Beautiful People 2004: Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin is a palindrome-loving, Late Night with Conan O'Brien-writing, glockenspiel-playing comedian. He may be a dorkus malorkus, but he's also the comedy world's next great hope -- and he's not just slaving for late night's favorite former Simpsons writer. Since winning the Perrier Award last year (one of comedy's most prestigious prizes), he's started work on a screenplay, a book, a sitcom with NBC and a half-hour Comedy Central special.

After graduating from Yale in 1995, Martin was attending NYU Law School when he landed a much-coveted internship at the White House under Bill Clinton. He soon realized that this line of work wasn't for him and dropped out to intern for The Daily Show, which helped him master the art of random observations. He delivers them with deadpan perfection. "I think video games are really violent," the 30-year-old muses in a gentle voice. "I want to design a video game in which you have to take care of all the people in other video games. It would be called Busy Hospital." Another sign that he's made it is that he recently moved from Fort Greene, Brooklyn, to Soho. "I live on the fifth floor of a six-floor walkup," he says. "It's kind of a pain; you really have to think before you leave." Armed with his nutty-professor-meets-Lower-East-Side-hipster shtick, Martin (if he ever leaves his house) is sure to wow your brain and melt your heart. Or at least write you a palindrome.

* Demetri wears pants by D&G.