It’s important
Having seen Demetri Martin’s stand-up and seen him a few times on a few other Comedy Central driven shows, it was clear that this guy knows how to get laughs.
Demetri Martin does intelligent comedy. Martin’s intelligent comedy isn’t the same as what you would find in Frasier or some other show that has a large amount of intellect to its wit. Martin’s comedy is intelligent because it’s actually thought out and it makes the audience think. Sure you’ll find the sketches that arm reminiscent SNL, but his entire premise from show to show relates to a single idea with intelligence built around it. For example, each show is built around a single idea. You will find the following shows on this season:
– Brains
– Games
– Power
– Safety
– Coolness
– Chairs
– Timing
Each show is around 30 minutes and you have a combination of jokes, sketches and sing-alongs that drive them. For the most part each show is unique. There are times where you can see Martin struggling to fill time. The first show called Timing is a great example of a bit of struggle. He starts the show off with some witty jokes, moves into a man too early for a rave (mildly amusing, but a bit blah), goes into a presentation of a chart, moves into a sketch (which is hilarious — very relevant) and ends the show with a very unfunny song. That last part with the song he completely forces. He does that now and then through episodes. Some of the episodes are really strong (such as Brains – there’s nothing like three great historical characters going out to eat and womanizing), but half of the shows seem to have highs and lows.
The show, as a whole, is good. I think you have a lot of great thought that went into the show and its content. For the first season of the show it’s really quite good. If you think about shows and their first seasons you understand how bad things can get and how good they turn out. If you think back to Friends and Seinfeld, both shows were beyond horrendous in their first season. They survived and you know how both of those turned out. Of course, Important Things isn’t a sitcom, it’s a comedy show, but it still applies. If the comedy fails it will fail continuously and all you see failing here is a few segments; not the show. Martin has a good sense of comedy and it works here. Thankfully he isn’t obnoxious, he’s more like the weird kid you knew in school who was far more intelligent than you (Joe Crespo, this is you).
Shifting gears a bit, this has to be one of the best presentations I’ve had the pleasure of seeing on a DVD. The menus are hilarious! They take the show’s motif and apply it perfectly. When you begin the DVD there is a hand drawn picture of Martin who thanks you for purchasing the DVD. It’s dry, it’s funny and it’s a great introduction to the show.
As for the features, here’s what you’re looking at:
• Audio Commentary
• Brain Injuries
• Parking Wars Outtakes
• Basketball 1 & Basketball 2
• Cult Leader In Love
• Killing Someone with Kindness
• Killing Time in the Studio
• Dinner with Heroes Outtakes
• A Tiny Guy Helps Find A Contact Lens
• A Yellow Belt Breaks an Awkward Silence
• Safety Dummy