WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11
IMPORTANT THINGS WITH DEMETRI MARTIN
Comedy Central, 10:30pm et/pt
By Thomas J. Watson
Timing is everything. Comedy Central has decided tonight is the appropriate time to premiere a new series, Important Things, starring a young comedian named Demetri Martin (click on Video Clips to watch a preview).
Every episode is built around a single theme. Tonight’s theme is, well, “timing.”
The show is a fast-paced hodgepodge of stand-up, comedy shorts, inserts, blackouts and animated pencil sketches. Yes, pencil sketches.
Not all the skits work. A few are worth a chuckle, some a huge belly laugh but some, sadly, not even a smile. That’s the nature of comedy – what strikes some of us as hilarious might not impress someone else.
The important thing about Important Things is that it moves. No single bit lasts more than a minute or two.
Martin, himself, is a personable young man who seems willing to try anything.
He’s showcased best tonight in two well-produced sketches – one in which he’s an actor trying to muster anger on cue, and a second in which he plays a rookie cop who mistakenly shoots up the wrong apartment.
Important could use a little refinement and a coat of polish, but, as is, it’s charmingly different and worth a look.
Video clips: www.comedycentral.com/shows/important_things/index.jhtml
Content: appropriate for teenagers and adults
