The problem with US imports is that they can crop up out of nowhere on the schedules and then disappear before you've had chance to notice - unless of course they are FastForward. Tonight sees the start of another cult import, this time not on FX, More4 or BBC4 but on a resurgent E4, which has picked up Important Things With Demetri Martin. You should watch it.
Important Things is made by Jon Stewart's Busboy Productions – also responsible for the Colbert Report – and, as such, reeks with witty smarts. It's a combination of sketches, Martin's deadpan standup and animations. And it's currently, along with Home Time, my favourite TV comedy.
Martin, a Yale dropout, was a Perrier winner in 2003 for If I – which mainly involved him talking about how being so clever is both a boon and a fault (it was later made into a BBC4 special). It could sound cocky but Martin is clever enough to rebound the jokes on himself. If you need proof, consider the social skills of a man who once wrote a 224-word palindrome entitled Dammit, I'm Mad.
As a precursor to Important Things Martin served as an irregular reporter for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart discussing trends of the day (this social networking piece is a TDSWJS classic), and also appeared in Flight Of The Conchords as one half of splinter group the Crazy Dogggz. He stars in Ang Lee's new Woodstock movie Taking Woodstock . Busy guy.
But it's Important Things that he's now best known for - it was Comedy Central US's best performing debut since Dave Chapelle's hugely successful Chapelle's Show. I've watched the first two episodes, each of which is based around Martin riffing on a certain theme. Episode one is based on Timing, the second on power and they're both hilarious. Sketches include hand-drawn graphs ("frequency with which person urinates not in bathroom over lifetime"), a rodent trap that works by turning mice against each other in a rodent holy war and some bone-dry one-liners: "The worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades." Watch clips here - or watch it on telly tonight and come back with your thoughts.
