It rsquo;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 rsquo;s not one to work the crowd or to create segues after punch lines; and he hasn rsquo;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 rsquo;s Lakeshore Theater (where These Are Jokes was recorded in February) and the 350 audience members ndash; huge for a comedy show ndash; 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 ldquo;Personal Information Waltz, rdquo; 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, ldquo;I hang out in sports bars a lot. I rsquo;m not that into sports. I rsquo;m not really a drinker either.
But I love slapping five. rdquo; The combination finds the audience dying and Demetri, himself, laughing at Forte rsquo;s absurd performance.
Comic Leo Allen also hits the stage to narrate some of Demetri rsquo;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 ndash; old report cards? ndash; on the accompanying DVD).
Though these devices do well to keep the audience tuned in, 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 rsquo;d be wise to keep your ears pricked at all times in order to catch a series like this: ldquo;This summer at a party I learned that there rsquo;s a small but important difference between peeing in the pool and peeing into the pool mdash; location, location, location.
I remember when I really used to be into nostalgia. I saw a sign that said lsquo;watch for children. rsquo; I was like lsquo;that sounds like a fair trade hellip; especially if they rsquo;re crappy kids.
rsquo; rdquo;
Jokes is an excellent composite of Martin rsquo;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.
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