What if. .?
DEMETRI MARTIN wreaks a path of uncertain chaos through palindromes, fractal geometry and learning guitar. Words Maureen Ellis
omedians are truly masters ol a solitary prolession. In what realms other than
comedy would a single artist conceiye. w rite. direct. pertwm and puhlicise a show.’
And when a comedy pcrl'ormance surges in the luminescent glory ol positiye recognition. the heady weight ol‘ success falls on a comedian's shoulders alone.
Demetri Martin has taken that notion one step further. ‘I think a one-person show is hard.' he say s. ‘You haye to answer the question: who cares‘.’ Why would an audience w ant to see one person tor that long‘." Spurred on by a sell-defeating heliel' that one-person shows are essentially flawed. he has created a one-man show in its most literal sense. In addition to organising the expected aspects of If]. he's painted the llyers. written the Inusic. learned to play guitar and l‘ashioned his own costume. It I did a music recital you'd say “he's not well". It. I did a l‘ashion show you'd say “hes retarded". Il‘I had an art show you’d say “this child is a yery good painter". But those things are
lorgiy en because that's the point ol‘ the show. It's just one guy ‘IT's T trying to make as much as he can.” Very few ol Martin's ideas are straightl‘orward. 'I‘he young. New Jersey-horn comedian could haye easily
pitched at a I‘ringe I~'it'st with his now del‘unct concept
l'ractal geometry. ‘I explained to my l‘riend that it's
going to he about this sensitive dependence on initial
condition. says Martin. ‘It s this thing in chaos I theory and I‘m applying it to human hehayiour.
He listened. and said: “You're lucked.” Ten
days later. Martin had created a new show To hascd loosely around the dictionary delinition
ol the word II . Still. there‘s always room for l‘ractals. While studying for a law degree at Yale l'niyersity. Martin wrote a poem that was a lSll-word palindrome. While his law studies l'loundered. the palindromic masterpiece is now 233 words and limits the centrepiece ol‘ If].
Martin's postmodern. deconstructionist approach and highly original one—liners haye made him one of the most exciting new comedians in America. He has run the gamut of network chat shows. won the Jury Award at the LS ('omedy Ans Iiestiyal in Aspen. written a sitcom pilot for .\'B(' and struck a deal with Steven Spielberg's [)reamworks. ‘By multi-tasking I'm trying to write a book. I‘m trying to go on the road with my stand-up. I've got a deal to write a film — I‘m hoping that it I'm patient then I can have a slow rise. I don't know what the rush is; that l have to get on TV or whatever. I'd rather lay low and learn how to be good at things. And then the things I make will he hetter.‘
While his career may he t'orging ahead. Martin has his (ireek parentage to thank for a perceived sense ol‘ audience antipathy. ‘I look like a hoy.‘ he muses. resignedly. ‘It's a prejudice that I have against myself. It I don't shaye I look like a terrorist. but ill do shave I look like a boy. So I‘m in a ('atch 22. where the audience either doesn't respect tne or tears me.‘ An unlikely story.
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Assembly Rooms, 226 2428, 1-25 Aug (not 5, 12), 9.15pm, SIS-£10.50.
JULIA MORRIS
Femme fatale of filth ‘fesses up
For the publicity poster to her new US movie Gig/i, Jennifer Lopez has had a couple of inches digitally trimmed from her poll-topping rear. By way of a response, Julia Morris (aka J-Mo) is claiming that she hopes soon to add some weight to her brain. Like the Latino booty-shaker, this 02 wizardess has a whole lot of trouble sticking to her intentions. ‘I can change my mind at any given moment; she's married, then all of a sudden she‘s divorced. I can do that with titles of shows.‘
80, Julia Morris Live has become J-Mo in some parts. only to crop up in others as the somewhat unwieldy Will you Kids Get out of that Pool Please. A rapid-fire tale of everything she’s ever done ever (with slides), it's the proper Fringe follow-up to her sensational Show and Tell from 2001, which gained plaudits for being frank, honest, rude/crude and, perhaps most importantly, downright hilarious.
‘One of the things that hit my reviews two years ago was that all I was doing was just talking about golden showers,‘ she says. ‘lt's double standards, isn't it, dahlin'? Every single boy I know has surfed at some point on some weird pornographic site. yet people get shocked when I ask at what point in a relationship do you say “how much fun is weeing on each other, do you want to try it?" I never just say rude stuff for the sake of it, it‘s got a little bit of a story behind it.’ (Brian Donaldson)
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J-Mo gets into the swing of things
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