- Wazzup?
- Oh, my goodness.
- Wazzup?
- Stop the madness!
- Wazzup?
Wazzup?
[upbeat music]
- Get up.
- Beady bead?
- What the G-D is that for?
[cheers and applause]
- Wazzup? Wazzup? Wazzup?
Welcome to "Martin: The Reunion."
I'm your host, Affion Crockett.
We have an amazing show tonight.
This is historic.
the "Martin" show was one of the most
iconic sitcoms of the 1990s.
We didn't just watch it.
We experienced it, right?
Right? [cheers and applause]
I mean, we're standing in the apartment right now
where the baby shot across the room
and they caught it in the kitchen.
And Bruh Man used to climb
through the window all the time.
And we almost watched the Tyson fight
because somebody didn't pay the cable bill.
It got cut off. [laughter]
We're talking about 132 episodes in 5 seasons.
The show won a People's Choice Award,
several NAACP Image Awards.
The "Martin" show was the brainchild of Martin Lawrence,
who successfully bridged the gap between sitcom and sketch.
It's been 30 years since the show aired on Fox.
And tonight, just like the show,
you never know who might be stopping by.
So sit back, relax,
while we hang out in Martin's apartment
and visit their old stomping ground, Nipsey's.
Our first guest started out on "The Cosby Show" as Cockroach.
You may have seen him on "Girlfriends,"
"The Game," "Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta,"
and Tyler Perry's "Young Dylan," to name a few.
You know him. We all love him.
He played the role of Cole.
Please make some noise for my boy
Carl Anthony Payne II!
[cheers and applause]
Get it.
Our next guest started her career
in the feature film "Little Shop of Horrors."
You may also know her from "Ryan's Hope,"
"All My Children," "Everybody Hates Chris,"
"Survivor's Remorse," and now "The Neighborhood."
She played the role of Pam.
Please make some noise
for Tichina Arnold!
[cheers and applause]
- [laughs]
- This next cast member also started her career
in "Little Shop of Horrors."
Y'all know her from "School Daze,"
her iconic role in "Boomerang,"
"House Party," "My Wife and Kids."
She played the role
of Martin Payne's better half, Gina.
Y'all give it up for the beautiful and uber-talented
Tisha Campbell!
[cheers and applause]
- That was your go-to.
- Shut your ass up. - You always do that.
Why you do that? - Just shut up.
- All right, this next man needs no introduction.
He's a television and film icon.
This comedic genius is one
of the hottest stand-up comedians in the game
and has sold out arenas all across the country.
He's got classic comedy specials,
iconic movies like "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate,"
"Life," "Big Momma's House,"
the billion-dollar franchise "Bad Boys."
Please, without further ado, the reason why we're here,
give it up for Martin Lawrence!
- Hey!
- [imitating drumroll]
Go ahead, do it, do it, do it, do it.
Do it, do it.
- [trilling tongue] - Hey.
- [laughing]
[both grunt]
- Yeah! - What, what?
[cheers and applause continue]
- Can we have a seat?
- Oh, yeah, please, have a seat.
Oh, man. - What's up, man?
- Thank you, brother, for doing this, man.
both: Yes. - Thank you, Affion.
- Affion! - I am honored to be here.
I got to say--if you'd have told me in '92 that I'd be
on the other side of the TV screen
sitting here with you legends
who shaped my life and my career,
I would have told you you was lying.
You know what I mean? - Yeah.
- So thank y'all for having me in your crib.
- Oh, much love. - God, it looks good in here.
- It does. - I know.
- It's crazy. - Let's jump right into it.
Like, what does it feel like
to be back in this iconic museum of a set?
- Feels like we getting ready to go to work again.
- Right. [laughter]
- But it feels great, man.
It feels great to-- got the poster up...
all: "Do the Right Thing."
- Yeah. - Yeah.
So that's what's crazy-- like, from seeing you there,
then we saw you in "House Party."
You and Tisha kilt it in "House Party."
- Kilt it, kilt it. - And then you went on--
Kilt it.
Iconic.
[applause]
And then you went on to do a hilarious half-hour special.
- Mm-hmm. "One Night Stand," yeah.
- Yeah, "One Night Stand." Yes, indeed.
And then killing it on "Def Comedy Jam"
as the host for three seasons.
- Thank you. Thank you, brother. Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
- So, because you were hotter than baked clams...
[laughter]
In your mind, was it a natural progression,
like, "I'm supposed to have my own show now,"
or was it a bit of a fight?
- I mean, I was hot out there on the stand-up circuit.
So, by the time it came to do my show,
when I went into HBO, it just was perfect timing,
you know, 'cause I was in the groove.
You know, I was just ready to do my thing.
So it was perfect for me.
- And so how did all of these geniuses
come together on the show?
Was it auditions?
I know y'all have grown up together pretty much.
Y'all know each other already.
- Yeah, we all knew each other since we were 11 and 12.
- Yeah, it's crazy. We all grew up--
- Wait, all of y'all knew each other?
- All of us, yeah. I used to see Carl in auditions...
- Yeah. - In New York.
- That's crazy. I didn't know that part.
- Yeah. - Yeah. Uh-huh.
- Carl was working before us, though.
- Yes, way before us. - Carl was--
He was making money. - Yeah.
- We weren't. - You've been working
since you was, like, two.
Stop playing. - Yeah, you were.
You're a liar. - Yeah, yeah.
Eating chicken soup with rice.
- No, but he was doing big things.
Like, he was doing commercials.
I remember seeing him on an audition.
And I was like, "Are you the guy
in the such-and-such commercial?"
He was like, "Yeah." And I was like, "Okay."
- I didn't do-- [laughter]
- He let it be known. "Yeah, that's me.
I'm working." - But it came together--
started with Tisha, though.
- Yeah. - I went after T first.
You know, but when I went after her,
she told me she was already committed...
- I had a pilot. - To another show.
So I went over to her apartment,
trying to get her to do the show.
- Wait, wait, wait. Let me just say this.
Let me say this. Let me say this.
So I see Martin at the "Boomerang" premiere.
He was sitting next to Diana Ross.
And he was like, "Listen, I'm about to get
"a sitcom or a movie.
Whatever it is, you're gonna play my girlfriend."
And I was like, "Okay."
'Cause, you know, people make promises.
- Yeah, yeah.
- But he was real with his promise.
But when he did it, he was like,
"Yo, I got this sitcom."
I was like, "I got a job.
"It's, like, seven episodes.
They're gonna pick it up."
And he was like, "No, I got to convince you."
So he came over to my apartment,
not knowing that she was my roommate at the time
and that we knew each other.
She had just auditioned.
- Oh, wow. - Made me promise not
to tell Martin that we were best friends.
- Right. - She was like,
"I want to get it on my own.
I don't want nobody-- I want it on my own."
So he sees her when he walks into my apartment.
- Yeah. - And he was like, "What--"
- "Y'all know each other?"
- Wow.
Was there ever anyone else that you thought
was right for the role, or you just--
- I honed in on T.
T, I knew if I could get T, she was the glue.
- Right. It felt like the show just felt really free.
- Yeah. - Mm-hmm.
- And you guys felt so natural,
so cultural, and it felt--
Did you know that that was the approach
you wanted to take or...?
- We just went for it.
You know, I don't know if that's the approach
I wanted to take, but I was in the moment.
We were in the moment, and we were just going for it.
We wanted the show to succeed,
and we just did everything we could
to try to make that happen.
- You're being a little humble about it.
- Yeah, you're a little humble.
- Yeah. - Stop playing.
First of all, he was driving the bus,
and you had to keep up.
- He was funny. You had to anticipate his movements.
You didn't know where he was gonna go at any moment.
He was freakin' brilliant.
He was a freakin' brilliant comedian.
And so we had to roll.
And we learned a lot about--
'cause I wasn't really a comedic actress,
but I learned a lot from him.
- I feel like
I may have gave them something comedically,
and they gave me something acting-wise...
- Right, right. - 'Cause I feel like
in the first year, I wasn't as seasoned--
a seasoned actor.
But working with all of them,
I felt like they helped me get better.
- Was there a point in the first season
that you were like, "We're flowing.
This is successful. It feels good"?
Or did you feel the pressure most of the time?
- I felt the pressure, but I didn't pay attention
to the pressure, you know?
Because I was so into trying to make the show work,
and it had such a great cast, I was just having fun.
And every time we would get magic, and the audience--
when you hear the audience stomping and laughing
and everything, I knew we had something.
And I knew there's no way that the network
and anybody watching couldn't see that.
- Right. - He would tell us our goal is
to make the audience stomp...
- Right. - Because we laugh differently.
We laugh with our whole bodies. - Yeah, with our whole--
"Def Comedy Jam," we slap stuff.
- Yeah, we slapping stuff, and that was our goal,
to hear... [imitates stomping]
In the audience, that sound.
- I just wanted to be able to say to the fans
in the audience, thank y'all so much
for all the support and ride-or-die.
[cheers and applause, stomping]
- Yes! - There's the stomp.
There's the st--
- Yo, that's beautiful.
- Yeah, we couldn't have done it without them.
- Not at all. - Absolutely.
How aware are you that you really changed
a generation with this show?
And how does that make you feel?
- It makes me feel great.
I feel blessed.
I feel like I'm doing my purpose.
I feel like my life is not in vain.
So I feel--I'm over the moon. I'm over the moon.
- I got to ask a question about someone who I've always heard
was very instrumental in the show, John Bowman.
- Oh. - He passed away recently.
- A really good cat.
He was our co-creator, along with me and Topper Carew.
And he was able to capture the Black experience.
You know, I would tell him what I wanted,
what I was trying to do, and what kind of relationship
I wanted to have and things like that.
And he was able to put pen to paper and write it.
And, you know, my fond memory
of him is just him being so cool.
Even when I was yelling or I was, like,
"We ain't doing this, I don't like that,"
he would just, "All right, all right."
- "Okay. Okay." - "All right. Okay."
- So you guys blew up. Y'all legends in the '90s.
What was the first thing y'all got when the money came in?
- Cars. - Cars.
We bought the same car. - Yeah.
- We bought Mercedes.
- Y'all such besties.
- Oh, yeah. - Listen.
- They had matching-- - We got matching cars.
- Matching cars, yeah. - And they were drop-top.
- What did the license plates say?
both: No, we didn't do that.
- We didn't do license plates. - Okay.
- I rebuilt my mother's house.
That was the first thing I did. - Yeah. I remember that.
I remember that. - Wow.
[applause]
- I remember the first thing I bought was a car, too,
'cause, you know, this was new money.
We didn't have no money. This is new money.
We was trying to, you know-- 'cause he already had whips.
He was pulling up in different whips every day.
- You had a motorcycle, too, right?
- Yes, yes, I did. I had a motorcycle.
That was my mode of transportation.
So I wanted to upgrade to a car.
And I remember the first time I had it,
and we came to the set,
we had our own little parking spaces.
And I called you outside, remember?
And I took you over to the car, and I was like...
[whispering] "Thank you."
- I remember that. I remember that.
- What was the car? - [mouths words]
I just wanted to say this message, though.
At that time, he was just looking at it,
and he was like, "Make sure you invest your money.
"You know, like, okay, you got the car now.
Now you need a house. You need to get"--
- Mm-hmm. - You know?
So he was still dropping gems,
like, okay, that's nice, but--
I was like, "Well, you make sure we keep working and"--
- Right, right. - You know?
"Keep being funny, and, yeah, that"--
- Right. Listen, guys,
as one of the highest-rated shows during its run,
"Martin" had a lot of distinguished moments.
Here are a few of the most memorable,
handpicked by the man himself.
[cheers and applause]
- Hearns just waiting to look for his opening.
A cup to the side of the head--
- Give me a bucket of fried,
two chitlins,
and a bowl of sunflower seeds.
Girl, your hair's so nappy,
Wilson couldn't pick it.
- W-what you got there?
- Couple of 40s.
- [chuckles]
Malt liquor.
You sure know how to entertain.
- Thank you, Kid. Thank you.
Kid...
you so crazy.
You don't drink no 40 out no glass.
Kid...
Oh, my goodness.
You got to take it to the head.
[burps]
Ooh.
- Now, a brother is down here
because I need some work, okay?
But you can't just give me any old job.
My fans may recognize me. - [scoffs]
Don't nobody know you, honey.
- They know me, Myra. Everybody knows me.
- Uh-uh. - You don't believe me?
Well, watch where I'm going, then, huh?
Wazzup?
I say wazzup.
I say wazzup!
- Man, sit your ass down.
- [laughing]
- I ain't got time for Richard Roundtree over there.
- [laughs]
- Is the swelling going down?
- My favorite. Yes! That's my favorite.
- Don't you all speak at once.
[imitates barking]
Down! Sit!
Sit!
Down!
Hold it.
- He drags it.
- Now, come on, now.
- Look at Tommy. He can't take it.
Tommy can't take it! Look, look, look.
- Don't anybody know nothing?
Huh?
[imitates barking]
- Boy! - [imitates barking]
Down!
- Dying. I'm dying. Dying.
- You almost caught yourself on that one.
- Yeah, I caught myself.
- Yo. - Dying.
- People don't realize-- I always tell this story.
That's my favorite episode. I'm sorry.
I just got to take over right now.
- [laughs] - Favorite episode.
- We're used to that. - I did pee on myself.
- But Fox was supposed to give us a real dog.
[laughter]
- Hold on. - Yes!
- It was supposed to be a--
- So that wasn't comedic choice?
- Martin wanted a real dog. - Yes.
- We all heard the conversation.
He was like, "Yeah, I want a real dog, woo, woo, woo."
And we were all like, "Cool, we gonna have a dog on the set."
And when Tim and Ray, our prop masters--
- Our prop masters. - Our amazing prop masters,
brought that fake dog out,
we were like, "What?"
But to watch Martin literally take something,
an idea that he had,
and they gave him this...
- Right. - And he worked with it.
And he also told the prop master--
You said, "Is it gonna stand up?"
You was like-- they was like, "No problem.
We have weights in the feet," you know?
- Sit. - It'll be fine.
And they're like, "It'll be fine."
When that dog fell, we were like...
[gasps] - And he said...
- And he said, "Lay." - "Lay."
- I was done. I was done.
- They could not keep it together.
- Y'all couldn't hold it together, no.
- No, we could not hold it together.
- And you could hear Tommy laughing.
- Did you see him?
- [imitates laugh] - He literally said, "Oh, God."
- Oh, God. - Yeah.
Yeah. - He was biting his lip.
- Oh, my God. - What you didn't hear it,
'cause there was so much laughter
in the audience as well, is he going...
[squealing]
What was genius to me was in the moment
when he jumped over the dog...
- Oh! - When he was--"No!"
At the dog--"No! No!"
Jumped over-- [imitates barking]
Sit!
- No! No!
[imitates barking] Sit! Sit!
- Oh, my God. - I lost it.
- What a job y'all have to be able
to make each other laugh like that.
- Yes. - Before y'all even
make us laugh, to make each other laugh.
all: That was the goal.
- We had to make each other laugh.
- See if we could break each other's characters and stuff.
- But if you made him laugh--
- That was the big thing. - That was the benchmark.
- Yeah. - That was the--yeah.
- Carl, you know what I used to love about the chemistry
between Cole and Martin's character was,
every time you did something he didn't like...
- Oh, my God. - You kept pushing into it.
Like, the rhythm spoons!
both: Oh, yeah. - You sort of pitched the idea
for rhythm spoons. - That was fun, though.
That was fun. - It was hilar--man, listen,
I knew I was gonna take a beating for it, right?
I knew I was just gonna get in trouble.
But I was that kid that's going,
"I'm gonna do it anyway."
- Their chemistry is crazy.
- We would be in a competition of who would laugh first.
- But I learned how to laugh under my breath.
[chuckling softly]
- Tisha, you would never break. - No.
- You hardly ever broke. - You know why?
- You were so professional. - I'ma tell you why.
Because I didn't want anybody to miss his magic.
And so, as his support system, I was like,
"Whatever I do, keep it together
and just laugh after the scene is over with,"
'cause what he would do was so magical.
- Right. - I was like, "I can't--
I'm not gonna be the one that's gonna mess this up."
- Y'all would have me laughing.
I know you got takes of me busting up.
Man, I'm trying to hold it.
- We would try to make you laugh all the time.
- 'Cause they would crack me up--Tichina's talking stuff...
- She was the one. - About my height.
- Y'all would leave some of those in the episode,
where you would just kind of cover your mouth real quick.
- Oh, yeah, and I would turn. I would turn.
Yeah.
- Whose idea was it to brand your name
with Kid Capri's voice in the theme song?
- I know. Most people don't know that.
- Well, Carl actually is the voice.
- Really? - He does the voice, yeah.
- Are you serious? I thought it was Kid Capri.
- No, that's Carl. - Mind blown. Exclusive.
- Oh! - I thought it was Kid Capri
from "Def Comedy Jam."
- What? - That's Carl.
That's Carl. - Carl!
- Carl, what you been up to, man?
I know you got some stuff. You know what I'm saying?
- Oh, let's see,
we're currently in our third season
of a show on Nickelodeon.
- Amen. Amen. [applause]
- Thank you. Thank you. - What's the show?
- It's called "Young Dylan." It's a great show.
And I'm directing, like, half the episodes, too,
while we're doing it, so... - Okay.
- Nice!
- Wearing multiple hats, like you do in real life.
- Wearing multiple hats.
Speaking of hats... - Plug.
- Oh, here we go.
- There he go. Hit it, hit it. - Shameless.
- Yeah, there he go. There he go.
Hit it. - Get a close-up!
Get a close-up!
- Talk your talk, king. Talk your talk.
- Nah, I used to wear hats a lot on the show.
And for years, everybody kept saying,
"Why haven't you started a hat line?"
I was like, "'Cause Cole is stupid."
- You stupid. - But it just became a thing.
And I was like, "You know what? I'ma do a hat line."
So this is from my hat line, you know, so, yeah.
- So being-- Give it up for that.
[applause]
Legendary Cockroach-- that's how we knew you first.
Like, we love Cockroach, right, from "The Cosby Show."
How was it making the transition
from an iconic character to now Cole?
- When I did "Cosby," you know, I was a teenager.
I was, you know, still just finding my way,
fumbling through life, you know?
At this point, you know, we were in our early 20s.
And it was the best experience 'cause I got to be free,
you know, and we tapped into the culture at that time.
We got to be who we were at that time.
- Mm-hmm. - And it was also told
from a different perspective
which had never been told before.
You know, this was a show about young...
- Black love. - Black love...
- Mm-hmm. - And his friends,
and how you navigate through life at that time, so...
- How did you dive into--
Like you just said, Cole is stupid.
How did you dive into the eccentric character of Cole?
- Okay, well, let me start by saying this.
Cole wasn't stupid.
He was naive. - Yes.
- He was just not as worldly as some would like.
You know what I'm saying? - Got you, got you.
- Yeah, so... - Right.
- It was just, like, part of creating a separation
between everybody's character, like, trying to create
something that stood out that was different.
Like I said, I started with the clothes first.
I started, like, "Well, maybe he can wear hats."
And then what the writers would do--
If we did something one day,
you know, that they liked or whatever,
they would start writing towards that.
And so I started playing Cole, like, clueless...
- Right. - You know, or just
believing everything that he said.
You know, Cole lived in his own world.
- Right. - But it was okay
'cause they knew him there.
- Facts. Facts.
Was Big Shirley based on somebody for real?
- He's like, "What?" [laughter]
My sister's real name was Shirley.
Martin used to work with Shirley Hemphill.
- Mm-hmm. - You know, so...
- Yes. - Yes. Amazing Shirley.
- And so I think it was one of the ways
that we would always kind of do little things
here and there to give back to people
that we loved and kind of worked with.
- Yeah.
- But it wasn't my idea to never see her.
Like, I don't know who came up with that idea.
- That she was that big.
- Yeah, she was that big
to where her head wasn't on the screen.
Yo, that was crazy.
- Well, speaking of Big Shirley and Cole,
let's see Carl kill it as the eclectic
and naive Cole right here.
- Uh-oh. - Uh-oh.
[cheers and applause]
- What's your name? - Cole Brown.
- Oh, okay. - Oh, yeah.
- Okay, you're Cole.
[all clamoring]
- [laughs]
- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. All right?
- Okay. - Okay?
- All right. - All right.
- Cole. - Oh. Ow.
- How far apart are the attractions?
- Every ten seconds.
- Heart rate?
- Steady.
Systolic and diastolic, normal.
- Where'd you get that from?
- Me and Moms was watching "Doogie Howser" last night.
- Shut up, Cole.
- Cole, you stupid.
You stupid.
[imitates bird calling]
- Cole, did you put any holes in the box?
- Turtle can breathe inside the shell,
he can breathe inside of the box.
- Martin, look at Cole.
- Cole, no, you are not clipping
your crusty-ass toenails up in here, man.
- Just one more.
[crunch]
- [screaming]
- No!
- [screaming]
- You hating on me! You hating on me!
[cheers and applause]
- Come on, man.
Where'd the bird call come from?
- Oh, God.
- Yo, it's crazy
'cause they just write stuff in the script,
like "makes bird noise."
I don't know. I just was remembering--
Like, I used to watch a lot of "Tarzan" as a kid.
- Right. - And I just was, like,
thinking about, what kind of jungle sounds was in the--
You know, and then--
- He does a mean cricket, too. - Yeah, the crickets.
- Let's hear it. I mean, can we hear it?
- When the audience didn't laugh at a joke...
- [imitates crickets chirping]
- He would do that. - He would do
the cricket sound. [laughter]
- If they didn't laugh at one of our jokes, he would do that.
- I mean, it was just one of those moments.
It was like I had to think of it in the moment.
I hadn't prepared. I hadn't prepared for it at all.
I didn't, like, work on it at home or nothing like that.
So, at that time, I was just like,
"Yo, what would Tarzan--
[imitates animal calling]
And it just--
[applause]
- So we know Cole wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
But Pam, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.
[cheers and applause]
- [speaking gibberish]
- What? - Who this?
- Trust me, you don't want to know my name right now.
- You want to hang out together?
- Who, me and Sidney Short-ier? Hell, no.
Short Boyardee.
Inchworm.
Whatever, Air Jordan.
Arsenio Small.
Man, let me do your song for you.
♪ We represent the Lollipop Guild ♪
♪ The Lollipop Guild ♪
♪ We represent the Lollipop Guild ♪
- Yes, baby, that was hot!
- At least I'm tall enough
to get on all the rides at Disneyland.
- That's right, baby!
- You don't feel that.
With soul. - Thank you.
- ♪ Old MacDonald had a farm ♪
♪ E-I, E-I-O ♪
- And on that farm--
- See, now you done gone too far.
- No, you done gone too far. [all clamoring]
- That dress, it's very stunning.
- Oh, this?
Oh, it's just a little something-something
I put together.
You know how I do. [laughs]
Pa-pow.
Bla-kow.
Ow-bam.
[cheers and applause]
- Come on, man.
Come on, y'all.
Martin, do you remember anything specific that Pam...
- Oh, Lord.
- Did to make you break character?
- When she said something about me being short.
She was always talking about my height.
- Right, right.
- And she did something where she dropped it--
- Magically delicious. - "Magically delicious,"
and dropped to the floor and everything.
I couldn't hold that one. I was like, "All right."
- So where did the name-calling
between Pam and Martin come from?
The beady bead, the inch high.
- I came up with beady bead.
I just look at her neck and said, "Beady bead."
[laughter]
I'm just playing. - No. You said--
No, he's serious! - Wait a second. Wait.
- No. No. I mean, no. I had--
- No, I'm just playing. I'm just playing.
- She didn't have any beady beads.
But he did look at her neck one day and just said it.
- You know what? You never look behind you.
A woman-- you can't look behind you.
- Tichina, don't try to explain this shit.
- And I noticed--
- You saw how soft she said it, though?
She came with the softness.
Like, "No, you can never see the kitchen."
- I didn't know that I really had beady beads.
I did not know.
I was like, "Oh, my God, my hair is nappy."
So I have to explain this to kids...
- I told you this was gonna get worse.
- Around the world.
I have to explain this. It's all, "What is a beady bead?"
And try explaining that to a man from Switzerland.
- Just turn around and go, "This right here, that, that."
- Oh, my God. We cracked on each other's faults.
It's just--it's really-- - Yeah, we did. We did.
- It was a lot of self-deprecation.
- Oh, it was horrible. - It was fun to us.
- I had crooked teeth. I had crooked teeth.
I still--my bottom row...
- Oh, my God. - Still jacked up.
I fixed my top row, though. - [laughs]
- I fixed my top row, son. - Hey, one row at a time.
Right? - One row at a time.
But you just cracked on each other's faults.
You have to have a thick skin. - A thick skin.
- Yeah. - I like how y'all always be
putting each other out there.
Who puts each other out there more?
- Tichina. - I do.
- Oh, yeah, you the one. I figured.
- I do. I do. - Tichina.
- Yeah, Tichina has no filter.
- She has no filter. - That's what it is.
She's got no-- - Zero.
- Zero filter exists with her.
- And she's definitely the loudest one in any building.
- Oh, my God. - Not just the room,
the entire building.
- I ain't gonna say nothing. - No, say more. Say more.
- No, no, no, no, no. I'm not gonna say anything.
- So who is most like their character?
- Y'all did say that earlier. - Yes, we did.
- And fun fact--
people did not know that I was 7 out of 13.
I wasn't in all the episodes. - Mm-hmm.
- 13. - Just in the first year.
Right? - Mm-mm, first two years.
- Yeah, first two years. - First two years.
- But she started killing it.
And so... - And you had to hire me!
You had to hire me! - Went to the writers
and was like-- - Hire her on the spot.
- Yeah. - You were sixth man
off the bench-- now you starting.
- He used to call me the unhappy cast member.
- Because you would always catch her in pictures--
- In pictures like this.
Everybody facing this way. Here she--
[laughter]
- She always had a grimace on her face.
Look, there go the unhappy cast member.
- You was posing like a mixtape rapper.
- Yes. - Yeah, I was.
But, you know, it was what it was
because that's how strong our bond was.
- Yes. - So they used to hand out
scripts every Tuesday.
Hand out the scripts,
and I was like, "Oh, okay, I didn't get a script."
And that's how I knew I wasn't in the next episode.
- Right. - And so it works
on your mental, but it made me work...
- Harder. - That much harder.
I needed that, because... - But she was killing.
- Everything is not gonna be given to you.
You know, you got to work for it.
- She worked for this. Yeah.
- Well, Tisha, hi. - Oh, shoot.
- Tisha Campbell "I'm not Martin."
- How are you?
- What you got to say? - What's up, Miss Gina?
- This bitch just--
- Tisha Campbell "I'm not Martin."
- I hate Tichina. [laughter]
- Oh, wow. - Whoo.
- I'm not even gonna belabor it.
I think it's time that we get into some clips
of the first lady herself...
- Aw. - Miss Gina. Let's go.
[cheers and applause]
- Martin, would you please help me?
I can't get out!
- Okay, I'm coming, baby. I'm coming.
Look, turn sideways.
Turn--
turn sideways, Gina.
- Ow! - Pivot--
- Ow! - Pivot your--
pivot your head, baby!
- Ow! Ow!
I can't! Wait a minute.
It's heavy. - Okay, swivel your head.
You got to pivot, Gina. - Swivel the head.
- I can't get out! I can't get out!
- Gina.
- [squawks] Heifer.
- Shut up.
- Heifer.
- Shut up.
- Heifer.
- I'm warning you, shut up. Shut it up!
- Heifer, heifer, heifer, heifer.
- That's it.
- Ooh. - That's nice.
- Check it out.
- Hey, hey. - Hey, hey, hey.
[overlapping chatter] - Oh, no, she didn't.
- Wait, wait, wait. Uh, uh, uh, honey, you don't--
you don't know my baby.
Don't get your ass kicked, all right?
Uh, uh, uh, just what the hell are you doing?
- Look, baby-- - Baby, what are you doing?
- Okay, look, first, I'm gonna call the bank
and stop the check that paid for this thing.
Then I'm gonna run down to my car,
get The CLUB off the steering wheel,
come back up here, get to swinging.
Basically, that's it.
[indistinct chatter] No, don't leave!
- It's okay. - Oh, please, I'd love for you
to be here when I get back.
Bye, Sniggling, bye, Giggling.
Hey, guys, say bye to the television.
All right, now.
Sorry you can't be here when I get back.
All right.
You're still here.
- Yo, it's a lot more to it than just singing, though.
You got to have the moves, the stamina.
- Ain't that the truth.
You know what?
I just hate it when people...
Stand there all stiff.
You got to be able to work it.
- Gina! Gina!
- [speaking gibberish]
And what you looking at?
Well, you know what? - That's right. That's right.
That's right. - You know what y'all can do?
- Y'all can kiss my ass.
- Wow.
[cheers and applause]
- Can I tell y'all something I never even told Tichina?
- Tell us everything. What?
- Again, when Martin first approached me
about being the perfect girlfriend, I was like,
I don't really know what that is.
So I was like, "Maybe this is what
the perfect girlfriend should sound like," so...
[airy voice] I had this Janet Jackson voice
that I thought, "Maybe--
maybe that's what the perfect girlfriend should sound like."
[normal voice] And so you can really hear it on,
[airy voice] "What are you doing here? You still here?"
[normal voice] I had this Janet Jackson voice
that whole first season.
It was nuts.
So, when I see it, I go...
[muffled yell] I just cover my face.
- No, I really heard it on that scene.
- Yeah.
- Let's talk about the high-school reunion.
Your rival was Pretty Ricky. - Pretty Ricky.
- Was it Pretty Ricky? all: That's what they call him.
- Let's talk about that episode.
You pulling off the painkiller--
- I remember telling T that she--
"Don't be afraid to be crazy.
"Don't be afraid to go for it.
"Lucille Ball, all of them, they're not afraid.
Go for it."
And she did just that.
- All I wanted to do was make him laugh.
I wanted to see that thing that he has in his eyes
where he just goes... [quiet high-pitched shriek]
Like that. Right?
In the table read, when I turned to him and I said...
[slurring] "I got hit with the Novocaine."
- Yeah, yeah. - And he goes...
[quiet high-pitched shriek] Right?
I would get a high off of making him laugh.
But I was nervous. - Yeah.
Yeah, you were. - I was really nervous.
- Yeah, you were. - Kudos, man.
So, Martin, where did "you go, girl" come from?
- We had did the movie "House Party,"
and I saw AJ Johnson say that to Tisha...
- A lot. - In the movie.
And when we did the show, I was like, "Wow.
If I just say 'you go, girl' to her"--
- I remember the moment you did it.
- It's inspirational. - Yeah.
- And it's a big up for women.
You know, and I just said it. - Yep.
- How many quotables do people still
hit y'all with in the street today?
- Oh, my God. - Lots.
- What? Rhythm spoons. - Rhythm spoons.
- Yes, sir.
- Forever. - And even, like,
"a little something-something."
That happened in the second episode,
where he was trying to hide a candle
and give it to me as a gift.
And I said, "What did you get me?"
And he said, "A little something-something."
And then people started singing--
Maxwell did a song about it. - Maxwell wrote about it.
- He did a whole song, yeah. - Like, you know,
we have a lot of euphemisms and quotes from the show.
"You go, girl," obviously. "Damn, Gina."
"Wazzup," all of those things.
- Absolutely. - Wazzup.
[cheers and applause]
- All of you are great at physical comedy.
And I know you said when you first got the job,
you felt like your job was to ground him...
- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - And to ground the scenes.
But your physical comedy started to evolve.
- He allowed me to do that.
- Right. - He encouraged me to do that.
And that's where I learned a lot of my comedy chops
was from him. - And it never felt--
- All my comedy chops was from him.
- That's dope. It never felt like it was infringing.
It always felt like it was a complement.
- Organic? Yeah, yeah. - Absolutely, absolutely.
- Thank you. - Let's see how the love story
evolved between the two characters.
- Aw. [cheers and applause]
- I want you out.
I don't even know why you're still here.
Step! Step!
G! G! G! G!
[oven timer dings]
What's that?
- Nothing.
- Gina, don't tell me nothing. I know that smell.
- It's nothing, Martin.
It's just your mama's raisin butter biscuits.
That's all it is.
- Not my mama biscuits.
Not my mama biscuits, Gina.
- I don't know why that woman brought these biscuits by.
both: Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
[both blubbering]
- Because I thought I could beat him, Gina.
- I know. - I know.
I love you. - I love you, too.
- Oh, baby.
Look, my bank account--
[bell dings] I got $300.
- I think there's a puppy in our room.
- That ain't no damn puppy.
That ain't no damn--
- Get him, baby! [screams]
[animal squealing]
Baby, get him.
[screams]
[squealing continues]
["Fire and Desire" by Rick James playing]
- [singing along] ♪ You know, I think back to when we met ♪
♪ The way I used to be and the cold way I used act ♪
♪ But more than that, I think of how you changed me ♪
♪ With your love and sensitivity ♪
♪ Remember when I used to ♪
♪ Love them and leave-- ♪
- ♪ It was pain ♪
♪ Before pleasure ♪
♪ Ah, that was my claim ♪
♪ To fame ♪
♪ With every measure ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Tasted your teardrop stains ♪
both: ♪ Yeah ♪
- This is where we had our first date.
Don't you remember? - Aw.
Oh.
- Yeah. - Oh, right.
Off. - Your eyes, keep 'em closed.
I'm about to blow for you, girl.
I got to do my thing.
Keep 'em closed.
- ♪ There will never come a day ♪
♪ You'll ever hear me say ♪
♪ That I want ♪
♪ And need to be without you ♪ - [sniffles, shuddering]
- ♪ I want to give my all ♪ - Gina...
will you marry me?
- ♪ Baby, just hold me ♪
- Yes, Martin. Yes.
- ♪ Simply control me ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Wow.
Wow.
- ♪ There will never come a day ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ You'll ever hear me say ♪
♪ That I want and need to be without you ♪
♪ When I look into your eyes ♪
♪ Then I realize ♪
♪ That all I need is you in my life ♪
- Sing, Brian.
- ♪ All I need is you in my life ♪
♪ 'Cause I never felt this way about loving ♪
- Yeah! - Ah!
- Wow. Wow.
Salute, sir. Good to meet you.
[cheers and applause]
- Yes! Yes!
- My man. - Brian McKnight.
- Ladies, y'all can take five if you need to.
- Sit with us. Sit with us.
- We were just bombarded by excellence.
- Okay? - Yes, sir.
- R&B royalty over here.
- Hallelujah. - Welcome.
- Thank you, thank you. - What's happening, sir?
Huge fan of yours as well.
- 30 years, it's-- it's unbelievable.
You know, this was the very first thing
I'd ever done on TV.
- Really? - Wow.
- This was my first record. - Of course.
- And I think that record, it really had just
only sold about a couple hundred thousand copies.
And then this show and then one more single,
and then we're at two million, and it's like, "Golly."
- Wow. Wow. - Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you all. - Oh, most definitely.
- Allow me to thank you.
- An incredible first album that was, man.
That got me through school, you know,
through some real, you know, young-adult moments,
if you will.
And I spent many a nights working
on my falsetto because of you, so...
[laughter]
I was waiting for you to join in, though,
in the scene with Brian and harmonize.
- Oh, I can't do that. I can't touch Brian.
Brian a bad boy, man.
- That was an iconic moment...
- Man. - In the "Martin" show.
- And those are real tears.
- Yeah, yeah. - You felt that.
- This bitch came back to the room.
I said, "Are you really crying?
Are those real tears?"
- Well, Martin asked me to cry in the scene.
- But, no, but we all felt it because we knew that
that was another level that the show had gotten to.
- Yes. - It was just crazy.
- It was a moment. We all felt that moment.
- It was a moment. - And you were a part of it.
We appreciate you. - Oh, no.
And as much as I've had big hits in my career,
it goes right along with,
"Hey, man, that proposal on Martin, man."
That's it-- it's just right along
with everything that I've done, so, again,
thank you all for letting me be a part of that.
Thank you. - It's Brian McKnight, y'all.
Thank you for coming, Mr. McKnight.
- Yes! - Thank you, thank you.
- Pleasure to have you here, man.
- Mwah. - Thank you.
- What's up? What's up? - Wow.
[cheers and applause]
- Now, I know that moment would have been much more meaningful
if we still had brother Tommy here.
I know you didn't get
to send him off the way that you wanted to.
So we want to celebrate him
in our own way, if you don't mind.
- Yeah, let's do it. - Let's do it. All right.
- Let's do it. - Let's go.
[applause]
[cheers and applause]
- Look, damn it, I want my money.
Give me a raise.
What y'all think about that?
- Just what the hell do you do for a living, bro?
- What the hell do you do for a living?
- Tommy, what do you do? - [laughs] Come on.
- Give me your car keys.
- Hold on, man. I can't do that.
That's a company car.
- Ah! - Hey, hey, hey.
- I ain't got no job, man.
Man, you are in a court of law.
There are a lot of people in here.
We can't hear you.
Your honor, you're gonna have to make him speak up.
What does GTD stand for?
- Got the drawers, okay? Got the drawers!
[gavel banging, people clamoring]
- Order in the court!
- I mean, we search all over for a soul mate, a friend,
someone to spend our time with.
And all the time, the most beautiful,
most precious things...
are right under our noses...
like a sweet-smelling rose.
- That was beautiful, Tommy.
- Hmm.
Word?
- Word.
[cheers and applause]
- Look at us! What the hell are we doing?
- We're getting ready to rumble, all right?
- Is that gonna solve our problem, man?
- Yeah! Ay!
- Give me that thing.
- Stop, man, stop. Stop.
- But if it's gonna make you feel like a better man
to swing on me, Trey, and get some revenge,
go ahead man, okay?
You go right ahead.
- Bro, what y--what are--
- But before you do, brother...
I want you think about something, huh?
What does it solve?
- That's the first time anybody ever broke it down
to me like that, man.
My mind is playing tricks on me.
- Watching the cast members of "Martin" was like
watching a band where everyone played
their instrument with perfection.
And there was one member
whose genius we have yet to celebrate.
We would be remissed if we didn't honor the memory
of the late Tommy Ford.
Let's take this time for those who knew him best
to share their fondest memories of your boy, Tommy.
And as a special treat, we are also joined
by his wife, Gina, and their two children,
Madison Elise and Thomas Mikal Ford, Jr.
[applause]
- Tommy's heart pumped for his kids.
He loved each of them from the strongest part of his heart.
When they entered the room, Tommy's face would light up,
emitting an incredible brightness.
Besides the kids, Tommy's love
for his family was unmeasurable.
Family was everything to him.
For Tommy, getting up every day,
arriving at the studio to tape an episode of "Martin"
was a gift from God.
He viewed his work in front of the camera as his ministry.
He understood the healing power of laughter.
And Tommy relished the time with his "Martin" family,
and celebrated his relationship with Martin,
Carl, Tichina, and Tisha.
To Tommy, they were his chosen family,
and he basked in their light of love.
When Tommy put on his producer's hat,
he developed projects that empowered and inspired
and healed our broken youth.
His last project, "Through My Lens,"
a documentary that the young men in Atlanta
striving to build a community,
was birthed out of his expressed purpose
to leave the world better than he found it.
Whether it was his larger-than-life laugh
or his bright smile or his willingness
to help someone less fortunate,
Tommy always felt that life could be much sweeter
if we all believed that we are, in fact, our brother's keeper.
His famous quote was, "Be still and know I am God."
- Beautiful, Gina.
[applause]
- [exhales sharply]
This man right here...
[soft music playing]
Was the most genuine human being...
the most kindest human being,
a true friend.
And I was blessed to have him as my friend.
His laugh, as his wife said, was so infectious.
[imitates Tommy's laugh]
[laughter]
Tommy, you the man.
I love you so much.
He showed me and taught me what being a real friend
and a true friend is.
And I know that you are smiling down on us today.
And I know you finally got the drawers.
[laughter, applause]
- You know, I always say, when someone passes on,
it's harder for the people that are left here.
But what I can say about Tommy is,
through his ministry
and through doing what he loved doing,
he did an amazing job.
And it was a job well done.
Tommy touched so many hearts, you know, his laugh--
but Tommy was a community organizer.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, he used all of his talents
and his gifts exactly how God wanted him to.
And the wonderful and most precious thing
that Tommy has done is made these two right here.
[applause]
As your auntie, you know we are all here for you.
His life was not and will never be in vain.
[applause]
♪ ♪
- God-fearing...
- Yes.
- Kind...
loving...
giving...
those are the words that you think of
when you think of...
Tommy Ford.
He was always one who was positive...
with everybody around him, not just on the set.
He loved his kids.
He loved his family.
And he was so committed to doing God's work,
and he did it well.
I was honored to talk to him
just two weeks prior...
and laughed with my friend.
I took a picture of the Boys & Girls Club,
and I was like, "You still ain't got no job, man."
[laughter]
But he had a job.
And we will always be affected by it.
His work is well done.
[applause]
- Wow.
I don't do this well. It's--
it's probably a lot easier for me to get up here
and try to make y'all laugh, but...
[sighs] What I can say from the heart is,
I echo what they said about Tommy.
True, true, true spiritual brother
who lived his life spiritually
and cared about a lot of people,
cared about his family so much.
[sighs]
I'll just give you a quick story.
You know, me and Tommy was in a play together.
That's where I first met Tommy.
And it was called "Homies."
Once again, in that play, Tommy was a star.
You know, that's when I got to see his acting chops.
And one time, we went somewhere,
and I asked Tommy to go, and I was doing a stand-up show.
And I asked Tommy to go on to introduce me.
And I said, if you want, you know,
you can do a little few minutes or something, whatever.
Tommy gets up, and he said, "Okay."
And he does a few minutes.
And he's funny.
[laughter]
And so I had to come on behind Tommy.
And I'm thinking, "Okay, well,
he was damn near funnier than me."
But that's who Tommy was.
That's who Tommy was-- his energy, his humor,
his laughter, his kindness, his spirit.
He was just a great person, and he will be missed.
My brother, I love him.
- Amen. - We love you, Tommy.
[applause]
- Tommy was a big fan of gospel
who always led the cast in prayer before each taping.
So it's only fitting that we honor him
with this amazing gospel performer.
Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up
for the amazing, Le'Andria Johnson.
[cheers and applause]
- ♪ Sometimes ♪
♪ It feels cold ♪
♪ And you feel all alone ♪
♪ But hold on, better days are coming ♪
♪ ♪
♪ It can be rough ♪
♪ In this world ♪
♪ I know it ain't easy ♪
♪ But hang on in there ♪
♪ I know better days are coming ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ You've seen good, you've seen bad ♪
♪ You've been happy and sad ♪
♪ But just remember ♪
♪ That better days, better days ♪
♪ Better days are coming ♪
♪ Oh, Lord, all right ♪
♪ Friends ♪
♪ Will leave you ♪
♪ All by yourself ♪
♪ But don't you cry ♪
♪ 'Cause better days are coming ♪
♪ You want to hear me say better ♪
- ♪ Better days ♪
- ♪ For your mother and your father ♪
♪ Your sister and your brother ♪
♪ Whoa, don't you worry ♪
♪ Don't you worry, don't you fret ♪
♪ Why ♪
♪ Better, better ♪
♪ Better ♪
♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪
♪ Oh, Lord ♪
♪ He's gonna wipe the tears from your eyes ♪
♪ Better days, better days are coming ♪
♪ Yeah, oh ♪
♪ Look to the hills ♪
♪ From with cometh your help ♪
♪ All your help, you know it comes from the Lord ♪
♪ Better, better ♪
♪ Better days are coming ♪
♪ Martin, Gina, Pam, and Cole ♪
♪ It's coming soon ♪
♪ Better days are coming ♪
♪ Soon ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Welcome back to the highly anticipated
"Martin: The Reunion."
Let's go. Let's go.
[cheers and applause]
Now, there were other shows on the air
with African American casts, like "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,"
"Hangin' with Mr. Cooper," "A Different World,"
and many more, but what made the "Martin" show different
from any other sitcom were the characters that Martin played.
[applause]
- I would love to rock
each and every one of your worlds.
But first,
I must dance. both: I must dance.
[upbeat music playing]
♪ ♪
- [singing indistinctly] - Oh, no!
- No, baby! No, no, no!
- No, baby, no baby! - No, no!
- No! Yeah! - Whoo! Whoo!
- Whoo! Ooh!
all: ♪ Oh! ♪
- Oh, it's just you, Roscoe.
- Well, you are not exactly
a day at Disney World yourself.
[knock at door] - I got it.
- Whoa. - Bob.
- Whoa!
Oh, man, what's happening?
Whoa. Hey, some dude just
gave me this pitcher of margaritas.
Whoa. This hotel is bossa nova.
- Look here, can I use a comb?
- No, no, no, no, boy.
Hell, no, not with all that grease you got in your hair.
- All right, I'ma give you a tip, all right?
- No, I give you a tip, boy.
Next time you change your motor oil,
wear a shower cap.
- Old man, please.
- "Old man"?
Look at that, boy.
That's an old man to you?
Boy, you just messed up.
Don't nobody take nothing from me.
You just messed up.
You just messed up, boy.
Apple head, cut the bull.
All right, now, what is it you want to tell me?
- Mrs. Payne, Ruby is dead.
- [shrieks]
both: Damn, damn, damn!
- [shrieking]
[hip-hop music playing]
- You just lost the best thing that ever happened to you.
Moving right along
down the yellow brick road to my destiny of love.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Somebody done told...
both: You wrong, punk.
- It's on!
- You got to go to work on Myra's feet.
- Mm-hmm. - Uh, yeah.
Uh!
- Oh, mm-hmm.
Ooh, it's electric.
Oh, I love it.
[cheers and applause] - Yes!
- Wow.
I'm in awe, because we all know about the characters.
We've watched all of the seasons and the episodes,
but to watch it back-to-back like that.
How were you able to come up with so many
and make them their own?
- The writers would set up scenarios
and scenes and things and come up with ideas.
And they presented me with characters that I could play.
- Right. - And I would try to come up
with ways to figure it out
and just do the character, you know?
But they gave me blueprints.
- That's Emmy Award-winning work right there.
- It is. - Like, I mean, let's be real.
- Crazy. - Tell us where
Roscoe came from-- I'm just gonna pick a few.
- Roscoe just remind me of a snotty-nosed kid,
that reminds me of probably when I was young
and had a snotty nose,
just a fresh little young boy, you know?
- And Jerome Romey Rome.
- I don't know where Jerome came from.
Once I got into the makeup and all that, I would try voices,
and I would try the physical stuff and all that.
I was just trying stuff, and it worked.
It just worked.
- Like, imagine us talking to him in the character.
He's like, "Hey! I need you all to be over here!"
I'm like, "Dude, stop.
Like, you're in character right now. Sit down."
- Did any of y'all have a favorite character?
- Otis for me. - I always had...
Otis is my favorite character. - A favorite character,
but I liked working with Sheneneh the best
because you never knew what she was gonna say.
And I knew that I could get on her nerves...
'cause she was always super focused on her.
But I would try to do stuff to make Martin react.
Like, I would stand really close to him.
So that he'd go, "Get off of my back."
- [laughing] - "I said get off of my back."
- As you're mentioning Sheneneh
and trying to get on her nerves,
still in my mind, I don't connect that it's him.
That's how you know the character work is dope.
- Yes.
- He doesn't even remember when he does it.
I was like, "Yo, you remember when you"--
He was like, "What?"
I was like, "Dude, like, you just"--
He gets into a zone.
- He gets into a zone. - He goes into a zone.
- Carl, you have a favorite? - It's Bob for me, yo.
It's just Jerome and Bob.
- We watched Bob just literally--
'Cause you didn't know--
I remember you said-- we asked you to do Bob.
Remember, he was like, "Oh"-- - What's up?
- [screaming]
- Oh!
- Help him in! - What are we doing, man?
- I knew I heard something down here.
[laughter] - Uh-oh.
- What's up, man? - Somebody help him.
Somebody help him. - Somebody help him.
- Ah, shit, get in there. - He got it. He got it.
- Ah, shit. - He got it. Hold on.
- He got it. Shit. - He got it.
He got it. There we go.
[cheers and applause]
- Been a long time, man.
Kind of felt like that tight-ass sweater of yours.
[laughter]
What's up?
Heard y'all was doing a little--
a little reunion and everything.
- Come over here. Come over here.
- What's up? - What's up?
- Hey, man. - Oh, my God.
- What's up, boy? - How y'all doing?
- Good to see you, Bruh Man. - What's up?
- Reggie, good to see you, baby. Mwah.
Always a pleasure. - Hey, you know what?
I left something up in here about 30 years ago.
- Oh, Lord. [laughter]
- This sammich still good.
That's what's up.
- Man, come on in and have a seat, Bruh Man.
- Oh, my God.
- Hey, Bruh Man, tell us what you been up to.
- Nothing. Just chilling. - Chilling.
[laughter] - Dope.
- It's all good seeing everybody, man.
- Dope, dope. - Yeah, yeah.
- Good to see you as well, brother.
- Yes, sir, yes, sir. - Yo, Reginald, man,
in a few short phrases and a couple of bizarre entrances,
you became an overnight favorite
and overnight success with the character Bruh Man.
How does that feel, bro?
- Man, it felt good, man.
I mean, you know, I have an uncle that go to work,
and he look at the clock, be like,
"Man, it's eight hours I got to go to work, dang."
I used to look at the clock, "Man, like eight hours.
God, dog, man, when I'ma get there?"
I mean, I had so much fun on the show,
and it's been a blessing, bro.
It's been a blessing. - Right.
Do you still get the people coming up to you in the street
and calling you Bruh Man or--
- All the time, man, but they don't just say Bruh Man.
They always say "Bruh Man from the fifth floor."
- Right. - Bruh Man, fifth floor.
So, you know, it's cool, man.
- And show us the fifth floor again.
Where exactly is the fifth floor?
- Well, this is how it happened, remember?
I was doing the fifth floor,
and Martin say, "Why y'all laughing
when you do the fifth floor?"
He said, "You don't see doing fifth floor
with the four fingers."
Martin said, "Do it." I did like that.
He'd say, "Oh, I can't see it.
Do it like that."
When I did it like that, history.
- Yeah, yeah. - Oh, wow.
- History, history.
And it's funny because, you know,
it's two things that you had to come inside to.
In the '80s, you had to come inside to see
"Thriller," Michael Jackson. - Yes.
- In the '90s, you had to come inside to see this show.
- Let's check out some of the best moments
from our favorite entitled, intrusive, and aloof neighbor
from the fifth floor.
- Yes. - Yes.
[cheers and applause]
- What's up, man?
- What's up?
- Finna make me a sammich.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on here, bruh.
Excuse me, excuse me, okay?
First of all, who are you?
- Come on, you know me, Martin.
Bruh Man, upstairs, fifth floor.
- Wait a minute. Let me tell you.
- Look at his jacket.
- His jacket.
His jacket.
- What's up?
- Bruh Man, no, you did not eat all
the Thanksgiving dinner, man.
- Everything was hitting, too...
except for them raggle-ass peas.
- Raggle-ass. - Raggle-ass.
- I had a dream one time
I was climbing this fire escape,
and I couldn't make it to the top.
So I climbed through the window of this fly-ass crib
with the big see-thru 'frigerator.
It was full of sammiches.
- Hold up. - Hold up.
Hold up. - Hold up.
Hold up.
No, you do not have on my robe.
- I guess I shouldn't have done that, huh?
- [stammers] Bruh. My robe, Bruh Man, my robe.
Bruh Man, raise up.
I mean--I mean, raise out.
Raise out, Bruh Man.
Just roll, man.
- I've been respecting y'all's marriage.
- Look at his face!
- That's why I only come around when y'all ain't at home.
Y'all got cable, and I gots to get my BET on.
[cheers and applause]
- Reginald Ballard, AKA Bruh Man.
Give it up for him. - Appreciate it, man.
- My man. - Thank you, brother.
Yes, sir, yes, sir.
All right, you guys...
- Bye-bye, baby. - You guys, you guys, bye.
- See you later, sir.
- Know what?
I think I'm going to use the door this time.
[cheers and applause]
- Another iconic character we loved to be hustled by,
the incomparable Hustle Man--
Tracy Morgan made his sitcom debut on the "Martin" show,
selling anything, from poultry on a stick
to jewelry from unknown sources.
Let's see how Hustle Man
ignited a new spark on the show.
[cheers and applause]
- When I come in the barbershop and I go...
[vocalizing]
All that was improvised.
Man, you sure ask lot of questions, man.
You want these roses or not?
- Do I look like I want some damn flowers?
- No, but it look like y'all on a stakeout.
Help!
These two right here is on a stakeout.
[both shouting]
You don't be doing that to nobody.
- No!
- From the very first time we did it,
the laughter we received from the people,
we knew it was something special going on.
- You know my sales slogan--
"You want it, I got it. If I ain't got it, I'ma get it.
So get it while the getting's...good."
Plastic ones. - That's what's up.
- You could beat them.
You could do whatever you want with them,
and you'll never lose a leaf.
- Man.
- See, now that's real ice dripping right there.
- How much, man?
- For you, give me three Gs, chief.
- Man, 3 Gs?
Please, hell, no. I'll give you $200.
- Sold.
- Here you go, bro. You keep the change now.
- You know me, and you cool.
We go back like spinal cords and car seats.
But your man, right here, got a bad attitude, chief.
- Uh-huh.
- You better work on your attitude.
- Here, enjoy your dinner.
- Martin Lawrence gave me the opportunity
to come eat at his table.
It's not a masterpiece if Martin just come off.
It was a masterpiece when the whole show came off.
It's one of the greatest sitcoms ever made.
[cheers and applause]
- Man.
- Tracy. - Oh, my God.
- Martin, you have so many different characters
with "Man" on the end of it.
You have Bruh Man, Hustle Man, Angry Man...
- Angry Man. - Aggravated Man.
Was that the writers,
or did you come up with some of these characters?
- I think it was both.
I came up with some, and they came up with some, yeah.
- But, immediately,
when you saw the Hustle Man character,
you just knew-- - Yeah, Tracy.
- Like, he not going to audition.
- No. He didn't have to audition for it.
I knew he was going to kill it,
'cause when I saw him on Def Jam
and he made me laugh,
I was like, "I got to remember this brother."
- Listen, Tracy Morgan was amazing,
but there were a lot of amazing guest stars
that graced this stage.
Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier
are definitely two of the most memorable.
Let's check them out.
[cheers and applause]
- Hello, my sister-cousin.
Ha ha!
Oh, Lord, look at you.
Oh, you done grown.
You just busting out every which-a where.
- [chuckles] - Ha ha!
Oh, now, I have not seen you
down at the congregation lately.
Tell me what's missing from C-H-blank-blank-C-H?
- "U-R" - U-R.
[chuckles] Think on that, would you please, just for a minute.
[chuckles]
Damn.
Are there any people out there who are weak?
all: Yes!
- Any people out there who are weary?
all: Yes!
- Any people out there who are tired?
all: Yes!
- Any people out there who just need a hymn?
all: Yes, give us a hymn!
- Y'all got cash?
all: Cash money.
- Well, then come on down.
[upbeat music playing]
- ♪ Who can take his talk show, yeah, okay ♪
♪ Sprinkle it with the laughs and do the cabbage patch ♪
♪ Kiss a pretty lady and then sign some autographs? ♪
♪ The Varnel man can, she-boing boing ♪
♪ The Varnel man can ♪
Did you miss me?
[cheers and applause]
- We're back with Varnel Hill.
- Did you miss me?
- Yeah, brother, they-- they miss you.
That's why I cut that last commercial short, okay?
I was afraid people would call in.
"Where's Varnel? We miss him."
- Aw! [cheers and applause]
- Two icons from "In Living Color"--
What was your thought process about incorporating,
you know, some of that brilliance
into the "Martin" show?
- We were sitcom,
and then we had sketch, like, you know, variety
incorporated together. - Yeah, that's right.
- And bringing David Alan Grier and Tommy--
they're quick, and I knew we couldn't go wrong with them.
- How many times did y'all break...
- All the time. - In that church scene...
all: All the time. - That was very hard.
- With David Alan Grier as Leon Lonnie Love?
- Damned in mine eyes. [laughter]
- Mine eyes.
- But for those two-- for them,
they came in and entertained us.
- They did. They did.
- So much brilliance, man,
and such a good time-- [knock at door]
Y'all expecting more people?
- Oh. - What's going on, man?
[bang on door] Hey, hold on.
- But who? - Aggressive.
Uh-oh. Uh-oh. - Hey!
- ♪ Who ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ Can save the children ♪
♪ Bounce them on their knee? ♪
♪ Bounce them on their knee and then sing a melody? ♪
♪ The Var-man can ♪
Did you miss me?
- Yes! [cheers and applause]
- We missed you, brother. - We missed you!
- You are so stupid. [laughter]
What the hell is wrong with you?
- Look at this. Look at this.
Oh, my God.
- Hey, man.
- What's up, man? - Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.
- Oh, my God. - Come over here, Tommy.
- How you doing, man? - What's up, sir?
- You good? - Good to see you, man.
- All right, all right.
- You sang that from the diaphragm, boy.
- I'm so glad to be here.
This is family. - That's right.
- This is family. This is family.
- Yes.
- Tommy, you were one of three people
from "In Living Color"
to guest-star on the "Martin" show.
What is it like to be part of two iconic shows?
- Oh, man, this is my brother here.
You know, we came out here from D.C.
He said, "I'm going to L.A."
You know, he's got a show on, "What's Happening Now!"
I'm like, "He's on TV, man. What the hell?"
- What about the collaboration on the Varnel Hill character?
How did you take that on and make it your own?
- Well, first of all, Bentley pulled me outside.
He said, "Don't read nothing that's on the page."
I was like, "All right, all right, all right."
He said, "Just bring what you want to to the character."
When I sat down, I didn't do anything that was on the page,
nothing that was on the page.
And it was like he had to do it.
I had his hands tied behind his back.
And I was doing stuff.
Like, he'd ask me, "You got a limo?"
I'm like, "Nah, man, nah, man.
Nah, I don't even drive no more, man."
- Right, right.
- You know, "You got a swimming pool?
You got a swimming pool?" "I got a lake."
- A 10-mile lake. - A 10-mile lake.
You know? - Right.
- And the catfish, delicious.
- Delicious. - And he--
The whole time, if you look real close,
he's doing this.
[laughter]
- No, no, get-- - So all ad lib?
- All ad lib. - Freestyle.
- And he hung right with me because he knows.
He knows my comedy. We know each other's timing.
- Right. - Man.
- Tommy does this everywhere he goes, though.
Every time we're on set with you...
- Yeah, I did the neighborhood.
- And it's funny to watch all the white people go...
"He's off script."
- Well, speaking of white people,
did white people rush the Capitol?
- Oh, my God. Here we go. Here we go.
- Here he goes, see? - Speaking of white people...
- Here we go. - Goodbye.
- Good night.
Bye, Carl!
[laughter]
- You just always a burst of energy, Tommy.
Like, you give us all energy, man, and you're fearless.
You are fearless. - Thank you.
- That's why you're just amazing.
- You are. - Genius.
- One of the baddest to do it, brother.
One of the baddest to do it, man.
- Thank you, man. - I'm hearing
from the producers that y'all lived
in the same complex or something before?
- Oh yeah, we lived in the same complex.
One time-- - In L.A. or D.C.?
- In L.A., in Burbank, you know, Burbank.
- Okay. - And, um...
he had to get his couch moved, you know?
And he had a Mercury Lynx, okay?
I don't know if y'all heard of that.
- I remember that car.
- I don't know if you heard of that car, but--
- I remember it. - Yes, indeed.
- Yeah, Sanford and Son's son used to have it.
So, so...
so there was no way to get into his apartment.
You know what I mean?
He's like, "Tommy, man, you got to help me, man."
I was like, "Man, how are you going to get the big couch
into that little car, right?"
He said, "You gonna hold it and walk," you know?
So I said, "All right."
So I'm holding the couch, and he driving real slow.
And here we are, in suburban white Burbank.
You know? Yeah, yeah.
"Somebody's stealing a couch."
- No, y'all didn't. - Yeah, man.
Yeah, man. - That's a true story.
That's a true story. - Yeah, true story.
- Yo, speaking of Tommy Davidson,
the legend, man. - Tommy!
[cheers and applause]
- Bye. - Love you, Tommy.
- Thank you.
- Nut.
Nut.
- We've had a lot of iconic characters
come through here,
but none more important than this next guest.
She recently just got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Start clapping right now.
Get out of your seats, everybody.
Please welcome the legendary Miss Marla Gibbs!
[cheers and applause]
- Looks like the neighborhood.
[laughs]
- Yes. - I love you.
- Hey, Martin. - Oh, thank you so much.
God bless you.
- How are you? How are you?
Beautiful. - I'm good.
- Yes, Miss Marla Gibbs.
- Welcome, welcome, welcome. How are you, ma'am?
- I'm wonderful. - Absolutely.
- I woke up this morning, and I--
- Amen. - And I got up.
- Yes. - Yes.
- Congratulations. - Amen.
- Congratulations on your Hollywood Star
in the Walk of Fame. - Thank you.
- Yes, ma'am. - You know,
it costs a lot of money for folk to walk on you.
- Wow. - That's true.
- Now, Miss Marla, you played the housekeeper
from hell on Martin's show.
Can you tell us about that?
- Yeah, I was Miss Minnie.
And, of course, I was trying to teach them...
- Right. - How to act in their home.
- Can I at least get a drink of water first?
- There's a glass of juice on the table.
You're not dirtying up my glasses,
so if you want some water, duck your head under the faucet.
- Now, Tisha and Tichina, as young Black women,
actresses, how important is this icon?
- She's everything to us because she taught us,
you know, that we can be strong women in this business.
She's a comedic genius.
She ran her own businesses. - And what I loved--
- She gave back to her community--go ahead, baby.
- Watching "The Jeffersons,"
they always gave you the blow.
And the blow is the last line.
You get the last funny line.
And I was like, "Wow, I want to be able to have
the last funny line."
And, you know, as an actress, as a comedic actress,
we always try to--
you have to work for that, that position.
- Well, you had plenty of last lines, let me tell you.
- But, you know, we so love you.
And we respect you... - We do.
- Because you're not only-- you embody who we aspire to be.
- Thank you. - And you're still here,
and you're still teaching, and you're still--
- And you're still acting. - Yes.
- We love you.
- That's what you do when you're 30.
- That's right. [laughs]
- Well, you know, we're spiritual beings,
as well as physical. - Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am.
- And as spiritual beings,
we have no time, we have no age.
- That's right. - So I choose to vibrate on 30.
- Hey, knee, can you vibrate on 30?
- Yeah. - Oh, man.
- Can I ask you, what was your favorite character?
- No, no. - If there--
- No, just stop.
Stop it. - What?
- Just stop it. - No.
- Stop. - Huh?
- Why? - You may ask it.
You may ask it. - Oh, my God.
- Can I ask, what's your favorite character?
- Don't scoot up to her like that and ask her that.
- What? - Don't do that.
Don't--"Can I ask who's your favorite character?"
Don't do that.
- No, not on a show, that she played.
- Oh, I thought you was trying to say between us.
- No, what was your favorite character that you played?
Like, what was--you know?
- Whichever one was paying me at the time.
- That's right, come on!
- Hello! - Great answer.
- Yes. - We love you.
- And we love you.
- Please give it up for the icon, Miss Marla Gibbs.
[cheers and applause]
There was so many amazing celebrity guest stars
that came on the "Martin" show.
Let's take a look.
[cheers and applause]
- Put our hands together one more time for OutKast.
- ♪ Say what? ♪
♪ Now check it out, check it out ♪
- Look at them. - Oh, my God.
- I want to thank you, man.
This the first time anybody ever helped me jack 'em.
- ♪ You are ♪
♪ So beautiful, darling ♪
- And that, honey, is just a little preview.
Are you ready? - Uh, well, no, no.
- Coochie, coochie, coochie, coochie.
- No, ain't no--
- ♪ Spending my dimes, wasting my time ♪
♪ Talking till I'm black and blue ♪
♪ Oh, can't you see ♪
♪ I wanna get next to you ♪
- Well, the last time you were here,
you picked someone to go out with,
and we want to find out how that date went.
So please welcome Valentino Watson.
[cheers and applause]
- Hey, what's up, DeAndre?
And how are you doing, Sheneneh, with your fine self?
- There is one thing you could do for me, though.
- What's that?
- Can you do that funny little thing
with your chest again? - What, this?
- Oh, look at Gina.
[cheers and applause]
- It's D-O-double-G, 'cause that be me.
I hope you don't mind me and a few of the homeboys
from Tha Dogg Pound stopping through,
making your party liver than what it was.
[R&B music playing]
- ♪ You don't know ♪
♪ Said you'll never, never ♪
- ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ I'm a man, good-- ♪
♪ Goodbye ♪
- Yes, they will. - Yes, they will.
Ooh, yeah.
- ♪ Ooh, yeah ♪ - ♪ Ooh, yeah ♪
♪ Ooh, yeah ♪
[cheers and applause]
- So tell us about the Jodeci moment...
- Oh, that was fun, man. - On the Varnel Hill Show.
- I just got to rock out with them.
I had a good time, man.
I had so much fun. It was fun.
- I heard that they didn't know that you were about to come out
with the mic--is that true?
- No, they didn't know. - They didn't know that?
- No.
We didn't rehearse it like that.
- That's why I think me and KC--
that's why you see me and him doing like this and all.
Yeah. [laughter]
- You didn't tell him that you was gonna do that?
- Nah. - Oh, that's great.
- Oh, my God. - That's great.
- We getting tea right now.
We getting real tea... - Now I got to see it.
I got to watch it again.
- On the "Martin Reunion Show," y'all.
- Hilarious. - I got to watch it again.
- Now, Tisha and Tichina,
everybody knows y'all can singsing.
- Sang. - There you go.
- Y'all done it on the show several times.
You got a album out that you put out recently,
right, some music or something? [knock at door]
- I put some-- - She still here.
- Who's that? - Somebody else?
- No. - What's going on?
What's going on over here? Let's see who popping by.
both: Oh! [cheers and applause]
- Hey, girl. - Mwah!
both: Mwah!
- Hey, Martin, what's up, boy?
- Carl, what's happening?
- What's up, baby? - Come on, man.
Where do I sit?
- Sit with us. - Get over here.
- Between two queens. - Oh, my God.
- What's up, unc? - I'm good, man.
Happy to be in the neighborhood.
- Come on, man, Mr. Metaverse, back on Death Row.
- I went to that door, right? And I looked at the door.
I'm like, "The peephole came to my chest.
Last time I was here, me and the peephole was eye to eye."
I'm trying to figure out what's going on.
- Hey, look, we grew up.
- You got a little taller physically and in stature
and in success, brother. - Bless us, bless us.
- But I hear that the last time you was here
was your first time on a sitcom.
- It was. It was actually my first time on a sitcom.
Martin gave me the opportunity to act.
I was a fan
of great television shows growing up as a kid.
Didn't really know I could act until Martin gave me
the opportunity to come on the show
and to be myself and have some fun.
So thank you again, Martin, for giving me the opportunity.
- Much love, much love.
- Yo, can I tell my Snoop story?
- Please, please, tell your Snoop story.
- Okay, okay, okay.
So, when Snoop came on the set, right,
there was, like--he had, like, a ton of entourage, right?
But at some point, we had to rehearse,
so they had to, you know, leave the set, and it was just him.
And he was standing on the Gina set, right?
- Hello. - So he's standing there
all hard, mean-mugging.
[laughs] And so I go to Martin--
I go, "Hey, yo, Martin, you know, see if Snoop's okay.
"He looks a little upset.
Just make sure he's cool, you know?"
So he said, "You want me to go over there?"
I said, "Yeah, yeah, go over there--you know,
whisper in his ear, you know, don't bring attention."
He was like, "All right.
[yelling] Yo, Snoop, you all right?"
[laughter]
So then you go, "Man, I can't believe
I'm on Gina's apartment."
And for us, we was like, "Aw." - We were so excited.
- Oh, yeah. - It was still gangsta...
- I miss the Afro. - But it was endearing.
But you got to understand, like,
we admired you just as much as you admired the show.
- We loved the show. Let me tell you this part.
We would watch the show more than we would make music.
all: Wow. - Like, it was that intertwined
in what we did because it was the reality of it all.
Even to have somebody like Bruh Man come in--
we always had somebody like that in the studio
that would just show up. [laughter]
So it was so parallel to the way we was living.
And then the relationship y'all had was sort of,
kind of like me and my wife. - Aw.
- She was my girlfriend at the time.
- We were so excited, man. - Yo, let me tell you--
when I found out that Snoop was coming,
first of all, I was like-- we found out, like, I think,
before the season started.
So I started trying to grow my hair out,
'cause you remember, Snoop had the crazy Michael Jackson--
- Dope Michael Jackson Afro.
- The crazy Mike-- - That Afro was the best.
- And I was like, "Yo."
So, if you look at the episode,
I had the, like, the 'fro starter kit.
Like, I didn't-- it wasn't fully there yet,
but I was like-- I knew he was coming.
I was gonna represent when he came through.
- You've always been so endearing.
- Endearing and gangsta at the same time.
- Yeah, everybody loves you.
- Hey, he does it all. He does it all, man.
- I attribute that to my mother, right?
My mother raised me to be me at all times and to have fun
and to bring joy to the world, you know what I'm saying?
- Well, that's what you brought to the show.
- Absolutely.
[applause]
- Would you mind rolling to Nipsey's with us a little later
to share some of that West Coast nostalgia?
Would you do so?
- Y'all want me to perform? - Yes!
- Hell, yeah! What you think?
- We need that. We need that.
- Yeah.
Put me on the spot, then, Tichina.
You know me. - We put you on the spot.
- I'll show up.
For the "Martin" show, there's nothing I wouldn't do.
Charge it to the gang. Consider it done.
- Much love, man, much love. - Yes.
- Y'all give it up for my man Snoop D-O-double-G, Snoop Dogg.
[cheers and applause]
- Love you, baby. Mwah.
- My man.
Thank you, brother. - Anytime, brother.
- All right. - Stay strong.
- Appreciate you. - Love you, boy.
[cheers and applause]
- My guy. - Love you.
- Yes, indeed. Love you, boy.
- That was dope.
- Man. - That was dope.
- Snoop Doggy Dogg. - Dogg.
- I got to ask-- It's been 30 years.
We sitting in the room. We chilling.
The energy is amazing.
Can there be a "Martin" reboot?
I mean, the people want to know.
- Well, I would-- - And I am the people.
- I would never say never,
but, you know, Tommy's not here.
That's a big void missing.
And I don't think so, but I never say never.
- Look, we've had an amazing time here today.
I want to personally thank all of you
for allowing me to come and be a part of this iconic moment.
30 years.
"Martin: The Reunion."
History. And I'm a fan, forever a fan.
- You did good. You did good. - You were awesome.
- Did I do all right? - You did good, son.
- All right.
All right. [cheers and applause]
Before we go, what does the legacy of this show
mean to each of you, starting with Carl?
- I said when I was young
that I wanted to do something important with my life,
to make a difference in other people's lives,
that I didn't want to be a statistic.
And, you know, everyone has a gift,
but you don't always use it for your purpose.
But that's what your gift is supposed to be used for,
your purpose.
And I think...
the legacy of this show helped solidify mine.
- Thank you for sharing that, yeah.
Thank you for sharing that.
- The legacy of this show is so important to me
because we made people laugh.
And they may not have been having
a good go at things.
Life may be hard.
But for a half hour,
we might have took the pain away.
- Mm.
- And that means a lot to me,
especially when generations upon generations
still revere it.
So this legacy does mean a lot,
and I think that's why we all really came together
to be here for this,
and we understand how important it is.
We may not have understood it in the moment,
but we understand the legacy today.
[cheers and applause] - Thank you, T.
- Well, kind of the same as Tisha.
I mean, the legacy of this show, you know,
is pure testament to our hard work
and us having a platform to do what we love to do.
And this is our ministry.
- Mm-hmm.
- And the show "Martin" is something--
it's like our little Bible that's gonna continue to live.
so we have a responsibility
to make sure that we pass it on
and that we continue the legacy of "Martin,"
and we continue the love, and we continue the laughter,
and we share the laughter
and just, you know, help others as we go along.
- Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Of course, the man himself, the reason we're here.
What does the legacy of this show mean to you, Martin?
- Well, I agree with everything that each one of them said.
And the legacy, for me--
This was my baby, you know?
And I just want it to continue to go on and help people
like it has
and people to remember us
as one of the funniest sitcoms ever to grace television.
- That's definitely my takeaway from the "Martin" show.
You all have impacted me in such a major way, as a person,
as an artist, and I thank you for that.
And I also want to thank you for providing
an opportunity for Black writers
and behind-the-scenes producers.
- Yes. - Like, it's really--
Fashion designers, artists, hip-hop artists.
Like, you really made it a point to support Black.
- Can we please give a standing ovation to Martin Lawrence?
- Yes, please.
Can we, please?
Please stand up.
Give it up for Martin Lawrence, y'all.
[cheers and applause] - Thank you.
- Why? Why? Why?
- Get over here. both: Mwah.
- One more time, y'all-- Martin Lawrence.
- Yes!
- The legend.
Yes, indeed, yes, indeed.
Now, you know we couldn't roll up in Nipsey's
and not pay homage to the owner,
the proprietor himself, Nipsey,
played by my big homey Sean Lampkin.
Give it up for him. Come on now.
[cheers and applause]
- Yeah. - Hey, man, how--
How did you end up getting the role of Nipsey?
- Well, it's funny, man.
I had came to the set with Martin one day,
and we was hanging out,
and Bentley came over to Martin
and said something about, "Hey, man,
"we got this new set of Nipsey's,
"and, you know, we just got to find
"an actor for it and all that stuff,
but I think it's a great place for the cast to meet at."
And Martin turned to me and said, "Put Sean in there."
And I was like, "Huh?"
- Right, right.
Had you ever acted before that? - No.
And then by the second episode, I was Othello.
I was doing some--
I was doing shit I wasn't supposed to be doing.
- Right.
- But, yeah, man, I enjoyed the ride, and I love it.
I love these guys. And this is Nipsey's.
- Well, we love you, man. Thank you for coming back.
30-year reunion. - We love you, Sean.
- We couldn't do it without you, man.
- No doubt, brother.
- Give it up for Nipsey one more time, Sean Lampkin.
[cheers and applause]
- All right.
In the voice of Jerome Romey Rome.
[cheers and applause]
Yes, yes, yes!
Thank you!
For the last time, from Nipsey's,
give it up for Snoop D-O-double-G.
- ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
Turn it up, turn it up, y'all.
Come on. Turn it up, y'all.
Come on. Oh.
Can somebody say "hell, yeah"?
all: Hell, yeah.
- Say "hell, yeah."
- Hell, yeah.
- Say, "Go, Snoop Dogg, go, Snoop Dogg, go."
all: Go, Snoop Dogg, go, Snoop Dogg, go.
- ♪ With so much drama in the LBC ♪
♪ it's kind of hard being Snoop D-O-double-G ♪
♪ But I, somehow, some way ♪
♪ Keep coming up with funky-ass hits like every single day ♪
♪ May I kick a little something for the Gs ♪
♪ And make a few ends as I breeze through ♪
♪ 2:00 in the morning ♪
♪ And the party's still jumpin' cause my mama ain't home ♪
♪ I got bitches in the living room getting it on ♪
♪ And they ain't leaving till ♪
all: ♪ 6:00 in the morning ♪
- ♪ So what you want to do? ♪
♪ Look, I got a pocket full of rubbers ♪
♪ And my homeboys do, too ♪
♪ So turn off the lights and close the doors ♪
♪ But for what? ♪
all: ♪ We don't love them hos ♪
- ♪ Yeah, so we gonna smoke an ounce to this ♪
♪ Gs up, hos down, while you motherfuckers bounce to this ♪
- ♪ Rolling down the street ♪ - Sing it, y'all.
- ♪ Smoking endo ♪
all: ♪ Sipping on gin and juice ♪
- ♪ Laid back ♪
♪ With my mind on my money ♪
♪ And my money on my mind, y'all ♪
- ♪ Rolling down the street ♪ - Say what?
- ♪ Smoking endo ♪ - Say what?
all: ♪ Sipping on gin and juice ♪
- ♪ Laid back ♪
all: ♪ With my mind on my money and my money on my mind ♪
- ♪ And now that I've got me some Seagram's gin ♪
♪ Everybody got they cups, but they ain't chipped in ♪
♪ Now this types of shit happens all the time ♪
♪ You got to get yours, baby, I got to get mine ♪
♪ Everything is fine when you listen to the D-O-G ♪
♪ I got the cultivatin' music that be captivatin' he ♪
♪ Who listens to the words that I speak ♪
♪ As I take me a drink to the middle of the street ♪
♪ And get to mackin' to this freak named Sadie ♪
- What? - Get it.
- ♪ She used to be Romey Rome's lady ♪
♪ And it was 80 degrees when I told that trick, please ♪
♪ Raise up off these N-U-Ts 'cause you gets none of these ♪
♪ At ease ♪
♪ As I mob with Tha Dogg Pound, feel the breeze ♪
♪ And now you know I'm just ♪
all: ♪ Rolling down the street, smoking endo ♪
♪ Sipping on gin and juice ♪
- Say what? all: ♪ Laid back ♪
- ♪ With my mind on my money ♪
♪ And my money on my mind y'all ♪
- ♪ Rolling down the street ♪ - I can't hear you.
Say what? Say what? - ♪ Smoking endo ♪
all: ♪ Sipping on gin and juice ♪
♪ Laid back ♪
♪ With my mind on my money and my money on my mind ♪
- Trip.
♪ Now later on that day ♪
♪ The homey Dr. Dre ♪
♪ Came through with a gang of Tanqueray ♪
♪ And a fat ass J ♪
♪ Of some bubonic chronic that made me choke ♪
♪ Shit, this ain't no joke ♪
♪ I had to back up off of it and sit my cup down ♪
♪ Tanqueray and chronic, yeah, I'm fucked up now ♪
♪ But it ain't no stopping, I'm still popping ♪
And Dre got some bitches from the city of Compton ♪
♪ To serve me, but not with a cherry on top ♪
♪ When I bust my nut, I'm raisin' up out the cot ♪
♪ Don't get upset, girl, that's just how that goes ♪
♪ We don't love you hos ♪
♪ I'm out the door, and I'll be ♪
- ♪ Rolling down the street ♪ - ♪ We smoking ♪
- ♪ Smoking endo, sipping on gin and juice ♪
- ♪ I'm so laid back ♪
♪ With my mind on my money and my money on my mind, y'all ♪
- ♪ Rolling down the street ♪
- ♪ We just smoking endo, sipping on gin and juice ♪
♪ Laid back ♪
♪ With my mind on my money and my money and my mind ♪
- Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey! - Get it!
[all cheering]
- Thank y'all. Peace and love, "Martin" show.
You know I love you, nigga.
[cheers and applause]
- Ooh, look, Daddy.