This week I felt it would be nice to take a look at a comedian that manages to experiment with his trade in a way that doesn’t make him look like a horrible Las Vegas-based hack. Demetri Martin has only just begun to have his taste of celebrity and yet he is already producing a great many things that prove incredibly funny. He is the star of Important Things with Demetri Martin, where he has been able to show off his talents for comedy in a number of different formats. However, he’s also managed to show off talents beyond his guitar work and humorously ridiculous drawings.
Recently Martin starred in the movie Taking Woodstock, directed by Ang Lee. Despite Lee’s claims that this was his turn at directing a comedy, it really isn’t. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a great movie, mainly because of Demetri Martin. He does a great job of portraying a young man who doesn’t know how to deal with his parents and how they’ve consumed his life. He could have spent the movie attempting to act too comedic, but he took a much better direction that allowed him to show that he can really play a role to its finest. This isn’t to say that he would be a great actor all around, but from his performance in Taking Woodstock he shows great promise and I look forward to whatever his next role may be.
He’s come a long way since simply doing his stand-up specials every now and then on Comedy Central. They made the right choice to move him from The Daily Show over to his own series, the first season of which has been released onto DVD. Fortunately it has been renewed for a second season, giving Martin more of a chance to boost Comedy Central’s ratings and give us something truly enjoyable to laugh at.
