Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Person

Demetri Martin

Comedy Central · 2007 · 42 min

Deadpan observations delivered with an acoustic guitar and a giant sketchpad.

Watch on Comedy Central(opens in a new tab)

or watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Demetri Martin approaches the stage with an acoustic guitar, a harmonica, an oversized sketchpad, and a very specific set of grievances. He is bothered by heavy doors that make him look weak, the hostile strategy required to salvage a bad handshake, and the flawed logic of the proverb about glass houses. His comedy relies on quiet observation and deliberate pacing. He builds momentum not through volume, but by stacking short, self-contained jokes next to literal drawings of his punchlines. Filmed at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, Person premiered on Comedy Central in 2007. Martin was already a familiar face to cable audiences as the “Youth Correspondent” on The Daily Show, and this broadcast cemented his highly structured, low-energy aesthetic. He breaks up the live theater performance with short animated segments about mythical creatures and closes the show with a sketch featuring his actual mother, grandmother, and uncles demonstrating where his jokes go when they leave his head.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Handshakes, fist bumps, and rock-paper-scissors logic.

    Martin analyzes getting cut off during handshakes and dissects the lack of structural damage to rock when covered by paper.

  2. Leaving prank messages in hotels.

    Leaving cryptic notes like 'Leprechaun's gonna fuck you up at midnight' for random hotel room numbers without knowing the occupant's name.

  3. Research and findings displayed on a large pad.

    Martin uses a pointer and sketch pad to present absurd charts, including drunkenness vs. height, a breakdown of Hummer owners, and fart humor by location.

  4. Mythical creatures animation.

    Martin assumes the persona of Professor Irwin Glands, a professor in mythozoology, explaining creature mashups like the Vertimaid and Zebratard.

  5. Where My Jokes Go.

    Hypothesizing what happens to jokes after they are told, enacted on stage by friends and family members.

  6. Adding 'ladies' to the end of sentences.

    Observing that tacking the word 'ladies' to the end of any normal sentence instantly makes the speaker sound creepy.

How it plays

Tone
Deadpan, quirky, observational, and absurdist.
On stage
Deadpan, understated, self-described low-energy nerd, projecting a relaxed and natural innocence.
Pace
Low-energy, relaxed tempo with musical interludes, pauses, and succinct punchlines.
About
everyday objects, wordplay and language quirks, charts and visual findings, social awkwardness

What the critics said

Critically praised as a solid, naturalistic, and inventive debut special that successfully integrates live music, drawings, and deadpan one-liners without feeling like empty gimmickry.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, allmovie.com, chud.com, insidepulse.com, freshairarchive.org, vulture.com.

Details

Released
Taped
The Paramount Theatre, Austin
Runtime
42 min
Where
Comedy Central
Director
Jay Karas
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Presents (2004)
After
Standup Comedian (2012)

More from Demetri Martin

If you liked this