Can loss of a loved one be funny?

That's the question comedian Demetri Martin grapples with in his new film "Dean," which he both wrote and directed. It's an examination of how a father and son deal with the death of the family matriarch. "Dean" won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival and opens June 2 in limited release. 

Martin joined Boston Public Radio to discuss the film and his career in comedy. Some highlights are below.

On his directorial debut, "Dean"

"While it is a comedy, I try to deal with some real emotional things that I had been through. It’s a comedy about loss. Kevin Kline plays my father, I was very lucky to get him. It’s about two guys getting over the loss of the same person — my character’s mom. I’d say she has passed away maybe a year before this movie takes place. So while it is about grief, it’s really about coming out of grief or at least trying to come out of it."

On how "Dean" was inspired by his own life

"When I was 20, my dad passed away. He was 46. He was really young. It’s been awhile, it’s been about 23 years. I thought there’d be an interesting story to tell in father and son going through the same thing, in a sense, in approaching grief from different angles. But if they both met someone along the way — if I could tell parallel but different stories while the two guys were having trouble communicating — I thought that would be an interesting story."

On including his own cartoons in the film

"I put so much work into the drawings! I’m not a technically great artist, but what I love about drawing is kind of what I love about one-liners. With just a few words or just a few lines, you can convey ideas that sometimes can be pretty rich. I love that about it."

On dropping out of law school to become a comedian

"I wanted to go to law school since about seventh grade. I remember 'L.A. Law' was a popular show when I was a kid, and my parents loved that show. I think that imprinted on me: 'oh, I could do this.' I'm sure I sought approval — I know I did, because I still do. I'm a comedian. That's all I do. Every 30 seconds I'm looking for it.

I went to college with that in mind, went straight to law school after college. Then, suddenly — a month, two months into the first year — I had the crisis where I realized, 'oh no, this isn't for me.' The first year of law school is stimulating, but there's that core curriculum and you're with your section, with your group. They have assigned seats when I was there: you sit down, and they do a seating chart, and that's where you sit every day. It's very regimented. I had my crisis. When I left, everybody disapproved. It was terrible. But I was in New York. There were comedy club everywhere. It was almost easy to step into a world that was right next to me...

There was a place called the Boston Comedy Club in the Village, across the street from the NYU Law School ... It was there, gnawing at me, and I thought, 'I want to try this. I got to try this.' I had never done it. In fact, I dropped out before my first set on stage." 

On how his father's career as a Greek Orthodox priest taught him to love performing

"I grew up in the Greek Orthodox church — I'd say I'm agnostic at best now, I'm not heavy into this stuff. The service was mostly in archaic Greek, and you're a kid, you don't know what they're saying. It's a dramatic show. My dad had a cape on, there's a thing with incense. There's theater to it. It's like a show. Then at the end, he closes with a 20-minute set. There was no script. He just spoke extemporaneously. I think I grew up seeing that as normal, and I liked being in front of people."

Click on the audio player above to hear more from Demetri Martin. This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.