The cast of the iconic Black comedy series Martin — Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold and Carl Anthony Payne II — reunited at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards to present the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award.
As the award category approached, a jumbotron displayed the nostalgic Martin title card before rising and presenting the former castmates sitting on the familiar furniture with the same living room background from the show. Lawrence walked in and acknowledged the moment’s importance.
“Wow, this is a real moment,” the 58-year-old began his speech. “A special moment.”
The cast nodded in agreement as Payne (who portrayed Cole Brown), 54, joked about how the show would finally receive its long overdue Emmy award.
“Yeah, we’re getting our Emmy tonight,” Payne declared, followed by his monkey noises. “As a matter of fact, I got my speech on deck, too.”
Campbell, 55, stopped Payne and corrected him.
“No, no, no. Carl, we’re not winning an Emmy tonight. Please, sit your butt down. Please, sit down,” the House Party actress stated.
Arnold chimed in, “Carl, we’re presenting an award. Not being presented with one knucklehead.”
Putting all jokes aside, Campbell stood to preach about how the Martin show hasn’t received an Emmy award or nomination despite the show’s success. Martin became one of Fox’s highest-ranked shows, averaging 11 million viewers in the first season.
“Wait, Carl isn’t all the way wrong, you guys,” she spoke. “I mean, we should’ve won an Emmy during our run, but we were never even nominated despite our 132 episodes, our huge ratings and being syndicated so much that it’s a little hard for me to see the ’90s spankless version of myself every night. You know what I’m saying, right, Tichina?”
Arnold, 54, hit her former castmate and best friend with a bemused expression and a moment of silence before declaring, “No, I still look good.”
Period!!!
Black-ish star and comedian Anthony Anderson, 53, appeared and thanked the cast for their “contribution to television.” He rubbed his 11 Emmy nominations in their faces and informed them they weren’t nominated.
“Well, you know what, it’s all good,” Lawrence stated. “I’m just excited to be here on the Emmy stage with this tremendous cast of the Martin show. To present the next award, [here] are the nominees for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.”
After thumbing through the nominees and before the Bad Boys actor could announce a name, Payne brought to the Martin lead’s attention that they still hadn’t called any of their names for the category.
Ultimately, Jeremy Allen White won for his role as Carmen in The Bear.
The 2024 Emmy Awards happened on Jan. 15, aka Martin Luther King Jr. day, hence why they had the Martin cast. During his monologue, Anderson gave a nod to the many unsung sitcoms that transformed television by singing a few familiar theme songs like Good Times, The Facts of Life and Miami Vice.
