COMEDIAN DEMETRI MARTIN: LET’S GET AWKWARD
Demetri Martin avoids the personal and political, and finds his comfort zone
What: Demetri Martin When: Friday, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Where: McPherson Playhouse Tickets: $55.75 at rmts.bc.ca, the Royal McPherson box office or 250-386-6121
Demetri Martin, whose specialty is bite-size comedy quips, should be without a comedy care at the moment.
Instead, the one-liner specialist is feeling overwhelmed with the amount of information being consumed at any given point, be it 140 characters on Twitter or a short viral video on Facebook.
Everything is being shared in short blasts and at a record pace, and Martin is finding it hard to keep up. “Material is devoured so quickly,” said Martin, 44. “Twitter has made everybody into a one-liner comedian online. It’s kind of a bummer. It feels a little less unique sometimes.”
Not unlike Steven Wright or the late Mitch Hedberg, whose non-sequiturs and comedic asides often consisted of a single punchline, the New Jersey-raised Martin is known for being to the point with his material. His jokes aren’t overly personal, political or difficult to digest. But there’s a simplicity in them that Martin finds invigorating.
“Years ago, I developed a couple of one-man shows, and they were very personal. But I found that I got sick of telling my story, and then I got sick of myself. So I’ve retreated back into oneliners, which is what I feel comfortable with.”
Shades of Woody Allen are evident in the Los Angeles-based performer’s current tour, which stops for two shows at the McPherson Playhouse on Friday under the Let’s Get Awkward banner. The tour’s name came after Martin saw online comments criticizing his deadpan delivery and laconic demeanour. He decided to embrace the smack talk, rather than feel slighted by it.
“I never thought of myself as that awkward,” he said. “But I’m learning, in the general population, I would be considered awkward, I suppose.”
In person, Martin isn’t nearly as odd as some would suggest. After studying at Yale in the early 1990s, where he majored in history, he set out to be a lawyer. He was accepted into law school at Harvard, but followed his girlfriend at the time to New York City, and enrolled at NYU. Martin left law school after his second year at NYU, unsure of the career he had chosen for himself.
Success as a standup comedian was slow at first, but his writing skills developed quickly. He started as an intern on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 1997, and later became a staff writer at Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
He has recorded albums, standup specials for Netflix and a series for Comedy Central, in addition to appearing in dramatic film roles with Oscarwinning directors Steven Soderbergh and Ang Lee. He also voices one of the main characters on We Bare Bears, a children’s show on the Cartoon Network.
His mixed-bag resumé is unusual among comics. At times, Martin wonders if he’s on the right path. “When I went in to meet with [producers of] The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I said: ‘You might have the wrong guy here.’ I’m almost a purposefully irrelevant comedian. I don’t have much to say.”
Martin’s third book of writing and cartoons, If It’s Not Funny It’s Art, is due Sept. 12, and follows two New York Times bestsellers.
He has branched out with his writing and sketching, both of which were showcased in 2016’s Dean, his directorial debut. Martin also wrote, produced and starred in the film, which was based partially on his own life.
“Feature films has been an exciting place to apply my sensibilities,” he said. “To see if I can tell stories and not just tell jokes.”
Martin is the rare comic whose standup doesn’t include politics, which goes against the grain in 2017. The expectation is that most standup comics will, at some point, insert a Donald Trump joke into their sets. Stephen Colbert and John Oliver, who were both at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart during his time there, are better suited to mix politics with comedy, he said.
“It’s the era of over-sharing. Everybody’s telling their whole life story, and all these intimate details. I’m not doing that, but there’s got to be something a little personal I can do. I certainly have my politics, and I feel strongly. It’s super upsetting. But if you’re not careful, it’s all-consuming. It’s inescapable. So far, I’m not inspired by it. But I’m upset by it.”
After a period focusing on feature films and writing, the Let’s Get Awkward Tour is Martin’s way of getting back into comedy on a more regular basis. He’s hoping to turn the tour into another comedy special, and material from it into perhaps another comedy album.
He’s lost track of his priorities, to a degree — but he’s happy that his skills now fully complement each other. “Standup doesn’t get easier. You’ve still got to develop material. It’s not like I can go out and do a greatest hits or something. You need a new hour. And if I want to make movies, I’ve still got to do the new hour.”