Jews loving playing the "Is he (or her) Jewish? game. What's so fascinating about it to them is the varying characteristics that Jews are supposed to inherently have and also it is a way of subverting the Nazis own way of playing the game. (They did it by looks, suspicions, and in the most extreme cases birth certificates.) Last night, I was watching re-watching the premiere of "Important Things with Demetri Martin" and wondering if Martin was a member of the tribe.
First off, you have to play this game earlier in people's career if they are famous because inevitably it will become a big deal in the Jewish community and all the Jews will start chatting the person up at the synagogue once the news breaks. Jewish mothers saying things like "Did you hear about that Natalie Portman? She is one beautiful Israeli, although she should have stuck with her real last name which is Herschlag. She is an amazing Jewish actress. I'd see anything she's in." Blah, blah, blah. Second, you have to not cheat by looking it up with the obligatory Wikipedia check, or on lists like JewsinSports. (The list for Hollywood is probably called NonJewsinHollywood, it is an easier list to come up with).
There are three major factors that go into observing Jewishness in a person. One might qualify for all and not be Jewish (which becomes a "not a Jew to the goyim, but it's got be in the blood somewhere up the line." There is appearance/mannerisms, profession, and name. Of course, there is the fourth, circumcision, but that is hard to find out and not usually help in respect to women.
Let's start with the name first. First you look at the last name. Any combination of green, gold, silver, with a suffix like stein, berger, burger, itz, eli is a good sign. Martin is pretty unhelpful. It is not severely tilted toward an ethnicity like Gonzalez or a Christopher. Demetri doesn't help much either. There are Jews in the Russian/Eastern European countries but they usually go for the Dmitri version. This version is a bit Americanized and possibly a bit Jewicized. I'd call name a wash, non helpful in the quest.
Job is comedian. Not just a comedian but a whining observational comedian (see Jerry Seinfeld et al). This is definitely a checkmark in the Jew column. Some select shorter jokes include (from Demetri Martin quotes):
- I wonder what the word for dots looks like in braille.
- If I ever saw an amputee getting hanged, I'd probably just start calling out letters.
- The digital camera is a great invention because it allows us to reminisce. Instantly.
Of course delivery is usually the best part of jokes and Demetri has a deadpan style which brings up appearance/mannerism.
Demetri has an awkward, goofy, self-deprecating style. His delivery is very akin to the deceased genius Mitch Hedberg but with a Northeastern educated vocal stylings than Mitch's California chillmeister delivery. Speaking of Mitch:
Back to the task at hand. He has a Napoleon Dynamite-like way of movement and could be a Jon Heder stand in at time. Although, if the first episode of "Important Things" is any indication, his comedic prowess is building while Heder's has already faded away.
Is he circumcised? I don't know.
Additional Factors: I went to a preview screening a few weeks ago of Ang Lee's next film Taking Woodstock, about the roots of the original Woodstock in 1969. The film's main character is a down on his luck Jewish interior decorator from NYC who moves back home with hotel-owning his parents to upstate New York and ends up turning a permit for a local arts festival into possibly the most famous musical event in history. Who plays this young Jewish man? None other than the nebbishy Demetri Martin and he does it very well. The move has a lot of intriguing parts and interesting characters including another great supporting performance by Emile Hirsch as a soldier just back from Vietnam and Liev Schreiber as a transvestite bodyguard. The film shows no actual concert footage or recreation, focusing on the planning stages and the people who went to Woodstock. It is scheduled to be released this summer in conjunction with the 40th anniversary.
So back to the task at hand, is Demetri Martin Jewish? I'm partial to no. It's just a gut feeling, call it a Jewdar. It's as if he's too Jewish to be Jewish.
Let's look up the answer on the Wikipedia…
Looks like Martin is a Greek Orthodox. His father is a Greek Orthodox priest. One interesting thing is that even though he appears to be much younger, especially because of his recent fame, but Demetri is actually 35 years old. See you next time on Are They Jewish?
Posts
Wikipedia...his father is Greek Orthodox but it doesn't state his mother's maiden name or country of origin. Together his education, comedy performances, mannerisms, and sense of independence possibly point toward a Jewish bloodline at some point in his family's past.
ReplyDelete