(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

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 performs at the Melbourne Town Hall from March 24 - April 17 2005.

Read a review of the show here.

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