Demetri Martin: These Are Jokes

by Dylan P. Gadino

It’s clear, if not from the name of his album alone then from the amazingly economic language in his bits, that Demetri Martin is a simple, unassuming man concerned with one thing: telling jokes.

He’s not one to work the crowd or to create segues after punch lines; and he hasn’t spent much time nailing down a dynamic stage persona. Rather, Martin is content delivering a stream of well-paced and meticulously constructed few-liners.

The large space at Chicago’s Lakeshore Theater (where These Are Jokes was recorded in February) and the 350 audience members – huge for a comedy show – affords Martin an excellent chance to air out in a way where a smaller club may have impeded him.

To that end, the 33-year-old Yale alumnus and sometimes Daily Show with Jon Stewart correspondent takes care to treat the crowd to a few novel flourishes. He lays most of his jokes on a bed of non-obtrusive acoustic guitar playing or a soft, crappy sounding keyboard. During one cluster of jokes he calls “Personal Information Waltz,” Saturday Night Live cast member, Will Forte joins Martin on stage to weave purposely over-the-top Christina Aguilera-esque soul singing in between Martin saying things like, “I hang out in sports bars a lot. I’m not that into sports. I’m not really a drinker either. But I love slapping five.” The combination finds the audience dying and Demetri, himself, laughing at Forte’s absurd performance.

Comic Leo Allen also hits the stage to narrate some of Demetri’s more visual jokes for the home listeners. Demetri devotees have come to expect this sort of oddball accompaniment. (Consolation to those hardcore fans: there are plenty of illustrations, animation and other entertaining visual stimuli – old report cards? – on the accompanying DVD).

Though these devices do well to keep the audience tuned in, Martin is careful not to smother the art of the jokes themselves. He delivers each punch line evenly, at a measured volume and with little pitch change. So you’d be wise to keep your ears pricked at all times in order to catch a series like this: “This summer at a party I learned that there’s a small but important difference between peeing in the pool and peeing into the pool— location, location, location. I remember when I really used to be into nostalgia. I saw a sign that said ‘watch for children.’ I was like ‘that sounds like a fair trade… especially if they’re crappy kids.’”

Jokes is an excellent composite of Martin’s abilities. To say that the release of this album is just the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a long, diverse and well-respected career in comedy would be a major understatement.