie follows a gay, Jewish, interior designer (Demetri Martin) who is forced to move back in with his Russian parents, whom are unaware of his sexual orientation. His parents own and reside in a hotel on a large block of land, which each year is rented out to a small music festival to draw customers to the business. As Shamus explains it, 'one day he's listening to the radio and hears the music festival lost their permit, and he calls up and says "Well, I've got a permit' ... Two-and-a-half weeks later, half a million people show up and it completely changes his life." (1)

The script follows the beginning of the acclaimed American music festival, 'Woodstock' and is based on Elliot Tiber's memior from 2007 of the same name, a name which according to RushPRNews means two things; "Taking stock of your life and, in a sense, control of your destiny - and also taking the experience of 'Woodstock', and what that cultural event meant, with you for the rest of your life." (2) In the film, Demetri performs side by side with names such as Imelda Staunton, Dan Folger, Liev Schreiber, Jonathon Groff, Paul Dano and Emile Hirsh. (2)

Demetri describes how he got the role as "just a lucky thing. I had a meeting with James Shamus ... and he wrote the movie I got to be in ... He was working at home on his computer and his daughter ended up showing him a clip of me on YouTube. And i guess he thought, "Oh, that guy looks like he might work."(2) Demetri was called in for a meeting, which led to an audition who apparently did four scenes and was thinking "this is a long shot ... and then two days later they were like, 'Okay we'll do this with you ... It's crazy!'"(3) and that's how Demetri "suddenly found [himself] in upstate New York on the set of this movie, wearing clothes from the '50's ... and ... thinking, 'Wow, this is a once-in-a-lifetime situation' ... I've been in maybe three movies, and i had about two scenes in each of those, tops ... and now I'm in this one and I'm in like, just about every scene."(2)

There are some doubts as to whether Lee's risk in casting Demetri as the lead character will pay off, but Schamus is in full supported of the idea stating, "You can be the funniest guy in the world but you either have the ability to make yourself look vulnerable on camera or you don't ... and I think that's the greatest thing we found with Demetri."(4) I happen to agree that, even if it's not his funniest work, he will be very successful at the role (and his self proclaimed "gay beatle" hair cut is perfect for it too).

Watch the official tralier at MTV Moviesblog.mtv.com!

References -
(1) MTV movies blog, 24 September 2008 - http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/09/24/ang-lee-woodstock-film-aims-to-be-a-mind-altering-experience/#more-4783
(2) A.V Club Interview, by Steve Heisler. 25 February 2009 - http://www.avclub.com/article/demetri-martin,24319/
(3) Gawker.com article, 10 Febuary 2009 - http://defamer.gawker.com/5150833/how-to-go-from-stand+up-to-star-of-an-ang-lee-movie-in-two-easy-steps
(4) Building a careen one one-liner at a time, 4 February 2009 - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/arts/television/08dave.html

(left image by haiden1991)
Demetri's latest creation is his new Comedy Central TV show called 'Important Things with Demetri Martin', which airs at 10:30pm on Wednesdays after South Park. Demetri claims the opportunity for the show came about from his 2007 special 'Demetri Martin. Person.' He tells Steve Heisler from the A.V. Club, "I guess the number of views that the special attracted was greater than Comedy Central expected. So they brought me in for a meeting and said, 'Hey, we are interested in developing a pilot with you.' And I said, 'Oh Great.'"(1) Each show is based around a specific topic, and consists of different comedy segments such as sketches, animations, music, stand-up and prop based comedy. This layout for the show came about due to Demetri's desire to expand his comedy, stating, "I was thinking I wanted to branch out ... But then, in the process, I couldn't help myself, and it migrated back towards what I had ended up putting into my stand-up stuff ... What I wanted to do, initially,was sketches. I wanted to see if I could get laughs doing scene work, and I debated whether I should do any studio stuff, any stand-up to wrap around it."(2)

But it is this progression, the introduction from his perfected old style into the new slightly edgy sketch work that I think makes the show successful. It satisfies the desire for his beloved style of comedy, while appealing to new fans and providing the die hard fans with some of his new material. The new style of the show can also be attributed to the fact that it is a "very collaborative"(2) effort of the shows six different writers. Apparently over 100 people applied for the roles and Demetri was forced "to read through every page ... not knowing who was a friend, who wasn't"(2) in order to select the best people for the positions.

Click here to watch 'Important Things with Demetri Martin.'

Click here to read a review of 'Important Things with Demetri Martin' at ProbablyCanceled.com


References
(1)A.V Club Interview, by Steve Heisler. 25 February 2009 - http://www.avclub.com/articles/demetri-martin,24319/
(2)NJ.com Interview, by Alan Sepinwall. 10 February 2009 - http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/02/sepinwall_on_tv_imporant_thin.html

Demetri wrote the script for amovie called 'Will' which began production in August 2008. It is about a guy living in a world that is scripted by people in heaven, who one day wakes up to find that his writer has stopped scripting his life and he has to go about his day on his own. The movie is set to be released in late 2009.

Get more information on the movie at killerMovies.com
(WARNING - this site links to another movie called 'Will' which is not Demetri's script. Demetri's script is not include actress Lisa Kudrow from 'Freinds'.)

Demtri features as 'Kip' a music video producer in 2008 movie 'The Rocker'.

Read a review and cast and crew information here

or Buy it from Amazon.com

Before Demetri was 'Trendspotting' for 'The Daily Show', he was an intern there. Originally going in to the studio to get tickets, he ended up asking "Do you guys need any interns?" The result was 'The Daily Shows' first law intern. Demetri worked at the studio three day a week, running errands for the senior staff.(1) He describes the job as a good learning experience, claiming he learned "several things. 1. A lot of people want to write, but very few do. 2. Comedy Central pays sh*t. 3. Nobody likes a go-getter. 4. You should avoid regimes whenever you can. 5. You can cook a sweet potato in the microwave if you poke holes in it with a fork."(2) He eventually left the job, realising it was taking him in the wrong career direction.

Demetri went on to "work at temp jobs, then become a full-time proofreader, do hundreds of stand-up shows, some comedy festivals, a couple of writing jobs, some screenplays, two pilot scripts, and about twenty minutes of Pilates" until eight years later, he got a phone call from Jon Stewart and Ben Karlin who wanted him to come in for a chat.(2) To see if Demetri was a "good fit" for the role, he was given a week to come up with some ideas to present, and "gave them six ideas a week later and they picked one, which was kind of a hybrid of two of them, and that became the trendspotter." The role was a strange one for Demetri who watches little TV and rarely involves himself in current affairs. "I told them when i first went in," he explains, "I don't know if I'm going to be right ... But it's great because I can just pick and choose, and find stuff to talk about."(1)

Demetri writes the episodes with a producer and is the mastermind behind the segment theme song, which was an impromptu solution for the opening screening. (3) "I told the editor to turn on a mic and I just did a little drum beat. Then he stopped it and I did the scratching sound. He laid one over the other and ... when we played it for those guys ... they laughed at it, so we kept it. It was one take and that was my trendspotting theme music." (1)

Watch Demetri 'Trendspotting' here.

Click here to read a 'Trendspotting' review (not so much a review on the show but on Demetri himself)

References -
(1)Demetri on BrianPalmer.com, January 2006 - http://www.brianpalmer.com/demetrimartin.htm
(2)A.V Club Interview, by Steve Heisler. 25 February 2009 - http://www.avclub.com/articles/demetri-martin,24319/
(3)Trendspotter is the trend, by Jay Cridlin. 19 October 2006 - http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/19/Weekend/Trendspotter_is_the_t.shtml

(image to left by roboppy)

'Demetri Martin. Person' is Demetri's second special, which aired for an hour on Comedy Central in 2007. The special became so popular that it then went to stage for a one hour show. It was then released for sale on DVD on September 4 the same year.

Watch videos of 'Demetri Martin. Person'

Buy 'Demetri Martin. Person' through Amazon.com

'Dr Earnest Presents' is Demetri's 2006 one-man-show for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was also turned into a stage show which came to Melbourne, Australia. He describes it as a "high conecpt and trippy show ... [it] is more in keeping with he first two shows I did, 'If I' and 'Spiral Bound'." (1) The show is based around his psychiatrist (fictional) 'Dr Earnest Parrot' and is set as a therapy session aiming to make him less detatched. The show incorporated charts, a projector, song and shadow puppets.


Watch a short, poor quality video of 'Dr Earnest Presents'
(NOTE: poor quality 1 minute video, with limited visibility, but you get to see a part of his beloved dance scene. (pretty sweet moves)

Read review on the show here:
Independant - by Julian Hall
Chorlote - by Steve Bennett (Steve Bennett also reviewed spiral bound)


(1) Gothamist, 20 October 2005 - Read the full article here

'These Are Jokes' was Demetri's 2005 one-man-show for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was released on CD/DVD on September 26th 2005.Included in the pack are:

• the CD containing tracks featuring one-liners, songs, Yiayia Dinah (see biography), comedian and friend Will Forte (from Saturday Night Live) and more
• the DVD containing a half hour special from his 'Comedy Central Presents' special, some animations, early gigs and videos
• a poster with pictures of item which he tells jokes about.

The CD is a great example of Demetri's 'rapid-fire one-liners' and, if you have watched his videos, also serves as a nice comparison to see the progression of some of his jokes. When he first had the idea of including his family on the CD, his plan was to "just tell jokes and say, 'Yiayia, what'd you think of that?'" But when he tried it out on them and his Yiayia replied "very good observation" in an apparently 'flawless Greek accent and his Mum replied "That was clever", his first thought was "Wow. This is going to be way funnier than I thought. This is awesome." (1) It was from here that his Yiayia Dinah made her way onto the CD introducing the album and telling some stories along the way, mixed in with some of Demetri's classic one-liners and a bit of new material too.

Demetri's aim in making the CD was to "take some of [his] favourite jokes and do a nice solid hour of high LPM (laughs per minute)", and the CD certainly achieves in that regard. The CD was recorded with a live audience, who are also exposed to Demetri's usual visual aids, however the CD holds its own and seems to manage just fine without the visuals (and for those people who need the visual, there is a DVD thrown in just for you).(2) Many of Demetri's comedic devices appear on the show, including his guitar, his drawings, a flip-chart and his glockenspiel(3)
(image to left from muzikspy)

The show was created for the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was performed for 11 nights in a 450 seat theatre, to which Demetri exclaims, "It's crazy that i can do that in Scotland but I can't do that here (NY)." The show was designed to be a "stopgap" between his 2004 one-man-show 'Spiral Bound' and his up and coming 'Dr Earnest Parrot Present Demetri Martin.'(2)

The show is unlike his previous ones, in both a good and bad way. It veers away from his usual 'concept' style show, as can be seen in 'If I' for example, and focuses solely on the delivery of jokes. However, as an almost 'filler' in between shows I find it quite successful. Simple, fresh, elegant and hilarious - traits which directly resemble his style of comedy.

The CD also frequented the top 10 Comedy album downloads from iTunes since its release, still reaching 2nd in February 2009. You can check out the entire lists by clicking here.
(WARNING: this site isn't easily read and could do with a search option, but the information is all there if you're willing to search for it)

Buy the 'These Are Jokes' CD through Amazon.com

or check out some reviews here:
The Fun Times Guide (good review)
Brian Logan - Guardian (mediocre review, doesn't seem to get this style of humour)

References-
(1)Demetri & the Believer Interview, February 2006 - http://www.believermag.com/issue/200602/?read=interview_martin
(2) Gothamist Interview, 20 October 2005 - http://gothamist.com/2005/10/20/demetri_martin_comedian.php
(3) Guardian Review, by Brian Logan. 25 August 2005 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2005/aug/25/comedy.endinburchfestival2005

Demetri's one-man-show 'Spiral Bound' was created for the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The show is based around his obsession with his notebook and covers the highs and lows of his marriage, which ended in 2000. The humour in this show is based around making fun of himself.

Read review of the show here:
Chortle - by Steve Bennett (mediocre review)
Find Articles - by Julian Hall

In 2004, Demetri came together with JamesBrobin (wrote for Ali G) to make a film called '12:21' which aired in January on 'Channel 4' in Britain. (1) The show starred Demetri and was presented with 20 minutes his stand-up nbefroe the movie, where he "told three stories" that he desscribes as "kind of wordy, but ... got some laughs." The short film is about a minute in the life of a comedian in which Demetri was also got to write and paint. Demetri explains the concept idea:

"Most shows contract time, so i thought it would be fun to portray protract it, to take one minute and see if you can get a lot out of it ... It was a low-fi multi-disciplinary attempt at telling a story."(2)


References
(1) Slate article, 25 May 2004 - click here for full article
(2) Independent, 17 August 2004 - click here to read full article

Demetri presented his one-man-show 'If I' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2003. The Perrier Award winning show is based around his obsession with puzzles, and takes a look into what made the comedian what he is today. He explains, 'I wrote the ... show while I was there, not even knowing that I'd do it at the festival. One ting led to the next, and I found myself performing the show 25 nights in a row."(1)

He was invited to the festival by comedy agent Hannah Chambers and it was his first trip to Europe. He therefore, like most people in America, had no understanding of the weight of the Perrier Award he was soon to win, stating " At first, I thought they gave out a bunch of Perrier awards every year. People were talking about it, but i was just happy they were coming to see the show. I remember riding my bike the night before and thinking it would be cool to win it just so I wouldn't ever have to be in it again." But he did win, and he continued to return there each year with a new routine, such as 'Spiral Bound', 'These are jokes' and 'Dr Earnest Parrot Presents'. However he at first found the idea of the festival difficult because "it's hard turning comedy into a contest. Maybe you like one style more than another, but it's not necessarily better, it's just different."(2)

Demetri's obsession with puzzles came from reading puzzle books to entertain himself at school and while working in the family diner (see biography). In Demetri's analytical way, he discovered "while writing this show ... that it (puzzles) was a way to feel successful. I was a small kid who wasn't got at sports or with girls. Puzzles were a contained world of problem solving with a definite end point."

Brain Logan (from Guardian) describes the show as consisting of 'two parts confessional to one part comedy.'(3) Which it is. As Demetri describes it in the show, it is "a story about when one mans obsessive analytical mind goes too far and turns on itself." The show is about the 5 different definitions of the word "if" and how they apply to Demetri's life, 'I'. A very philosophical show mixed with some solid comedy.

Episode 1:
The first meaning of 'if' - 'In the event that'
Describes how Demetri became addicted to puzzles and his idea about his future.

Episode 2:
The second meaning - 'although pissibly, even though'
Demetri reminisces about moving from doing tto puzzles to creating them. He creating 3D cross word puzzles which went down, across and back, and he claimed were "three ways to say, 'I'm lonely.'" He desrcibes how he would set himself challenges such as writing with his left hand and reading the dictionary and learning every word in ten block chunks. The episode also includes his hilarious list of "useless talents" (appearing at 5.20), his hand sewn pants (8.35) for the purpose of the show and his beer bottle poem (0.45).

Episode 3:
The third meaning -'whether'
Demetri discusses his time in law school, dropping out and "what happens when you remove the plan ... You're left with a guy who like anagrams and doesn't have a job. Sweet, that's a catch."
An excellent example of Demetri's ability to create palindromes.


Episode 4:
Fourth meaning - 'used to introduce an exclamatory cause, indicating a wish'
Demetri explains how he started categorising his life, using a point system to becaome a better person, asking himself "can using my time better, lead to being more productive?" He describes this time as a "breakthough slash breakdown."


Episode 5:
Follows his journey of using the point system for 27 weeks and the 'analysis of the analysis' of himself. The maximum possible score per week was 35, and he averaged 11, failing his own little test.

Episode 6:
Fifth meaning - 'a possibility, condition, or'
Demetri discusses what his life would have been like had it taken a different course and concludes with the equasion that I= 'if + if + if....) / Time

Watch 'If I' on YouTube.com -
Episode 1 (9.01 mins)
Episode 2 (9.05 mins)
Episode 3 (9.04 mins)
Episode 4 (9.04 mins)
Episode 5 (9.02 mins)
Episode 6 (3.17 mins)


References
(1) Independent Interview, 17 August 2004 - Read full article here
(2) Find Articles, 8 August 2004 - Read full article here
(3)BBC Four Interview, 25 August 2005 - Read full article here

Demetri appears in the 2002 Robert De Niro film 'Analyse That'. He plays a personal assistant.