“Possibly one of the most complete Comedy Central DVD that I have ever seen. ‘Important Things with Demetri Martin’ features the comedian in his new show which features a little stand-up comedy, sketch comedy, music and more. The DVD is absolutely loaded with audio commentary and special features and more! Highly recommended!”
Images courtesy of © 2009 Comedy Partners. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Important Things with Demetri Martin
DURATION: 7 episodes (154 minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Dolby Digital
RATED: Not Rated (Parent Advisory: Explicit Content. Warning: This Program is recommended for mature audiences only. It contains adult language and situations).
COMPANY: Comedy Central/Paramount
RELEASE DATE: September 8, 2009
Created by Demetri Martin
Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller, Scott Vincent, Jesse Peretz
Written by H. Jon Benjamin, Tamara Federici, Michael Koman, Demetri Martin, Dan Mintz, John Mulaney, Mark Rivers and Scott Sherman
Executive Produced by Demetri Martin, Beth McCarthy-Miller, Jon Stewart
Co-Produced by H. Jon Benjamin
Coordinating Producer: Victoria English
Associate Producer: Chloe Kaplan
Supervising Producer: Michael Koman
Line Producer: Bernadette Lee
Music by Phil Hernandez, Demetri Martin and Chris Maxwell
Cinematography by Stephen Murello
Edited by Paul Frank, Bryan Shelton, Cori Wapnowski, Irvin Coffee
Casting by Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee
Production Design by Kate Duffy
Art Direction by Gregory Kenney, Ryan Kravetz
Costume Design by Mikaela Wohl
Starring:
Demetri Martin
H. Jon Benjamin
Barry Carl
Michael Delaney
Steve Grivno
George Katt
John Oliver
Meghan Rafferty
Steven Crossley
Jon Kohler
Joe Starr
Kate Simses
Kim Shaw
Ryan Woodle
John Mulaney
Brian Berrebi
Jack Hammel
Steven Stuts
Jason Testa
Important Things with Demetri Martin is a stream-of-consciousness sketch and variety show from comedian Demetri Martin. Each episode focuses on a single topic—chairs, power, games—through the prism of Demetri’s unique point of view.
Entertaining, fun… Demetri Martin’s “Important Things” is probably one of the best and most complete Comedy Central DVD releases that I have watched!
The DVD release is a show hosted by comedian/musician Demetri Martin. In February 2009, “Important Things with Demetri Martin” scored Comedy Central’s most watched premiere for the network with 2.4 million total viewers since 2003 (“Chappelle’s Show” drew 2.5 million). The show is produced by Jon Stewart’s Busboy Productions and One Verse, Inc. and is probably one of the freshest comedy half-hour comedy show I have seen in a long while.
Demetri Martin, known for his deadpan humor starts off his show with jokes (stand-up comedy) but then integrates sketch comedy segments with other actors, animation and he’s also a talented musician who can play the guitar, keyboard, harmonica and who knows how many other instruments and also, you get actual sketches, word play and other things that you probably would never imagine seeing in a show. Sure, “Saturday Night Live” may also have similar type of things that we see on “Important Things with Demetri Martin” but its the execution that makes this series quite entertaining and fun.
The show is built around a certain topic and for the first season, there are a total of seven episodes (each episode are 21 minutes long) that are featured on this DVD. Included are (spoiler-less summaries):
- Timing – The topic of the episode is timing and stand-up comedy that revolve around timing. Sketch comedy include a scene featuring Amanda Peet and Demetri Martin in which Martin has trouble showcasing his anger during a drama scene but off-camera he has a lot of anger, a police officer who raids the wrong home, “What?” Slam Poet Champion, Jerry Pappas: Time Gigolo (a gigolo who uses a time machine and using his knowledge to get with women in the past), a guy early to a rave and two guys in a dungeon. Also, included are Demetri’s drawings and one of the coolest music performances by Demetri Martin (playing a guitar, harmonica, bells, keyboard, tambourine while showcasing jokes on a tablet).
- Power – The topic of the episode is about power and stand-up comedy revolving around power. Sketches include Parking War – two men arguing over a parking spot, a yellow belt opening a package of headphones and another with the yellow belt fighting depression, a superhero sketch titled “Revenger”, Creedocide (how to kill rats in your home) and Demetrocles. Drawings plus a musical performance by Demetri.
- Brains – The topic of the episode is about brains and stand-up comedy revolving around brains. Sketch comedy include a man who gets to eat at T.G.I.F. with Benjamin Franklin, Shakespeare and Galileo, “What?” Slam Poet Champion, Dadz, a genius and an idiot, Early Important Fairy Tales – The Royal Food Taster and Demetrocles.
- Games – The topic of the episode is about games and stand-up comedy revolving around games. Sketch comedy segments include Devin Cottonfield – Emotional Escape Artist, Annihilator board game, Men’s passive aggressive race, humans pranking birds in “Nuthouse” and Da Mici.
- Chairs – The topic of the episode is about chairs and stand-up comedy revolving around chairs. Sketch comedy segments include Employees talking bad about their bosses at the urinals (while their bosses are in the toilet overhearing them), a yellow belt trying to relax on a beach chair and another segment with the yellow belt fighting gravity, a man who must make a decision – sit with the beautiful woman or next to old man, Demotrocles and the origin of gum found under a chair.
- Safety – The topic of the episode is about safety and stand-up comedy revolving around safety. Sketch comedy segments include Spring Haven – Home for the Elderly, An S&M Couple whose safe word is…, pube-safe home security, Health Class 1231 A.D., a man with a neck brace, a scientist who needs to deactivate a proton accelerator but forgot to bring his security ID and Early Important Fairy Tales – The Royal Food Taster.
- Coolness – The topic of the episode is about coolness and stand-up comedy revolving around coolness.  Sketch comedy segments include Hoodwinkers Inc., dadz, man with a dragon tattoo on his face, the shower cap with hair, Da Mici and two men in a dungeon. Also, a musical performance by Demetri Martin.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Important Things with Demetri Martin” is featured in full screen and audio is in Dolby Digital.
Video quality is a mix bag as some scenes are shot with a variety of video. But for the most part, the video quality is well-done and the audio is clear and understandable. For audio, my preference for my receiver setting was stereo on all channels and as a comedy DVD, it was good to see the audience responsive to the jokes.
There are no subtitles included on this DVD.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Important Things with Demetri Martin” comes with a good amount of features. Included are:
- Brain Injuries
- Parking War Outtakes
- Basketball 1
- Basketball 2
- Cult Leader in Love (with commentary)
- Killing Someone with Kindness
- Killing Time in the Studio
- Dinner with Hero Outtakes
- A Tiny Guy Helps Find a Contact Lens
- A Yellow Belt Breaks his silence
- Safety Dummy
- Early Production Graph
- Early Production Lineup
- Audio Commentary for Timing, Power, Coolness and Games with Demetri Martin, Michael Koman (Supervising Producer) and Dan Mintz (Writer).
- Free Tiny Poster
- Important Things with Demetri Martin sticker
This is probably one of the most entertaining Comedy Central DVD’s that I have had the opportunity to review.
What I enjoy about Demetri Martin’s comedy is his deadpan humor. The man is a quick thinker and for those who have caught his comedy routines, his improvisation on stage is very cool. But what makes “Important Things with Demetri Martin” is that he and his writers really think outside of the box in trying to present a show that is different from what anyone has seen before. Granted, I’m sure coming up with topics can be challenging but for the most part, he is able to pull it off.
The whole execution of the show was fun to watch. The stand-up comedy, the drawings, the music and of course the sketch comedy segments are hilarious but also included are these short segments that take place before or after a commercial which are cool and also during the stand-up comedy, you will see text written on the audience. It’s just something that is quite different and for the most part, the presentation is quite fresh. Even the sketch comedy, these are topics that you won’t see on “Saturday Night Live” or other shows.
The DVD is full of bonus features and after watching the bonus features which some include outtakes, I was surprised to find commentary for many of the episodes and that was pretty awesome. One of the things that surprised me was listening to the commentary and hearing that some jokes are conceived on the show within minutes of the show starting or created during a break. But also to hear some of the behind-the-scene commentary on how the sketch comedy scenes were conceived was quite fun to listen to. Especially learning why Demetri Martin wears the same clothing, mainly because some segments work with the audience and some don’t and they can shuffle scenes around for different episodes if needed. And some of those scenes that didn’t go so well with the audience make it into the special features segment.  Another interesting thing, maybe not so major but pretty cool to see, is that the menu is interactive (which Demetri Martin makes comments during a selection) which was pretty cool.
“Important Things with Demetri Martin” is definitely one of the best Comedy Central DVD’s that I have ever seen (and I have seen many). Seven solid episodes, a lot of special features and bonus items and pretty much, a complete DVD that doesn’t really skimp on anything.
Fans of Demetri Martin or those curious about this DVD, you will not be disappointed and frankly, you’ll be getting your money’s worth with this DVD release. “Important Things with Demetri Martin” is highly recommended!