When Mitch Hedberg died in 2005, he left behind a void in the comedy world for witty, observational one-liners to be told with awkward bemusement. While no one can ever live up to Hedberg's legacy in that department, Demetri Martin is doing a pretty good job. Through his stand-up shows and his great Comedy Central series "Important Things with Demetri Martin," Martin has breathed new life into the genre. During his show Saturday at the Warner Theater, Martin's one-liners were on full, hilarious display.
Taking the stage at promptly 10:30 while wearing a white t-shirt with the slogan "Person" in block letters, Martin had the crowd at "Hello." His jokes, told at a steady pace but leaving enough room in between to allow for laughter from the audience, were spot on and fresh- there were only three or four repeats from his show.
When Martin moved to his signature "Large Pad," a, duh, large pad of paper, to do jokes centered around minimalistic charts and sketches, the fanboys in the audience went crazy with anticipation. They were appeased when jokes about correlations between karaoke and skiing (both are more entertaining when the person is either amazing or awful) were hysterical. Similarly, when Martin grabbed his guitar or sat down at his keyboard to perform jokes with musical accompaniment and crowd was extremely appreciative and Martin returned the favor with more witty lines. Toward the end of the set he took requests for old and popular jokes. Despite the fact that I'd already heard them, I couldn't help but laugh more. His observations are still funny the third time over.
I know some people who don't care for Martin's comedy, but I find him easy to love. Between his moptop haircut and smiling delivery, I can't help but laugh at everything that comes out of his mouth. He just seems like the type of person you always want to be hanging out with. He even has no douchebag tolerance! There were a few loudmouthed drunks present at the show who kept shouting things at him, but Demetri's responses were always dead-on and hilarious. When one girl was shouting something about her fiance, Martin asked her name, she said "Katherine." He responded saying, "Katherine with a 'K,' a 'C,' or a 'S-H-U-T-U-P'?" When a few guys in the balcony were shouting annoyingly, Martin asked if there was a douchebag-only entrance in the back that he was unaware of.
Anyway, my friends and I laughed for a solid two hours during the show to the point that our torsos were hurting. If you aren't already a follower, check out Demetri's Comedy Central show (it just ended but I'm sure there will be re-runs this summer).
**I know this isn't a music review, but he played guitar and stuff so it counts!
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