These Are Jokes by Demetri Martin (CD/DVD)
These Are Jokes is the very first Demetri Martin stand up comedy CD. It was released on September 26, 2006 through Comedy Central Records. It also comes with a "bonus" DVD which I guess makes These Are Jokes a CD/DVD combo. What more could you ask for in a stand up comedy CD?
As for what I think of it... it's really good and really funny. Go buy it. See ya later.
Alright, I'm kidding. While it is indeed really good and really funny, and you really should go buy it, I will now attempt to give These Are Jokes an in depth review and summarization. Here goes...
My "These Are Jokes" Review and Summary
What You Get
1. A CD that clocks in at about 1 hour, 11 minutes. It lists 12 tracks, but there is a 13th. The last 2 tracks (and the 13th) are not part of the actual stand up comedy performance. The last stand up track is #10. In total, you get around 1 full hour of actual stand up, and 11 minutes of other interesting stuff. More on the CD below.
2. A DVD that is loaded with a whole lot of cool stuff. More about that below.
3. A poster. It's pretty much a collection of small drawings of the objects/things Demetri's jokes are about.
What It All Looks Like
What's On The "These Are Jokes" CD
1. The Start - An intro by Demetri's grandma followed by some intro music.
2. Some Jokes - Just what it sounds like it would be. It's Demetri Martin telling some jokes.
3. The Remix - Here Demetri tells more jokes, except now it is accompanied by him playing a glockenspiel and keyboard.
4. Other Jokes - Again, these are very descriptive titles. It's Demetri Martin telling some other jokes.
5. Sames And Opposites - Here Demetri tells a bunch of jokes woven together in the form of a song. It all rhymes and everything. As you should have been able to tell by the title, the theme of these jokes are sames and opposites.
6. These Jokes - Here some more jokes are told, only this time they are told with the support of fellow comedian, Leo Allen, describing what Demetri is doing. Since this is a CD and we can't see anything, Leo supplies us with a visual.
7. Personal Information Waltz - Here Demetri tells jokes over background music while special guest Will Forte (from SNL) supplies backup singing/scatting/weird noises. That's really the best I can describe it using words only.
8. One Story - Here Mr. Martin strings a bunch of jokes together as though it's all one story from one singular day over the summer.
9. Some More Jokes - Yet another descriptive title. This track is Demetri Martin telling some more jokes.
10. The Jokes With Guitar - Another accurate title. Jokes are told while playing guitar. Like I mentioned before, this is really the end of the actual stand up comedy CD. There's 3 more tracks after this, but this is the last one that takes place live on a stage in front of people.
11. The Grapes Song - This track is called The Grapes Song and really... it's just an odd song about how Demetri likes grapes. His grandma is on there too, and I'm 99% sure his mother is as well. It's catchy.
12. The Wisdom Song - This one is called The Wisdom Song, and it is comprised of Demetri's mom saying a bunch of life quotes and other similar statements. For example, "be careful who you step on going up the ladder, because you will meet them on the way down." After each line, Demetri sings his agreement with the quote.
13. Hidden Track - This is a hidden track I guess, because the back of the CD doesn't actually list it. It's Demetri playing guitar while his grandma tells a very grandma-ish story. It's about how little Johnny didn't drink his milk, and the course of events that took place to get him to drink his milk from that point on. Grandma-ish stories are always fun.
What's On The "These Are Jokes" DVD
The Special - This is his "Comedy Central Presents" 30 minute special from 2004.
The Commentary - Here you can see the video from the Comedy Central special without the audio. Instead, the audio has been replaced by commentary from Demetri Martin, his mom, and his grandma. To give you an idea of what the commentary is like, there's a point where Demetri asks his mom if she thinks he looks good on camera. She says yeah and asks him the same question. He says no, because he looks "beat-up-able" ...like someone could easily beat him up. At that point his grandma chimes in with "Oh yeah, that's true. It's easy... easy target". Pretty funny.
First Animation - The best way I can sum this up: An animated Demetri Martin discusses the porcupine while in his tighty whiteys. Seriously.
Second Animation - This one I've actually seen before. Demetri used it during an appearance on Last Call With Carson Daly. It's basically him doing a stand up set... except it's all animated. Background music is present as well.
An Early Gig - I'm not exactly sure when this is from (or where it's from) but it's Demetri on stage somewhere performing while a voice over of himself whispers "useless talents" over and over again. During this, Demetri shows off all of his useless talents. For example, yo-yoing, juggling, and doing the robot. It's pretty funny.
An Earlier Gig - This was Demetri doing a set at what I believe to be Carolines in NYC. Now this my friends was quite an early gig. There's three ways that I know this. First, it's titled "an earlier gig." Second, I've never heard any of this material before. And third, Demetri is sporting a haircut that is very similar to the one I had in the 4th grade. It's pretty funny (the jokes, not the haircut. Ok, the haircut too.)
A Video - Features Demetri singing to music that he most likely recorded himself (which also includes snapping). The "song" is sort of like a "random things about Demetri" list set to music. As the song is playing, we watch as Demetri (his hands, at least) supports each lyric with a drawing. For example, when he sings about how he rides a skateboard, he draws a skateboard. He then turns the page and does the next drawing and repeats this the entire time. What's really interesting about the whole thing is the fact that he's doing the drawings live... with 1 marker in EACH hand. He is writing/drawing with both hands at the same time. I read an interview he did where he mentioned he wanted to learn how to write with both hands. It looks like that's going pretty well.
Another Video - This is actually a video I've seen before. It used to be up on this special Demetri Martin "web show" thing that Comedy Central's web site used to have. It no longer exists there, but it does exist here. It's short, but funny.
Extremely Short Documentary - The title is really all the description you need here. You'll see.
Easter Eggs? - I'm not 100% sure if this other stuff I found on the DVD was supposed to be like an easter egg (hidden stuff), or if I'm just an idiot. This one can really go either way. There are a bunch of little drawings surrounding the main DVD menu. By complete accident, I found out that they can be highlighted and selected. They bring up a bunch of interesting and/or funny stuff. For example:
Medal - Shows an old elementary school report card (Demetri's, of course) that shows the teacher's handwritten comments about Demetri.
Pencil - Bring up a bunch of funny drawings.
Eraser - Plays a deleted scene from the commentary that starts off with Demetri's grandma giving a history of which of her children she beat the most. lol, seriously. This is followed by her telling Demetri which of her other grandchildren are funnier and more clever than he is.
Camera - Brings up a bunch of pictures with captions written by Demetri. These are actual pictures (not drawings) of Demetri with friends/family, performing, etc..
Cassette Tape - Brings up a list of 7 songs that are all (I assume) written, song and played by Demetri Martin himself. Quite interesting.
The Conclusion
It's really good and really funny. Go buy it. See ya later.
Seriously though, it's good and entertaining. At this point there's really no reason or purpose for me to give you my opinion on whether or not it's a good comedy CD. If you're reading this, you know who Demetri Martin is, and you know his stand up is smart and hilarious. You know he's funny. I could have written a review saying how funny the CD was before I even heard it. There's nothing surprising about that.
However, what is surprising is the fact that it's a lot more than just a stand up comedy CD. I'm not even talking about the guests and music and other interesting ways Demetri did the actual stand up. I'm talking about These Are Jokes as a whole. You can tell a lot of time and thought was put into it, and not just the time and thought of some random Comedy Central Record's employee... Demetri's time and thought.
He threw in a ton of extra stuff on the DVD, plus all of the secret easter egg type stuff. He sat there with his mom and grandma doing DVD commentary. He created animations and music. He included pictures and old videos. He did every single bit of art on the CD/DVD jacket both inside and outside, on the CD and DVD themselves, the poster, the DVD menus, and really wherever else art was. He did way more than just let them record him, and although that would have been perfectly fine, it's very cool to get all of this additional stuff.
These Are Jokes, as just a CD, is worth the money. As just a DVD it's worth the money. For a CD/DVD combo, it's extra special. Like I said, it's really good and really funny. Go buy it. See ya later.