Demetri Martin's Slate DiaryA weeklong journal from the comedian and writer.
Posted Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, at 2:56 PM ETDemetri Martin's new TV show, Important Things With Demetri Martin, debuted on Comedy Central on Feb. 11. The half-hour variety shows mixes Martin's idiosyncratic stand-up (complete with charts, drawings, and musical instruments) with original sketches centered on a common theme. The first show's theme was "timing."*
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StumbleUponBack in 2004, when Martin was writing sketches for Late Night With Conan O'Brien and working on his stand-up, he wrote a weeklong diary for Slate. Martin discussed the benefits and drawbacks of living in a six-floor walk-up, recounted an ongoing music war with a neighbor, and talked about the time he tried to grow a mustache: "I look like a supporting actor in a gay porno about diner busboys. (Possible title: Sugar Packets or Sweet & Low.)"
Over the course of the week, Martin reported on his comedic successes and failures. While taping a sketch for Conan before a live audience, he flubbed one of his lines, leaving him "sweaty and desperate" as he watched the playback on a monitor. Later in the week, during a stand-up routine, he scored a hit with the deadpan observation: "There is a store in my neighborhood called Futon World. To me, that sounds like a magical place that becomes less comfortable over time."
Martin's diary also included photographs and a poem he once wrote by rearranging the words on a Rolling Rock bottle.
The full diary entries can be read here.
Correction, Feb. 18, 2009: The article mistakenly stated that the theme of the first episode of Important Things With Demetri Martin was "power." The theme of that episode was "timing." (Return to the corrected sentence.)
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