I was a good student when I was a kid, and I did everything I was supposed to do, and I got A's.
— Demetri Martin
Sometimes I use my jokes as building blocks for larger bits. I like to draw and play music, so sometimes I do those things along with the jokes.
They say that structure is freedom, and in a sense it is. When you're dealing with multiple constraints, you have to figure out what you can get out of that.
I'd love to win trophies, be in movies, have a body of work I'm proud of and find a way to enjoy it along the way. Success is probably a more of a complicated thing than that.
I've often liked a girl, made her laugh, and thought she liked me, and then found out that she didn't like me that way. I've definitely done time in the friend zone.
I am completely attracted to the idea of simplicity, or at least removing things that seem unnecessary when trying to get an idea out there.
The comedians I liked were Bill Cosby and Steven Wright, like just always as a comedic actor. I always liked Gary Larson, who's really funny for a cartoonist, obviously.
I thought I would, you know, go to college, get to law school, finish, and then get a job and work as a lawyer, but that proved to be not a good fit for me.
When I was a kid, I always wanted to live in California because I liked skateboarding.
Stand up is really fun because if I think of a joke or a funny idea, then I can just go and tell some people and if they laugh, they laugh right away.
But what I was going to say was, I just figured I'm going to go boldly in the direction of my dreams, say it as Thoreau would say, and just see where it takes me.
I think, at first blush, the '60s always enticed me. There's something about the '60s, it's not hard to like it.
I never set out to do a sketch show.
I didn't do improv in college, I never performed, I didn't do theater either. I was in student government, I was a history major.
But I found that disappointing people is a good thing, because disapproval is freedom.
Usually, I walk around and think about things. When I come across a thought that makes me laugh, I write it down.
But long story short, I didn't start doing stand-up because I wanted to have a TV show or be an actor or even wanted to write sketch comedy. I got into stand-up because I love stand-up.
As a comic, I think I'm very verbally oriented about a lot of the stuff that I've written or thought up and how I say it.
It seems that two of the most basic forms of comedy are jokes and stories. And, of course, they are not mutually exclusive.
I got into stand-up because I love stand-up. Specifically in stand-up, I love jokes. I love short, structured ideas and a punch line.
As a creative person, you want to have a foothold and sense of progress.
It's funny: when people always talk about the importance of role models, I used to think that was so exaggerated, but as I get older, I start to realize I don't feel that way so much anymore. If you see somebody like you who's doing something, an older version of what you are, it does make you feel like it's more possible.
I just know keeping track of what I'm doing and where I'm going is important to me.
I think since I was kid people told me that they thought I was funny.
People only have so much attention.
I think a lot of stuff I find funny is from day dreaming.
I started being a comedy fan when I was, I'm going to guess, like 5 or 6 years old.
For example, I was a White House intern the summer before I dropped out of law school. Everybody knew about it. I'd come home and go to church and everybody would say, 'Oh, my God. Demetri, you're working at the White House.'
Stand-up is like a row boat: it's fun and romantic when you're choosing to do it. But if you have no other choice than to be in a row boat it's not as enjoyable; that's survival.
I'm always excited to try something I haven't done.
And as far as actors go, Peter Sellers is my all-time favorite.
I went to law school. I found it interesting for the first three weeks.
The shortest feedback loop I can think of is doing improvisation in front of an audience.
I love catching a snapshot of something that is just about to happen. Or maybe something that just happened, you know. But I like especially that just-before kind of feeling.
Usually, my favorite joke is whichever joke I most recently came up with that surprised me the first time I thought of it.
I do come across people who don't like me, don't like my comedy, don't think it's funny, it's too cutesy, or whatever they hate. And it's like, 'Okay. That's your opinion. Somebody liked it, so that's good.' Hopefully it balances out.
I like stand-up. But I'd also like a family and house and a yard. I want to work with a lot of people, have colleagues; and on good film sets, there's people there that work with the same people for years and years. I love that collaborative spirit in that medium. Comedy is a lot more solitary.
It feels like every day or two, people on Twitter and the Internet are outraged about something.
I wasn't even a big comedy nerd. A lot of the comedians I know - a lot of my friends are comedians - they knew a lot about comedy growing up.
It's very easy to go through your whole life and never really get anything done or have any real meaningful interactions or relationships. All of a sudden you're dead, and I'm going to say that's got to be a letdown.
And of course I didn't make any money from stand up for years, so I had temp jobs. That was the way I made money.
I have fun acting, and I want to do more of it, and I want to direct my own movie.
Okay, so, when I was a kid, definitely the drawings and the illustration. Then I stopped in sixth grade or so. And then I started again when I was in my twenties. I really didn't progress since then, so the way I draw is the way I drew in sixth grade.
And my only rule being if when I wake in the morning I'm looking forward to the things that I have to do that day, then I'm on the right track.
I know about Woodstock probably as much as your average person who is over 30, where I'd know Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead.
To me, comedy is a game.
I was student council president in high school, and even in law school, I was vice-president of the student bar association.
I love Steven Wright. I was in high school in the '80s, and there was a lot of stand up on television.
I tend to avoid televisions, politics, and places with velvet ropes.
Specifically in stand-up, I love jokes. I love short, structured ideas and a punchline.
