 Martin was a writer and supervising producer for the HBO series "Veep", having written on five seasons and having acted the role of Dave Wickford in Season 2.In 2014 Armando Iannucci described Ian Martin in the "Washington Post" as being “very good at making the language of political debate suddenly become nonsensical.”

Martin's radio play "The Hartlepool Spy", concerning the Hartlepool monkey, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day 2018, with a cast including Michael Palin, Vic Reeves, Toby Jones, Gina McKee and Monica Dolan.Martin is married with two children and four grandchildren, at least two of whom live in Seoul.