Demetrios Evan Martin (born May 25, 1973 in New York City, New York) is an Emmy Award-nominated and Perrier comedy award winning American comedian, actor, musician, and writer. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian and as a contributor on The Daily Show.
Martin's father, Dean, was a Greek Orthodox priest and his mother Lillian is a Greek American nutritionist. He was raised in Toms River, New Jersey where his family ran a diner. Martin attended Yale University and then New York University School of Law on a full scholarship. Despite objections from his family, he dropped out a year before graduation to pursue a career in comedy. Regarding the decision, Martin has said:
He is also known for showing his ambidextrous talents in performances. His hobbies include constructing palindromes.
In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Premium Blend. In 2003 he won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his show If I.... The show was turned into a British television special in 2004.
From 2003 to 2004, Martin was a writer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In 2004, Martin had his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons and acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where the jokes he told came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.
Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on The Daily Show, on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting." He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace. On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on The Daily Show talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.
He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD entitled These Are Jokes, which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features Saturday Night Live member and personal friend Will Forte on the track "Personal Information Waltz."
He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence. Both use deadpan one-liners in their acts.
Demetri returned to The Daily Show on March 22, 2007, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". He recently starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the new Travis single "Selfish Jean" where he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.
On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.
Martin sold his movie concept Will to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role. He will play the lead in the film Moon People, a pitch which he sold to Columbia Pictures. He will also be appearing in the upcoming film Kids in America, in which he will play a Goldman Sachs employee.
According to his website, Martin is in the process of publishing a book of drawings.
Jon Stewart's Busboy Productions is also slated to air a new TV series featuring Martin titled Important Things with Demetri Martin, premiering in the "second half of 2008".
According to Variety , Ang Lee has cast him as Elliot Tiber in his upcoming movie Taking Woodstock, which will be released in 2009.
