This Is an Interview With Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin hasn’t visited Australia since 2011. Was it something we said?

"The years have gotten away from me a little bit."

That’s Demetri Martin, the deadpan stand-up comedian whose last Netflix special was called The Overthinker, underselling his eight-year absence from Australian shores.

He returns this June with a new live show, titled Wandering Mind, and plenty to talk about.

"Since I’ve been there last I got married, got a house, I have two kids now," he tells Student Edge.

"I think that’s a large part of the reason I haven’t travelled too much. I haven’t really left the country for quite a while. I’m excited. I’m finally coming out of my cocoon."

The question is: How much of his new domesticated home life will he share with the audience? Martin is best known for his chunks of short, absurd jokes and observational one-liners, usually delivered over some finger-plucked guitar, or as an accompaniment to his fanciful drawings; not so much for getting intensely confessional.

"In my notebooks, I still try to come up with new ways to do jokes; new forms," he reiterates.

"Nothing too ground-breaking, but for me, it diversifies the presentation."

That said, anyone coming to see something like Nanette should adjust their expectations.

"It’s something I debate, because years ago, when I was doing the festivals, I did very personal shows," he explains.

"They were structured, narrative one-person shows. I enjoy seeing shows like that, but over time, I do get sick of my stories and myself.

"For me, it’s a tension between wanting to really connect with an audience, open up, but also doing something that’s enjoyable and not too self-involved."

He describes it as a "tug of war", which suggests there’s a roiling conflict going on under his otherwise placid, pleasant demeanour during performances.

"It’s already such a self-involved job, so I’m already the thing that I’m selling," he adds.

"Whenever I can have it be more about ideas, something that I feel like I can connect with that’s really outside of myself, it feels a little healthier."

The name of the tour, Wandering Mind, certainly sounds like he’s widening his scope, given how previous specials had the extremely literal titles Person, These Are Jokes and Standup Comedian.

"I don’t know what my problem is," he laughs, explaining, "I’m very cautious in my titling."

"It all disappears, right? It doesn’t really matter. I guess on the heels of my last special, which I called The Overthinker, [I] edged back towards a little bit more of an autobiographical style, even though I still like telling discrete jokes. Here I thought, 'Oh this’ll be the first time in a while that I’ll make it overseas, maybe I’ll nod to that.'

"When I looked at the routing, where I’m going and everything, I thought, 'Oh yeah, I’m kind of wandering, I guess that makes sense.'"

Martin insists that his literal titling of shows is more of a protective mechanism.

"Like a lot of comedians—people who make things—one of my harshest critics is me," he says.

"It’s something I think you can’t avoid, but sometimes, things just don’t age the way you want them to. I never thought of it consciously, but maybe if I make it generic and plain enough, I won’t hate it in 10 years.

"I like to veer towards the generic, which is probably not always the best impulse if you’re trying to stand out."

He’ll nonetheless stand out when he returns to stand-up in Australia, and he’s been working hard on new material for audiences.

"I had such good experiences [in Australia previously]," he says.

"Through the tour dates I’ve done so far, I’ve been writing mostly on my flights. The show keeps morphing. I have some pretty hefty flights to make it there, so that’ll be another opportunity to write another bunch of jokes. I’ll probably have some brand new stuff when I get off the plane."

However, who knows when he’ll be back after this set of dates? Given the demands of his new life, the allure of touring must have its limits.

"When I’m doing the road in the States, lately, with little kids at home, I feel the pull of home a lot more," he explains.

"When I was first really touring, I didn’t miss anybody and nobody missed me, and I was just floating around. But now there is a real sense of home."

One thing’s for certain: the next stage of his career won’t involve him staying put to record 'serious' music, despite his proficiency on the six-string.

"With the guitar, I struggled, because I’ve not really figured out a way to sing that’s not embarrassing to me, so I ended up just relying on the guitar as ambient," he says.

"I never tried to sing the jokes, but I have tried to write songs, at home. I guess I’ve tried to write a couple funny ones, but it never really came out that way. I thought, 'Hey, can I just write a cool song?' And that was probably the most heartbreaking experience," he laughs.

"It’s not good. It’s not funny. It’s not even ironic. It’s just, 'Oh boy, that’s not gonna happen for me.'"

Demetri Martin’s Wandering Mind Tour of Australia and New Zealand kicks off in Christchurch 31 May before heading to Auckland on 1 June and Wellington on 3 June. It comes to Australia in June: Adelaide Town Hall on 4 June, Gold Coast Home of the Arts on 6 June, Arts Centre Melbourne on 7 June, Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on 8 June, Canberra Theatre Centre on 10 June and Perth’s Astor Theatre on 12 June. Get tickets at Frontier Comedy.

Header Image: Frontier Comedy