Self-importance

These days, the fastest way into the highly competitive world of comedy is to be discovered by Judd Apatow. Once the Christ-figure of bromance films recognizes you, opportunity no longer knocks. It takes a battering ram to your door and pleads.

But thank God association with Apatow is not a requisite for comedic success. Demetri Martin is one such gentleman who has come up in comedy in a far more traditional sense: by working for it. Hard.

Martin, a 35-year-old manchild with a mop-top, a stubble-free face and skinny jeans could easily pass for one of Apatow’s post-collegiate stoners. But the dude’s been around for a while.

Sure he looks like he just came of legal age to rent a car, but 10 years ago Demetri Martin was dropping out of his last year of school at NYU Law (on a full-ride scholarship, no less) to pursue a career in stand-up comedy.

And while it wasn’t too long before he caught a break on Comedy Central’s stand-up showcase Premium Blend in 2001, it would be a while before Martin received bigger recognition than a serf toiling in the background.

After a bit role in 2002’s Analyze That, a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a year of writing for Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Martin became a more recognizable figure in late 2005 when he joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as the Senior Youth Correspondent where his segment, “Trendspotting,” was devoted to the satirical discussion and analysis of “hip trends.”

Along with three comedy albums, and bit parts in both 2008’s Rainn Wilson vehicle The Rocker and HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, it seems about damned time Martin got his own show (appropriately produced by Jon Stewart’s Busboy Productions).

Important Things with Demetri Martin is a sketch-comedy show in which Martin devotes each episode to an abstract concept or action that can be applied to a variety of contexts. For example, the first episode’s important thing is “timing,” whereas the second’s is “power.”

If the show’s concept seems a bit flimsy, well, it sort of is. Like many sketch-comedy shows Important Things is real hit-and-miss with the jokes. The show features a variety of forums in which Martin can unleash his comedy: his stand-up bit (much like the opening monologue of a late-night variety show), sketches (often featuring guest actors) and short animated segments and music where Martin will play at least one instrument and sing a song somehow related to the show’s theme.

Although Important Things is occasionally funny, it feels like it might work better if Martin dropped the whole single-topic motif and just continued with funny sketches. Martin often reaches too far in his attempts to connect certain jokes to the show’s topic.

Yeah, when the 35-year-old hipster goes on a tirade about how he hates meeting babies because they never remember him, then explains to a non-existent baby, “Uh, we met last week, and you didn’t even freakin’ look at me. I believe you were shitting in your pants when we spoke,” it is pretty damn funny. But tying the entire concept to timing is a bit of a stretch.

Martin’s show is disjointed and often a tad confusing, as if it were thrown together using a digital camera and iMovie in Martin’s parents’ basement. Although perhaps that’s the appeal of Martin’s crude animations, sketches, songs and monologues; they are all well within the bounds of the haphazard and seemingly arbitrary sense of humor shared by the YouTube generation.

Important Things is like one man’s YouTube channel, only it’s on cable television. Some people are going to love every bizarre deadpan joke coming out of Martin’s mouth, while still others will find some to love and probably more to be irritated by.

The important thing to remember about Important Things is that its content is much smarter than just about any legally distributed content on YouTube. Now if only it were all funny instead of just some of it.

I think Martin simply hasn’t hit his stride yet, but hopefully he will in the coming weeks. General reception to the show has been positive, so I think things look pretty good for the future of Important Things with Demetri Martin.

But, what do I know? Don’t let me tell you how Important Things is, decide for yourself with an all new episode tonight where Demetri Martin discusses “brains.”