When interviewing Demetri Martin, I expected the conversation to be punctuated by a series of humorous one-liners. Like some gifted word genius, he would magically sum up questions with clever single sentences, I would be gloriously entertained listening to my favorite comedian and it would be awesome.

After reality set in, I quickly realized that Martin’s answers were elaborate and eloquently explained, fitting for a comedian whose observational comedy includes word play like palindromes and paraprosdokians.