Anthony DeMartino

Anthony DeMartino is a fictional animated character who appeared regularly on MTV's animated series Daria. In the series, Mr. Anthony DeMartino was Lawndale High's teacher of History, but by the time the show had started, he had clearly become very disillusioned with his role as an educator. His trademark was the habit he had of shouting every 4th or 5th word that he spoke, whereupon his right eye would bulge dangerously. Mr. DeMartino's perpetual state of rage was one of the many examples of extreme character humor the show had to offer, and he was also a fan favourite.

One of the show's running gags was Mr. DeMartino's bitterness over his low salary and disgust at the incompetence of several of his students, particularly Brittany Taylor and Kevin Thompson, who never seemed to make any effort to succeed in his class, and, if their classroom performance was any indication of their abilities, may have been educationally incompetent to the point of functional illiteracy and therefore thoroughly unteachable in a conventional classroom setting.

While frustrated with his life to an almost maniac state, Mr. DeMartino is shown at points to enjoy teaching students in spite of the near crippling problems in his job and with some of the students. This is highlighted by his frequent almost-friendly tolerance for Daria Morgendorffer on occasion, as well as for her sister Quinn Morgendorffer on those few occasions when she shows some depth or displays some of her true academic prowess and potential. Mr. DeMartino's love for his career is especially apparent at the end of the Daria movie Is It Fall Yet?, where in the course of the film he unleashes much of his pent up rage by throwing a nearby sink through a large paned window and at the end of the movie makes such comments like that his love of teaching has been rekindled.

Friends
Mr. DeMartino's only friend, either by choice or not, appears to be Timothy O'Neill, another teacher at Lawndale High. Due to Timothy's laid back, all accepting personality, and his regular lack of abrasive and rough characteristics, it is thought by some that, despite Anthony's general irritation with Timothy, the friendship is a soothing one for him. He is often seen venting his frustration at Timothy who always listens and may actually be genuinely concerned at times, despite his inability to help in the slightest with any of Mr. DeMartino's problems (even those he is himself responsible for). By the end of the series, specifically in the Daria movie, Anthony is treating Timothy like a friend, by going out of the way to prevent him from making decisions he will later regret or letting Timothy's personality be pushed around by more assertive ones.

Relationship with his students
Mr. DeMartino appears to have a general dislike for most of the student body at Lawndale High, because the majority of them are either lazy, slackers, or absurdly stupid. All of these characteristics in turn make his job less fulfilling. However students that are usually well behaved, such as Jane Lane, seldom arouse his true ire and Mr. DeMartino's is rarely violent towards any of the student body with the exception of Kevin. Kevin's near mythic levels of idiocy and stupidity constantly frustrate Mr. DeMartino's efforts to teach, as Kevin appears incapable of learning practically anything beyond a football play.

Students such as Daria, that are not only capable of learning but quite willing to do so, do not frustrate him (he also once said her sarcasm amuses him). Mr. DeMartino at times seems pleased with their academic work, even if they are not the brightest but have merely tried hard, such as the case of Quinn on occasion. After attempting to get a correct answer of an imbecile of his class, usually Kevin, he then calls on such students who readily provide the answer he was searching for. These students are rarely, if ever, the targets of his direct tirades and only suffer his classroom discipline when the class as a whole is being punished.

Facts
Some interesting facts revealed about Anthony DeMartino during the series were that:
 * he has a penchant for tasty fried foods (revealed in the episode, "Mart of Darkness" when DeMartino fights the free sample clerk for more fried food)
 * was sent to military school (implied in "The Daria Hunter" when Jake asks DeMartino if he ever went to military school and DeMartino replies, "How'd you know that?"), and
 * has a preexisting gambling addiction (revealed in "Just Add Water" when DeMartino first asks Ms. Li if he can get out of going to the casino night cruise, and then when he freaks out when he steps into the casino on the cruise).

His appearance and speech appear to have been modeled on actor Christopher Walken (due to the one blue eye).

Trivia
Anthony DeMartino was voiced by actor Marc Thompson, who also gave voice to Timothy O'Neill, Kevin Thompson and Charles "Upchuck" Ruttheimer III