Martin (TV series)

Martin was an American television sitcom produced by HBO Independent Productions that aired for five seasons from 1992 to 1997 on FOX. The show starred comedian Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell.

Overview

The show revolved around a macho, stubborn, derisive twenty something talk show host named Martin Payne (played by Lawrence), who worked at WZUP an urban hip-hop station in Detroit, Michigan for the first half of the series and a local television network for the second half until the series' end when he was offered to host a nationally-syndicated talk show in Los Angeles, thus moving there. He's known for telling any unwanted guest in his apartment to "get da steppin'". His girlfriend, and later wife, was Gina Waters (played by Campbell), an ad executive that can sometimes be as egotistical and badly behaved as Martin, but otherwise maintains a level head. Speaking of Gina's head, a common running gag is to poke fun at Gina for her oversized head. In the lseries finale, she gets promoted to Senior Vice President of the ad office in Los Angeles after the Detroit office ceases operations, forcing her to move there with Martin.

Martin's closest friends were Tommy Strong and Cole Brown. Tommy (played by Thomas Mikal Ford) is a friendly, exuberant guy who seems to get the most irritated with Cole's stupidity out of everyone else in the gang, often commenting, "Cole, you stupid, dawg." A common running gag is whenever Tommy mentions his job in a situation, everyone exclaims "You ain't got no job!". Cole Brown (played by Carl Anthony Payne II, who was previously Theo's friend Cockroach on The Cosby Show) is a loyal, yet idiotic airport attendant who has a crush on Pam. Gina's sassy, attitude-having best friend and co-worker Pamela "Pam" James, played by Tichina Arnold (who co-starred with Campbell in the theatrical adaptation of the off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors) completes the circle of friends. Pam and Martin constantly berate and belittle each other in every episode, even though ironically, Arnold is one of Lawrence's closest friends in real life.

Recurring supporting characters

One of the trademarks of Martin was Lawrence playing multiple characters in the series, utilizing various costumes. The most notable of Lwrence's other roles on the show was that of Sheneneh Jenkins, a stereotypical "ghetto girl" whom Lawrence played in drag. Sheneneh lived in an apartment across the hallway from Martin's, and factored into many of the sitcom's stories by making her presence known when it wasn't desired. Her dialogue consistently makes use of phrases such as "aw-awight" and "oh no you di-in't", and the character is generally portrayed as being a troublemaker and a distraction. Other notable characters played by Lawrence include:

Roscoe: a 10 year old kid with a consistently runny nose and a smart mouth. Lawrence played the role by standing still on his knees, and attaching shoes to his kneecaps.
Otis: an old, overweight security guard usually depicted as being inept.
Jerome: a flashy pimp who makes big entrances, often yelling and singing "Jerome is in the hou-hou-hou-house! So watch ya' mooooooouuuth", upon arrival. He runs a casino, wears a family gold tooth, often parties, and regularly hits on Pam.
Mama Payne: Martin's shrill-voiced, touchy, rabid mother, who is overprotective of Martin and dislikes Gina.
DragonFly Jones: A martial arts "expert", who was beaten up in nearly every appearance. He always seemed to owe money to a real martial artist, who would then beat him up.

These characters were generally very popular with audiences, although Sheneneh was the most famous. Lawrence would later dress as alter-egos in his feature films, notably Big Momma's House and its sequel, Big Momma's House 2. As much of Martin was taped before a live audience, the Martin Payne character very rarely shared screen time with Lawrence's costumed alter-egos. Periodically, however, spilt screen filming techniques allowed Martin and Sheneneh or Martin and Otis to appear onscreen together.

There were also other reappearing characters, such as Brother Man (pronounced "Bruh' Man"), played by comedian Reginald Ballard. Brotha' Man lives on the fifth floor, directly above Martin, and often climbs down to break into Martin's apartment and takes food and lounges around as if he lived there. Another notable character was Ms. Geri, a combative trigger-happy senior. Most of her physical confrontations are with Martin in domestic situations, such as the DMV or at the unemployment office. Hustle Man, played by comedian Tracy Morgan, always came around to sell whatever crazy items he has from the hood, always greeting with his trademark "what's up chief?". There was also Nipsey, the good-natured bartender who owns Nipsey's Club.

Catch phrases

This show introduced a plethora of catchphrases and slang terms that became prominent in the lexicon of Americans, including You Go, Girl!, Talk to the hand, Get Ta Steppin, Dang, Gina!, You ain't got no job!!, and Wazzuuppp, among others.

Cancellation

During the last few seasons of the show, Lawrence began abusing drugs and suffered numerous psychological effects as a result. Campbell sued Lawrence for sexual harassment, alleging that Lawrence acted inappropriately while he and Campbell taped scenes of Martin and Gina sharing a bed. Campbell subsequently left the show during its last season. She returned only for the serie finale, though she did not (and would not) appear in any scenes with Lawrence, save for a split-screen scene taped on seperate sets. Campbell's disappearance from the show caused Martin to "jump the shark": the show's ratings and popularity dropped, and led to the show's cancellation. To this day, Lawrence and Campbell are still personally feuding, although Campbell stated in a radio interview that she is still very grateful to Lawrence for giving her an opportunity to be a part of his show.

Following the cancellation of the show, the stars went on to have successful careers. Lawrence has starred in several high-grossing comedy movies and Campbell recently starred on the sitcom My Wife and Kids with Damon Wayans. Ford and Payne continued acting in film, television, and theater while Arnold continued in film and television, recently becoming a main cast member of Chris Rock's semi-autobiographical UPN sitcom Everybody Hates Chris.

Trivia

Lawrence and Campbell both appeared in the films House Party and House Party 2 with rappers Kid 'n Play. Campbell also appeared in House Party 3, although her role was much smaller.
Campbell had a key role in the Spike Lee film School Daze, while Lawrence was in Do the Right Thing.
For several seasons, Lawrence simultaneously served as the host of Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam, which helped to launch the careers of many African-American stand-up comedians.

External links