TVSquad

When you think of funny people in America, who do you immediately think of? Stephen Colbert? Robin Williams? Chris Rock? Matt Stone and Trey Parker? How about David Letterman or Dane Cook?

Some of the people above are on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 funniest people in America (two of the people above aren't on the list, nor should they be!). Some of the choices are downright baffling (as usual for these lists): Augustun Burroughs? Please. Diablo Cody? Good writer, but one of the funniest in the country based on Juno? But it's good to see the Sedarises on there (both David and Amy), as well as people like Tina Fey and Demetri Martin. There are even two current cast members of Saturday Night Live on the list. Can you guess who they are?

Once you read the list, you can go into the comments and say "why the hell is _________ on the list?!?"

Just a day after announcing that they were going to renew both Mind of Mencia and Lil' Bush, Comedy Central has announced that they have picked up a new comedy/variety show from comedian Demetri Martin.

The show will be produced by Jon Stewart and his Busboy Productions. Martin has been a regular contributor to The Daily Show. He also had two Comedy Central specials: one in 2004 as part of Comedy Central Presents and another this past January, Demetri Martin: Person, and a new comedy album These Are Jokes.

I've been waiting for this. Martin happens to be one of the funniest people on the planet. I think his style of humor lends itself perfectly to a weekly sketch show.. I'm sure he'll thrown in animation and observations too. After the jump, a couple of videos from Martin's work on The Daily Show and one of his specials.

Comedian and Daily Show trendspotter Demetri Martin appears in the new Fountains of Wayne video for their song "Someone to Love." Martin plays "Seth," a big city lawyer, which is fitting since he himself went to law school, although he did drop out one year before getting his degree.

The song, like all of Fountain of Wayne's songs, is really catchy and you'll probably find yourself singing it in the shower. Or, if you're like me, you'll actually learn how to play it on guitar so you can both sing and play it in the shower. This actually warps the guitar pretty bad, which is why I break into a music warehouse every night and steal a new one.

[via CC Insider]

Somehow I missed this special, When The Leaves Blow Away, when it originally aired on Comedy Central, but it's re-airing tonight on the network at midnight, and the DVD of the special was released today.

Wright was on The Late Show With David Letterman last night, and he was in great (if hairy) form. He's a Boston-area guy and I've loved his stuff since the 80s. If you've never seen him, he's sort of an older, darker Demetri Martin, going from one quirky observation to another unrelated quirky observation. He was an influence on many standup comics.

After the jump, a clip from the special (he used some of the material on Letterman last night).

The Boston Phoenix makes an interesting suggestion on one of their blogs: maybe NBC should give the Late Night slot to Demetri Martin in 2009 when Conan O'Brien takes over for Jay Leno. Hmmm...

In this Daily Show clip, Martin explains the whole copyright controversy involving Viacom, Google, and YouTube. It's a great clip, with Martin asking at one point if viewers are watching him right now on YouTube (yes, it's a YouTube clip). He even freezes his body and says "buffering." Funny stuff. Both videos after the jump (YouTube version and Comedy Central's, just in case...)

• At 7, ABC has a new America's Funniest Home Videos, followed by new episodes of Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters.
• At 7:30, The CW has a new Reba, then a new 7th Heaven.
• At 8 (or after the Pats/Chargers game), CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then new eps of Cold Case and Without A Trace.
• FOX has the two hour season premiere of 24 at 8.
• There's a new Grease: You're The One That I Want at 8, followed by a new Apprentice and the season premiere of Crossing Jordan.
• PBS has The Best of Nature at 8, a 25th anniversary special.
• MSNBC has The Quest For Atlantis at 8, then a repeat of this morning's Meet The Press, if you missed it.
• At 10, HGTV has a new Living With Ed.
• Food Network has a new Challenge at 10, with contestants making steak recipes.
• Demetri Martin's new comedy special, Person, airs on Comedy Central at 10.
• Also at 10: the season premiere of Rome, followed by the season premiere of Extras.

Back in June I mentioned that comedian Demetri Martin had a one-hour special coming up early next year. Well, it's now early next year, and the special is called Demetri Martin. Person. That seems accurate enough. If you're a fan of Martin, you won't be surprised that the comedy special will include animation, drawings and music all culled from the mind of Mr. Martin. It will air on January 14 at 10pm.

Demetri attended law school briefly but dropped out to get into comedy. I'm not sure why he thought he couldn't do both. I mean, you've got the jury sitting right there, it's like a captive audience. Sure, you'd probably lose every case and innocent people would go to jail for life, but you would have made people laugh, and that's what it's really all about.