Television: Laughing at Black Depictions in the 1992-1997 Sitcom Martin

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Color(ed) Television: Laughing at Black Depictions in the 1992-1997 Sitcom Martin

Andrew LaSane

Senior Seminar

Professor Pfitzer

December 11, 2009

Abstract

Title: Color(ed) Television: Laughing at Black Depictions in the 1992-1997 Sitcom Martin

This seminar paper focuses on 1990s television, more specifically comedic sitcoms of that era with predominantly Black casts and their effects on American television and American urban culture. Often criticized as racist and fosterers of stereotypes, Black sitcoms (post-Cosby) are rarely given credit for their contributions to television programming. “Martin,” the series created by comedian Martin Lawrence, was my primary source for analysis. The series aired from 1992-1997 on FOX and has recently been released in its entirety on DVD. The paper includes analysis of multiple episodes taken from the available media and concentrates on the dichotomies of race, gender, and class and how they were central to the success of not only “Martin,” but other Black sitcoms of the decade. This thesis paper looks beyond the comedic nature of this sitcom to see how its producers used Martin’s comedic talents as well as his personal life to create and sustain a controversial as well as revered American series. ii

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my fellow Senior Seminar classmates, Elena, Rachel, Claire, Liz, Jordan, Emily, Gemma, Emma, Keke, and Krista for their support throughout the process of writing this paper and for keeping me entertained all semester long. I would also like to thank the Senior Seminar Class of 2009 for their insight and assistance in forcing me to think about this work in advance.

Thank you to my mother for exposing me to the media at a young age that I love and that allowed me to write this thesis in the first place.

Thanks to Professors Dan Nathan and Joshua Woodfork of the American Studies department here at Skidmore College for engaging in conversation with me about my topic and for reassuring me that it was worth writing.

I express gratitude to Brett Ehrmann for writing his Honors Thesis at University of Michigan- Ann Arbor and for allowing me to have a copy for my own academic research.

Lastly, a special thank you to Professor Gregory Pfitzer for being there every step of the way to encourage and to push a class of easily distracted undergraduate seniors to do great things.

Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… i. Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………….. ii. Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………….iii.

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Introduction of Focus 4

Breaking Clarks Conventions 7

Chapter 2: Coogi Sweaters to Michigan Jerseys: From Cosby to Martin 8

Chapter 3: What’s Black Love Got to Do With It? 10

“It’s a man thing, Gina, it’s a man thing!” 12

Chapter 4: New Black Face? 16

“Forever Sheneneh” 18

“Mama Payne” 20

“Jerome’s in the House” 22

Chapter 5: Social Commentary 25

Chapter 6: Pause for audience reaction… 29

Chapter 7: The Black Experience 32

Conclusion 35

Bibliography 36

Appendix A 1

Introduction

“Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What people find entertaining has deep implications for their culture. Studying television is a means to understanding the interests and ideas of society. Television is often a big part of childhood exposure to the world, especially before children are literate. Born in the 1980s, most of what I learned was from television programming of the 1990s. For as long as I can remember

I have been fascinated by the “idiot-box.” More than just audio/visual stimulation, television is a reflection and refraction of society. Images on the screen are produced by people with their own intrinsic motives, and they target individuals with the same or similar interests.

Sitcoms, or situational comedies, are the most engaging because they are on-going and focus on story and character progression. It is this dynamic, unpredictable nature that caught my interest then and now. In this paper I will research and analyze the components of Black sitcoms

(i.e. those with black casts). More specifically, I will engage the show Martin regarding factors of audience, production, and content and the importance of these factors to American culture.

Content will be one important aspect of my thesis paper, as I intend a media analysis.

Martin was known for its autobiographical “in-group” humor (“in-group” referring to an audience that identifies with the “Black” narrative or experience.)1 Issues of gender inequality,

Black professionalism, race relations and conflict, and the inability to “cross-over” are a few of the themes I will discuss in this paper.2 As one of the first sitcoms to feature a main character

1 Kristal Brent Zook, Color By Fox: the Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 5. 2 Robert F. Moss, “The Shrinking Life Span of the Black Sitcom,” New York Times, Feb 25, 2001 JSTOR, www.jstor.org 2 who also played the role of numerous personalities (all if which were important to the culture of the show and not merely cameos), Martin has proven to be a fruitful subject for study. Martin

Lawrence’s multiple personalities add even more depth to the characters that he interacts with as well as his primary character. I will also discuss Lawrence’s personal struggles as they affected the outcome of the series.

Television is a difficult media to discuss. I do not intend merely to voice my opinion on matters of racial identity, stereotypical portrayals, or program quality. In addition to scholarly references and contextual evidence from Martin, I will rely on viewer reflections. The responses and commentary used in this paper are from volunteer Skidmore College students who engaged in viewings of a selection of episodes. The participants were not of one particular race but were all between the ages of 17 and 22. It should be mentioned that Skidmore College is a liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York and while the student body is “diverse” in the sense that multiple races and geographic regions are represented, the culture of the college is peculiar to the school just as the culture of any distinct group would self-select into that group. Though I attempt to be unbiased in my approach to presenting this topic historically, I realize and embrace the fact that my own experiences and opinions as a Black male from South Carolina watching these types of shows as a youth and again today will inevitably influence the way I present this information. Ultimately, the aim is to uncover the underlying elements of Martin that made it such a commercial success (defined here as reaching syndication, lasting for five seasons, and warranting DVD release) and what the effects of such elements were on American culture in general and me in particular. I explore some of the following questions:

• Why is this show important to the culture? • Why did it last as long as it did? Would this show work in today’s television programming scheme? • What does the format of the show reflect about the producer/actors/broadcasting station? • Who is the target audience? • Does comedy make issues such as racism easier to approach or are they trivialized by it? • What makes Martin a uniquely American show? • Does it reflect American society of the 1990s or has it imposed its ideals on the society of today?

These questions bring me to perhaps the most important question: why should anyone care about my paper? My topic is important to examine simply because race relations are important and television is embedded into our culture. By challenging depictions of Blacks on television I am implicitly also challenging depictions in other forms of media in the United States. How an individual or group is portrayed to the masses dictates how they perceive themselves and how they are perceived. This not only perpetuates stereotypes, it can also simultaneously denigrate those shown in the negative light.

Television is the most universal form of media. Not everyone reads newspapers or listens to talk-radio because video is far more convenient technology, combining the sound and visuals of both. As I stated previously, television has also become a primary teaching tool for children.

By analyzing racialized implications of Black sitcoms in the 1990s, I will get a better understanding of how and why these meanings are established and disseminated.

Presenting this topic may change the way individuals view race and laughter in tomorrow’s media. If not, I hope this paper at least sparks a dialogue among readers about the role of television in creating racial identities in American culture.

Introduction of Focus

“He was in control of every aspect of his show. There was no part of that show where somebody could say, ‘I’m responsible for this. [He] was in charge of everything, man.” - comedian Charlie Murphy on Lawrence3

Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence, named after both Martin Luther King Jr. and John

Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1965. His parents divorced in 1973 and his mother raised him and his five brothers and sisters. Growing up in Maryland, Lawrence attended four separate high schools and fought in the Golden Gloves amateur boxing competition as a 90 lb fifteen year old. It was at Eleanor Roosevelt High School that he got his first comedic break. A class clown, Lawrence would often interrupt his art class with his antics. His teacher,

Mrs. Henderson, bargained with him that if he allowed his classmates to finish their assignments without distraction, he would be allowed to tell jokes for the last five minutes of class. Mrs.

Henderson was also the first person to give Lawrence a card to an actual comedy club. After an unsuccessful stint in New York City, Lawrence returned to Maryland and won his first appearance at the popular talent competition “Star Search,” eventually joining the comedy club circuit.4 Martin Lawrence went on to television roles on the show “What’s Happening Now!!” in

1985 and “A Little Bit Strange”5 in 1989 before appearing in Spike Lee’s twice Oscar nominated film “Do the Right Thing” the same year.6

In 1992, Martin was hand chosen by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons to host “Def

Comedy Jam,” a stand-up comedy show that showcased up-and-coming comedians. Through his

3 Darryl J. Littleton, Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh (New York: Applause Theater and Cinema Books, 2006), 238. 4 Martin Lawrence, interviewed by James Lipton, Inside the Actor’s Studio, Bravo Network, January 22, 2006 5 “Martin Lawrence,” IMDb.com, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001454/ 6 Jason Matloff. “Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ Turns 20,” LA Times.com, May 2009, http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/24/entertainment/ca-dotherightthing24?pg=2 5 success on this and other ventures, Martin Lawrence built a substantial resume in Hollywood. He and his manager approached HBO with a proposal for a fresh new show based on Lawrence’s comedy. He wanted the show to have his namesake, just like his inspiration Bill Cosby’s hit series. Martin was granted a series on HBO along with artist license as its creator, writer, executive producer, and lead actor, meaning that he could basically do whatever he wanted within the boundaries of the censors and standards of the television station. Martin admitted that this power and all the responsibilities “made his head heavy.”7

The series, Martin, was set in Detroit, Michigan and portrayed the life of disc jockey

Martin Payne played by Lawrence. Lawrence played a total of ten characters, some more often than others. His co-star, Tisha Campbell, played his girlfriend and later wife, Gina Waters. Three supporting characters, and Campbell and Lawrence’s friends on the show, were Tommy Strawn,

Pamela (Pam) James, and Cole Brown (Thomas Mikal Ford, Tichina Arnold, and Carl Anthony

Payne II, respectively). The setting of the show was primarily inside of Martin’s apartment, though there are often scenes shot in the hallway, at Martin and Gina’s places of work, and other places around Detroit. The plot of the show is referenced as “the random misadventures of

Martin Payne, an abrasive, loud-mouthed (though somewhat insecure) Detroit talk show host and his assortment of friends and enemies.”8 So the show is not only by Lawrence, it is loosely based on Lawrence’s life through his comedy.

He became the primary target for any criticism as well as the one held accountable for the potential success or failure of the sitcom. When compared to Cosby, Lawrence’s reply was,

“Cosby's gonna do his thing, and I'm gonna do mine…Whichever one makes you laugh, you take

7 Martin Lawrence, interviewed by James Lipton, Inside the Actor’s Studio, Bravo Network, January 22, 2006 8 “Martin Lawrence,” IMDb.com, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001454/

6 it and enjoy it.” He also said that if he could “get away with it, and it's something that happens in life” that he went with it.9 As a result, the show was unconventional in terms of the way material was presented and the level of involvement of the Black cast.

9 Christopher J. Farley, “Black and Blue,” Time (Nov. 22, 1993) EBSCOHOST, http://search.ebscohost.com.lucy2.skidmore.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=931 1167954&site=ehost-live 7

Breaking Clark’s Conventions

Black situational comedies do not all share common themes or characteristics. In 1969, C.

Clark created a four-part model for minority involvement in television:

1. Nonrecognition- minorities are completely ignored and excluded by the image makers 2. Ridicule- dominant group is socially elevated while others are lowered (i.e. make to look like buffoons) 3. Regulation- minorities as regulators and enforcers of the law (e.g. Carl Winslow in Family Matters) 4. Respect- level playing field for majority and minority groups.10

For the purposes of this paper, I contend that Martin does not fit within this model because it does a few of these things. There is a Black cop on the show, buffoons, as well as Black professionals who work alongside White and Asians. Lawrence’s do-what-I-want attitude gave his show an edginess that had never been seen. It transcended convention.

10 Robin R. Means Coleman, African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2000), 77-78 8

Coogi Sweaters to Michigan Jerseys: from Cosby to Martin

“That man is as rich as King Tut! He couldn’t call you?” – Garrett “Stan” Morris about Bill Cosby

In the discussion of Clark’s model, there is another show that pre-dates Martin, but also transcends conventions for minority involvement. The paramount example referenced in any discussion of Black sitcoms is, of course, The Cosby Show. Bill Cosby virtually controlled

“Black television” between 1984 and 1992. Referred to as the Cosby Era, Cosby Decade, and the

Age of Cosby, the show set the standard for every show of its kind that would follow. “…The

Cosby Show is credited with revolutionizing the Black situation comedy genre during this time by setting a standard for non-ridicule, by recognizing and celebrating Black culture, and by presenting African Americans as ably negotiating mainstream America, and with equal status.11

The sitcom was about an upper-middle-class family, the Huxtables. Father, Heathcliff, was played by Cosby and worked as an obstetrician. Mother, Claire, was played by actress Phylicia

Rashad and worked as a prominent lawyer. They had five children and lived in a virtually crime- free neighborhood. They lived the “American Dream” and defied all previous notions of Black life during the 1980s and 90s. There is no doubt that Bill Cosby and The Cosby Show revolutionized television as a whole more than Martin ever could. But in terms of Black television, the Cosby Show was just that: a dream.

The image of a Black upper-middle-class family on television was not one that many

Black viewers could relate to. It was an aspiration, an escape to a better world. Everyone wanted to live like a Huxtable and few could. This is why the comparison between Martin and The

Cosby Show is not a fair one. While Lawrence utilized exaggerated real life experiences of many,

11 Means Coleman, 95 9

Cosby portrayed a “possible” lifestyle. Ironically, Bill Cosby openly criticized Martin for painting ugly pictures of Black people.12 He felt that Lawrence’s choice of imagery was demeaning and damaging to Blacks, specifically African Americans in the United States.

A subject in Means Coleman’s book had similar things to say about the way in which The

Cosby Show depicted “unrealistic” Blacks on television:

“And what I don’t like about Cosby is that they give a misconception... Cosby Show made you think that, it gave the impression that if you’re hard working, if you put yourself through school, that you can really make it big. The only reason that Black people can’t make it is because they didn’t go to school, they didn’t work hard, they didn’t try enough. And if you do all the right things, that you can have the same life Cosby had, and once you make it to that level, that you’re exactly like White people….”13

I do not intend to say that showing successful Blacks is a terrible practice. On the contrary, it is necessary and should become the standard for all shows. My point is that there should not be a double standard on damaging images in the eyes of Black viewers.

“The Cosby Show said the only thing between the American Dream and African Americans, and thereby equal status in society, was (not race, but) individual mobility to be had through hard work, love, middle-class values, and educational, professional, and material aspirations.”

This notion is clearly unrealistic in our capitalistic, historically discriminatory society. “Fantasy” of a meritocracy is acceptable to some critics while exaggeration of realism is deplorable. Martin should be applauded for its ability to relate and reach audiences where they are just as Cosby reaches them where they want to be.

12 Means Coleman, 111 13 Means Coleman, 195 10

“Black love is in us and above us and beneath us and all around us. It has always existed. It is perhaps the only reason Black people survived in this land.” -- Lerone Bennett Jr.

What’s Black Love Got to Do With It?

A concept that is referenced in texts geared toward Blacks such as Jet or Essence magazines, “Black love” does not have a simple definition. The Cosby Show and Martin both portrayed it, but what exactly is “it”? Lerone Bennett Jr. wrote in Ebony magazine, “As a matter of historical fact, the true story of Black love–love colored by, love warmed by, love blackened by the Black experience–is the exact opposite of the traditional myth.”14 He goes on to explain that Black love grew out of African, “non-Puritan” cultures and was a “love tried by terror and bloodshed.” With a deep history rooted in slavery, family separation, culture, and community,

Black love has become a term used to represent any kind of love between a Black male and

Black female. Gina, actress Tisha Campbell, told Jet magazine that Martin portrays “Black people in love. You don't see a lot of Black people in love whether monogamous or not. They don't show Black affection. It's especially important for young people to see the balance. It's refreshing. And then we have Tommy and Tichina's relationship. So, that's more new Black love.”15

The phrase is an interesting one because there is no natural inverse. Can there be a Black love without White love or Brown love? What would White love (short of supremacy) look like?

More importantly in terms of this paper, what does Black love have to do with Martin? As I stated earlier, Martin was a show premised around “in-group” comedy and pulled from those

14 Lerone Bennett Jr., “The Roots of Black Love,” Ebony Magazine v.51, Feb 1996, 53-60 15 “Martin Lawrence & Tisha Campbell Head Cast in Third Season of 'Martin',” Jet Magazine, Dec 12, 1994 11 kinds of experiences. Written by Black men, starring Black men and women, the show portrayed ideals that they believed in and that their audience would relate to. It all comes down to experiences and enrichment through successes and struggles, but these real life struggles made viewers uneasy and critics such as Dr. Kristal Brent Zook and Bill Cosby came to resent the show.

‘It’s a man thing, Gina. It’s a man thing!’

The prevailing criticism of Martin was its misogynistic comedy. Donald Bogle, film historian, described the show as intending to “comically dramatize the rather traditional sexual/gender attitudes of a young African American male.”16 To say that Martin was dramatizing these attitudes insinuates that they existed, just in more subtle ways. Martin’s role as the chauvinist was an exaggeration of what he and the writers of the episodes felt was relatable to African American culture in the 1990s. Critics took issue with this depiction because they argued that the network seemed to be praising these ideas when they should be challenging them.

Tisha Campbell, who played Gina Waters, later sued executives of HBO for “negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”17 Episodes were written to spotlight and satirize

Martin’s “openly sexist”18 behavior toward Gina and other female characters. In the very first episode of the series, Martin is shown at work as a radio show host for a popular Detroit station.

His topic of choice is male sensitivity, being that he had the same conversation with his friends one-day prior. A female caller insists that Gina must have him “wrapped around her little finger.” After insulting the caller in normal fashion, Martin proceeds to flaunt his braggadocio on the air, disrespecting his girlfriend to a live radio audience while she listens in at work:

Let me tell you a lil’ something about my girl Gina. Gina, worships the ground I walk on. If I tell Gina to jump, she just says ‘how high?’. I tell her to watch yo’ head cuz ya going to the moon! See, Gina don’t give me all that backtalk cuz she knows she got a man that can [thrusts the air in front of his desk] deliver.

16 Donald Bogle, Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001), 416 17 Zook, 59 18 Bogle, Primetime Blues, 416 13

Later in the episode Gina confronts Martin, only to be smooth-talked into believing that it was only for his audience. Martin convinces Gina to give him the upper hand in front of his friends in exchange for his presence at one of her office parties, an unfair compromise for public embarrassment. We see Gina grab Martin’s mouth at the door as she tells him to make sure he picks her up on time while he struggles to break free. This shows who really has control in the relationship, as his friends then confirm: “Yeah, but in there she hurt you bad didn’t she?” 19

Author Kristal Brent Zook in her book Color By Fox: the Fox Network and Revolution in

Black Television, argues that ”the character of Martin certainly was romantic, clearly and unabashedly devoted to his ‘boo,’ Gina. And yet I [Zook] propose that it was precisely this romantic vision of love which served to conceal and even mitigate the show’s larger misogyny.”

I disagree with Zook’s statement, though considering Lawrence’s reputation post-Martin, I would have to agree that it may have served to mitigate his personal bouts with misogyny.

Hand in hand with misogynistic jokes and dialogue in Martin are elements of sexuality in general. Zook writes that Gina often uses sex to pacify Martin’s aggressiveness.20 Even though she is a strong, educated, successful Black businesswoman in the series, Gina often becomes acquiescent to Martin. He often whines that “it’s a man thing” and the argument quickly dissolves. Being a “man” is the rationale for a lot of the conflict between Martin and his female counterpart. His friends often share his sentiments.

Episode 4 of the first season of “Martin” revolves around issues of gender roles in terms of income. When asked their opinion, Martin and his “boys” agree that men have power when they spend money on women:

19 “Beauty and the Beast,” Martin. The Complete First Season, Martin Lawrence and Topper Carew, HBO Video, 2006, DVD 20 Zook, 54-55

Cole: “I take a woman out to the movies and to dinner? You best believe I’m expecting something back later! Gina: “That’s not right!” Martin: “Sorry baby but that’s the way it is with us men, sorry honey!” Tommy: “Well it’s not right, but money is power” Martin: “That’s right, see the moolah, is a down payment!”

While playing a question-answer game with Gina and the usual friends, Martin learns that Gina once borrowed $20 from one of his male friends, the aforementioned Cole. Martin is unable to let the issue go because he feels that Gina should have asked him instead. For him this is a serious matter, but the outlandishness of the scenario is meant to be funny for the show’s sake, and Gina and their group of friends think so too. In the middle of this passionate yet comical scenario depicting Gina forever in Cole’s sexual debt, his friends mock him, and Pam reveals that “if money is power, then you ain’t got none, because Gina makes more money than you anyway.” Martin throws a temper tantrum and kicks everyone out of his apartment. He explains that his entire persona on his radio show is about him being “the man” and that if people were to discover that his girlfriend was the breadwinner, he would be ruined. Martin displays this chauvinistic view a couple days later during an airing of his show:

Today we’re gonna talk about why men rule the household. Because men are the providers, you know what I’m saying? I mean it is something that goes way back to the caveman days. Hey, I didn’t make it up! See a man’s job back in the day was to go out and hunt a water buffalo, kill a water buffalo, and drag the water buffalo home. Not to say that the woman’s job wasn’t important. I mean, somebody had to fry it up.21

He is not only biased in his male dominant perspective (playing into the “ultimate macho man who barks a lot but has a super sensitive side” role22), but he is also projecting this viewpoint both figuratively and literally on his Detroit radio show. Once again, this clearly amusing

21 “Boyz R Us,” Martin. The Complete First Season, Martin Lawrence and Topper Carew, HBO Video, 2006, DVD 22 “Martin Lawrence & Tisha Campbell; Head Cast in Third Season of 'Martin'”. Jet. Dec 12, 1994 15

“history lesson” shows that Lawrence’s character should not be taken seriously. Him saying,

“don’t mock me Gina” is really an invitation for the studio audience and viewers at home to do just that.

After the news of Martin’s economic inferiority gets out, he attempts to save face and flaunt his cash at a restaurant with Gina. The busboy offers him a portion of the day’s tip and

Martin is thoroughly embarrassed. Again, it is Gina’s job to soothe her boyfriend’s ego while symbolically excusing her own success as a woman. Zook disagrees that this is the “strong woman” that Gina is supposed to embody, but I think she does. Being a strong woman does not have to equal challenging every single issue. That would only result in constant, pointless, unhealthy arguing and fighting between the couple. Gina decides to “play” submissive because she and all their friends know that she still has the upper hand, even if Martin thinks otherwise.

She believes in her love and relationship with Martin and knows how to preserve it.

New “Black Face”?

While not attempting to present a full historical lesson on racialized stereotypes of Black peoples throughout American history, I would like to devote these coming pages to a very brief discussion of the stereotypes that scholars have recognized within Martin and other Black sitcoms of the time. For the purpose of this paper I stick to discussion of the types Bogle, Cosby, and Zook alluded to in Martin. Such stereotypes include those of the “brutal Black buck” or savage brute, Black pimps and hustlers, and the Coon. The way that the show and others like it have been criticized in the past, it is as if a new form of Black face minstrelsy has surfaced and its name was “the Black sitcom.”

Blackface is a historical term referring to the practice of White actors and actresses cosmetically transforming their skin to dark tones so that they could portray Blacks on stage.

African Americans at the time did not have the opportunities to portray themselves nor did most audiences have any desire to see Blacks portrayed accurately. When African Americans were given opportunities to appear on film, they were “wedged into these categories,” categories of rigid stereotypes perpetuated by White actors.23 These “Loyal Toms, carefree Sambos, faithful

Mammies, grinning Coons, savage Brutes, and wide-eyed Pickaninnies roll across the screen in cartoons, feature films, popular songs, minstrel shows, advertisements, folklore, household artifacts, even children's rhymes, Marlon Riggs notes. These dehumanizing caricatures permeated popular culture from the 1820s to the Civil Rights period and implanted themselves deep in the American psyche,” as Riggs’ highly acclaimed documentary “Ethnic Notions”

23 Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films (New York: Continuum, 2003), 4. 17 vividly depicts.24 Riggs created the documentary in 1987 and it remains the seminal text on the topic of controlling images and media depictions of Blacks in American history.

The Coon (a truncating of raccoon) appears in depictions beginning in nineteenth century media including cartoons, text and music. He is representative of an object of amusement and a buffoon or jester.25 A tragic depiction, the Coon differed from other stereotypes of Mammies

(happy, fat servant women26) and Sambos (laughing, docile, content slaves) in the idea that he was not aware of his true social standing or “place” in society.27 Coons were portrayed as too dumb to know that when they attempted to speak proper English or wear fine clothing, they were actually making fools of themselves.

With the beginning of the twentieth century came new depictions of Blacks in media.

While old stereotypes were alive and still ever-present in this country, they were not much of a concern for Whites. Most of the stereotypes of Blacks at the time were harmless, that is non- threatening to Whites. With the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith came a new savage Negro. Author Donald Bogle argues that there are three “varieties” of Blacks in the film: the mulatto (a product of mixed race who is destined to fail), the “faithful souls” (subservient

Blacks), and the abovementioned brutal buck. According to Riggs, the film portrays

Emancipation as a mistake that “let loose Blacks’ wildest passions.” Black-faced Whites are seen as untamed, chasing White virgins, heightening sexual racist fears of Black men. These savage depictions regressed Blacks to an animalistic, sub-human state that increased feelings of inferiority for the race.

24 California Newsreel, “Ethnic Notions,” http://newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0026 25 Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks, 7. 26 Ethnic notions, Marlon T. Riggs and Esther Rolle, California Newsreel, 2004, DVD. 27 Ferris State University Jim Crow Museum, “The Coon Caricature,” http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/coon/ 18

“Forever Sheneneh”

These stereotypic characters find their way into Martin in satirical form in the guise of

Lawrence’s multiple personalities. Sheneneh Jenkins is one of the most mentioned in the texts that I have been studying involving the show. In the DVD commentary, Martin Lawrence says that Sheneneh was a funny character and that she was “inspired from [his] sisters and nieces and all the round-the-way girls that I’ve met.”28 Critics took issue with this character more than any other Martin character. Robin R. Means Coleman describes Sheneneh’s exaggerated physical characteristics as well as her demeanor:

Sheneneh wore outrageous outfits that were skimpy and often in bright colors and satiny material. She was busty and too possessed an enormous behind thanks to considerable padding. Her earrings were huge, her acrylic nails inches long, and her hair weave was plentiful. She was quite promiscuous. She drank 40 ounces of beer straight from the bottle…she was female, yet a brutal buck….29

The stereotype of the black buck, as defined previously, is too harsh to describe Sheneneh. Yes, she is a rough depiction of what Martin calls a “round-the-way” girl, though maybe not as rough as some may admit. It is plausible that Sheneneh’s depiction is more real to life in some urban areas more than others. Jamie Foxx in his role as Wanda on the show “In Living Color” portrayed a similar ugly, aggressive, sassy female. Both of these depictions stem from Flip

Wilson’s caricature of “Geraldine Jones.” Flip Wilson (named “TV’s first Black superstar” by

TIME magazine in 1972)30 hosted a variety show in the 1970s and pioneered the personality that

Lawrence and Foxx both imitated. Once again, Martin proves to be about respecting the culture

28 “Favorite Moments DVD Commentary,” Martin: The Complete Fourth Season. Martin Lawrence and Topper Carew, HBO Video, 2008, DVD 29 Means Coleman, 124 30 “Flip Wilson: TV’s First Black Superstar” TIME Magazine.com Archive, January 31, 1972, http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19720131,00.html 19 and history of Black comedy and not merely denigrating Blacks in the name of comedy. He lampoons existing popular culture figures as a way to continue the Black comedy tradition.

“Mama Payne”

Lawrence also plays the character of Martin Payne’s mother, Edna. The qualifications used previously to portray Sheneneh as a savage brute would undoubtedly also be used against the character Mama Payne. Mama Payne is a church-going, son-loving, “old-school” woman who never liked Gina. Her wild behavior, violent threats, and shrill voice became trademarks.

Besides the high-pitched voice and love for Martin, Mama Payne was everything that Gina was not. She worshiped her son and would literally fight for him. It was common to see her swing at someone for their comments: “Hell no. Uh-uh. Mama’s feet stay planted. Never know when I got to go two to the body and bring it to the head.” Gina fears Mama Payne and so does Martin.

Complete with full mustache and Sunday dress, Mama Payne is never without insult or holy moments (“catching the holy ghost”, or being temporarily effected by the spirit of the Lord, typical of Black Baptist church cultures). She refers to Gina as “apple-headed heffer” and “big face” and other disrespectful names, even though they are future in-laws. When together, all

Mama Payne and her friends do is gossip and insult each other. Her appearances are often highlighted by an extended scene of running, dancing, and going completely berserk over something, which results in hilarity from the studio audience. It was this over-the-top portrayal of not only a woman but also an elder and mother that critics like Dr. Zook took issue with. She wrote of the female characters: “Their interactions represent dynamic struggles over how “we” define [b]lack womanhood. Mrs. Payne, famous for “going off” in defense of her son, is arguably the most grotesque.”31

I again, respectively, disagree. Granted, I am neither a mother nor woman, so I cannot and would not say that this is not a complicated character for some viewers. If she meant

31 Zook, 57 21

“grotesque” in the damning sense of the word, then this is more of an exaggeration than the characters themselves. Lawrence designed the character to be funny, not as a true-to-life representation of any woman. Seeing otherwise is imposing one’s personal beliefs onto the media. Issues like these need to be criticized but also deserve more credit than they receive.

Sex is perhaps the most personal and intimate act that humans engage in, so when that intimacy is threatened it is a big issue. The pimp from 1970’s Blaxploitation films literally made a business of marketing sex. Blaxploitation films targeted urban audiences and portrayed Blacks in stereotypical roles. They often included glorification of violence, drugs, and sex. Pimps were always Black men who drove nice cars, wore pricey suits, and were adored by urban children, despite their deplorable occupation. This provided the perfect opportunity to take the real-life deprecating image comparable to Riggs’ stereotype and turn it on its head to show its absurdity.

Lawrence and his team of writers decided to alter the image of the pimp into a funnier, more pathetic character, a character whose antics and persona were so obviously fabricated and extreme that he did not have to speak to provoke laughter.

“Jerome’s in the house”

Jerome describes himself as the “original player.” His gaudy outfits, “family heirloom” gold tooth, rhymed speech, and Mercedes Benz gold chain are a part of the parody. Loud, flashy and offensive, Jerome always makes his presence known upon entering a scene with his most known catchphrase, “Ooh Ooh. Ooh Ooh Ooh! I say Jerome’s in the house! I say Jerome’s in the how-oo-ouse, watch your mouth!” Jerome is never featured in a scene in which females are not present. The stereotype that he personifies is used to contrast the women by making passes at them and trying to “get up in them skins.”32 Jerome is a backhanded businessman who is always involved in some shifty endeavor. In “Uptown Friday Night” he runs a casino named “Club

Shiznit,” complete with trick dice and impossible odds. Tommy, Cole, and Pam all attend the

32 “Jerome’s In the House,” Martin: The Complete First Season. Martin Lawrence and Topper Carew, HBO Video, 2006, DVD 23 opening and play into the trickery even after they discover the ploy. The episode is filled with sexist comments from Jerome. For example, when the casino is robbed by a group of women he exclaims, “Wait a minute, ain’t this a bitch? I’m getting robbed by a woman, now that’s a switch!” He feels that it is outrageous for a woman to take his money, being that it is his profession to do the opposite. When one of the robbers tells Jerome to strip down, he responds,

“I ain’t taking a damn thing off! I don’t take my gun out the holster unless I’m ready to bang bang bang!” The studio audience erupts into laughter and even a few catcalls from women.

Though scholars and critics would see this as chauvinistic and highly sexist, the immediate response from viewers is laughter. Later in the episode Jerome, Tommy, and Cole team up to get back what was stolen from them. Even in a risky situation with armed robbers, Jerome stays true to his character and pulls out his Hai Karate cologne. Once inside, Tommy’s impromptu sermon and Jerome’s flattery are enough to convert the women from robbers into an R&B trio with

Jerome as their manager.

In another episode in which Jerome is featured, the show pays tribute to the blaxploitation genre that created his character. In order to save a movie theater that is a staple in their community, Martin and his friends decide to host a “Player’s Ball,” a pageant-like event focused around the culture of “players” and pimps. The episode features famous blaxploitation actors such as Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear in “Starsky and Hutch”), Pam Grier, and Rudy Ray

Moore (known for his role as Dolomite). Jerome competes with other pimps for best “Player

Call,” “Player Strut,” and other challenges to be named “Player of the Year.”33 This can be seen as continuing the glorification of the 1970’s films, and subsequently perpetuating the same stereotypes. Robin R. Means Coleman echoed this criticism of the episode: “Martin…with its

33 “All the Players Came,” Martin: The Complete Third Season. Martin Lawrence and Topper Carew, HBO Video, 2007, DVD 24 street schtick and fascination with lawlessness, began a troubling trend. I argue that this was neither the motive nor the outcome of the episode. To pay homage to actors and actresses of an era is different from imitating the era itself. Those black actors and actresses of the 70’s, just like the Stepin Fetchits and Louise Beavers of the twentieth century, were struggling in an industry not designed for them. They had to take roles such as these to survive and in hopes of one day breaking racial barriers. Hattie McDaniel, Academy Award winning actress in Gone With the

Wind, said it best, “I can either play a maid for $200 or be a real one for $21.”34 Lawrence and the writers recognized these efforts and comedically roasted people that they respected.

34 Littleton, 39 25

Social Commentary

So far I have written a lot about Martin Lawrence and the cast of the series and how they fit into the larger discussion of social issues, but I have not mentioned an important individual in the making of the show: Topper Carew. Carew served as the executive producer, co-creator, and co-writer for Martin. A student of black comedy at a young age, Carew became aware of comedians such Moms Mabley and Amos and Andy, asserting that, “Who they were was a part of the life that I lived, not a historical thesis.” Carew, an independent producer and participant in the Civil Rights Movement, wrote with Lawrence to infuse his own history and experiences as a

Black male in Roxbury, Boston, with those of Lawrence’s life and comedy. As a social commentary on urban life, Carew and Martin balances humor with real issues, forcing his audience to “drill down a little deeper into their own thinking about issues.” 35

A reoccurring example of this is the issue of class stratification. From a sociological perspective, class stratification is the hierarchical system in society in which there are levels (or classes) that have dissimilar access to resources and power. Some sociologists argue that, in theory, individuals are able to become socially mobile, moving from one social class to another.36 In practice, however, this is rarely the case. Set in Detroit, Michigan, the series Martin does not shy away from the issue of poverty. It portrays the city as it was in the 1990s. Though the population was 76% Black,37 poverty rates had decreased from previous decades by 26%.38

35 Nick Zaino, “Topper Carew On Why We Laugh,” Boston Comedy Blog, http://bostoncomedy.blogspot.com, August 2, 2009 36 James Farganis, Sociological Theory: 7th Edition (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008), 126 37 “Detroit, Michigan Demographic of the 1990s,” US Census, http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/MItab.pdf 38 Kurt Metzger, “Poverty in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit: An Analysis of Census 2000,” Center for Urban Studies, www.cus.wayne.edu/content/publications/Working_Paper9.pdf 26

Had the show been set during the Detroit of the 70s and 80s, the narrative likely would have been very different.

Class stratification is visible within Martin’s circle of friends. As a radio personality,

Martin is by no means wealthy. There are instances, however, in which he has enough money to be frivolous, buying expensive electronics and clothing. Gina, on the other hand, comes from a middle class Black family and also works for a prominent Public Relations firm in the city with her friend Pamela James. Martin’s friend Cole works at the local airport cleaning planes while

Tommy Strawn’s occupation is often speculated but never confirmed. Work is a common theme of jokes in the series but there is rarely conflict because of it. An example of such conflict can be seen in the “I’ve Got Work To Do” episode of season three. Martin returned from a self- searching quest and no longer had his job at the radio station so he needed work. The episode’s focus is on Martin’s initial refusal to be proactive in his job search and the antics that ensue when he cycles through odd jobs that do not meet his high standards. There is a stigma attached to the unemployment office. Instead of being the place of assistance for the jobless, it is a shameful

“last resort” that Martin does not believe he needs. This show highly exaggerates the setting to make it funny (there is a character credited as “Angry Man” whose only line is telling Martin to sit down), though they know that unemployment is no joke. In the end, Martin realizes that he needs help and that his pride should not get in the way of him finding employment. It shows viewers that seeking help does not have to be a devastating experience and will pay off.

Another issue that Martin tackles that touches on social status as well as race specific concerns is that of citizenship and immigration. The building where Martin and Gina live is run by Luis, an Hispanic superintendent who never fixes anything. When Luis learns that he is being deported for not having a green card, he comes up with a scheme to marry Pam so that he can 27 stay in the country. In 1986, Congress created the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The Act made it illegal for employers to hire immigrants who were not United States citizens. Ten years later, the same year the episode aired, legislation was reformed to include procedures for removal of United States aliens falsely claiming citizenship.39 Lawrence and his writers shed some light on this issue without preaching to their audience. The episode showed that this issue was not a problem for “them” but it could affect people that you know and interact with everyday.

Martin, and successful Black sitcoms collectively, were edgy and risky shows to air on network television. The brash nature of the shows and some of the strong opinions were sometimes too real. Censorship is one of the biggest issues that comedians have to face when their jokes are too “blue” for some audiences, meaning profane or risqué in content.40 Martin was a smart enough show to walk the thin line of what was acceptable and what was not, often by disguising social commentary under the veil of Black comedy.

Some of this knowledge came from past experiences. In 1994, two years into the series,

Lawrence appeared as a guest host on Saturday Night Live. During the traditional monologue,

Lawrence went into an unapproved and unplanned stand-up skit that graphically referenced the incident of penis severing by Lorena on John Bobbit,

I feel for him. Cuz she took his thang man, you know what I'm saying? He can't do this (mimes intercourse). He ain't ever gonna really be able to do this. You know, if you can't do this in your life something’s missin'. You know what I'm saying? And the lady cut it off, man, and cut it off while he was asleep and he ain't even know it was gone. He was asleep, just chillin', you know, rubbing, having one of them dreams, (mimes sleeping man feeling for penis) and woke up and wasn't nothin' there…

39 104th Congress, “Pub. L. 104-208, Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996,” U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services,” Sept. 30, 1996, http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ilink/?vgnextchannel=fa7e539dc4bed010VgnVCM100000 0ecd190aRCRD&SC=/ilink/docView/PUBLAW/HTML/PUBLAW/0-0-0-10948.html 40 “Blue” defintion, Merriam Webster Dictionary online, http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/blue 28 and about feminine hygiene,

Smell yourself! I tell a woman in a minute, douche! douche! Some women don't like when you tell them that, when you straightforward with them. "Douche!" They [say], (imitating woman) "Forget you! You cannot douche all the time, you're gonna wash all the natural juices out the body." I say, well, I don’t give a damn what you do, put a Tic-Tac in your ass. Put a Cert in your ass.41

Even though Lawrence told the audience that he hoped the kids were in bed, a warning that his jokes were going to be for a mature audience, those in charge of Saturday Night Live were not laughing. Lawrence was banned from the show and in future airings his monologue was replaced with commentary about its censorship. Bouts like these furthered Lawrence’s bad boy image, but they also helped him learn how to be more creative about the ways in which he presented controversial material.

41 “Martin Lawrence SNL Monologue: What Happened That Night?!,” DVD Talk Forum SNL transcript, June 2003, http://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/300373-martin-lawrence-snl- monologue-what-happened-night.html 29

Pause for audience reaction…

In order to test my thesis that Martin was not the sexist misogynistic show that many critics said it was, I held a screening of several episodes here at Skidmore College to document more contemporary responses from my peers. The screening and responses do constitute a scientifically organized study, and I do not intend to present my findings in that way. After posting basic flyers for a “Martin TV show screening” around campus without specifying my motives, I found an audience of eight Skidmore students. The flyers only specified the subject

(Martin episodes), the location and time, and my contact information, along with screenshots from the series. The participants were diverse in the following ways:

We met in a classroom one night and watched three full episodes. Before starting the footage, I presented each participant with a brief questionnaire found in Appendix A. The questionnaire required answers to preliminary questions (found in the charts above) as well as guided questions on the reverse side that they were not allowed to view until after the showing. These questions were about “controversial elements” and self-consciousness with respect to laughing at the material, so I did not want them to have biased thoughts before viewing the episodes, especially since three out of the eight had never seen the show. The results were as I predicted.

Those who had seen the show prior to the screening recognized controversial elements but also stated that they knew not to take them so seriously. One participant, a white male who had never seen the show before that night, said that he found the stereotypes about men and the character of Sheneneh to be funny. This would be problematic if he had not acknowledged the fact that they were “stereotypes.” Regardless of his opinions of the depictions, he recognized the intentionality. The other two in the group who had not seen the show before, both female, did find the depiction of Sheneneh and some of the sexist language to be offensive or problematic:

I really didn’t like the character [Sheneneh]. I thought that the extent to which her character was an exaggeration wasn’t funny. The nails, the rings, the weave, the clothes, the ass—it was too much and I didn’t really find it all that funny.42

Sheneneh is out of control…a highly exaggerated character who provides a certain level of humor.43

Black women are portrayed as overly aggressive again.44

Sex and sexism, as I noted previously, are important concepts when discussing Martin because much of the criticism against it (Zook, Bogle, Means Coleman) cites misogyny and sexist language more than racial degradation. As a “Black” sitcom, Martin is more often criticized for

42 Appendix A- 7 43 Appendix A- 2a 44 Appendix A- 1 31 issues that do not reflect directly on racial issues. Reactions are relative, meaning that individuals will react to elements that directly relate to them (e.g. women responding to misogyny, Blacks recognizing racism, etc.) Sex, gender, nationality, experience, regional differences, and a list of other characteristics are also important in shaping how people react to cues in the media.

Experience was especially important, because in the case of Martin and other black sitcoms of the 1990s, it was this familiarity that made them work.

A reoccurring reaction by a few of the participants who had never watched the series was that they were not familiar with the jokes, therefore they did not laugh at them. They lacked the background knowledge regarding a few of the jokes so they did not register as funny to them personally. For example, not knowing the running joke that Tommy’s occupation is so mysterious that his friends do not believe he is employed, could prohibit an individual from laughing when a cast member says, “You ain’t got no job, man!” The way sitcoms are structured is around an idea of nearly continual comedy. Viewers are presented with humorous material intertwined with a plot line, so that in-between the jokes there is an opportunity to come up for air while they prep for another joke. That way, if viewers do miss the punch line of a joke, they will hopefully catch the next before interest is lost. I could not control the way any of the individuals heard or processed the jokes. Nonetheless, according to my data, more individuals reported that they “got” (understood) the majority of the comedy than did not, and both groups fell into predictable categories (those in-group and those not).

The Black Experience

“…laughter has always been a big part of our journey and struggle through adversity.”45 – Topper Carew

Martin also served as an underplayed history pop-culture lesson for its younger viewers.

A lot of the jokes came from the tradition of “playing the dozens,” a practice dating back to courtship during slavery that involves “verbal adeptness at using rhymes, put-downs and comedic forms of jest.”46 Beyond the contemporary jokes of the 1990s, a few of the jokes and their references were as follows:

• “I fly all the way here with Harold Muppet and the Blue Notes, and I still can't get out of this marriage.” – This is a play on the 70s R&B group “Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes” blended with a character from the Muppets television show named “Harold Muppet” • “Pam, your hair is so nappy Wilson couldn't pick it!” – Wilson Picket was a rock and roll, soul singer from the 60s and 70s. Lawrence fuses his name with a joke about a comb used in thick textured hair, an afro pick • “Radio!” (Martin throws a trashcan against the window and it bounces off) “Looked fly when Spike Lee did it in the movie” – This is a reference to the film “Do The Right Thing” in which Spike Lee’s character Mookie threw a garbage can throw the window of a pizzeria because of the events that occurred, resulting in his friend’s death at the hands of the police

These examples may seem like trivial references to some, but during the 1990s as I child I remember asking my mother who these people were and researching some obscure references that were made. Often sitcoms and other television shows rely on time-sensitive popular culture references, meaning only headlining issues of the time that would provoke a quick response from the audience. Black sitcoms had the ability to go back a few decades for references to music like

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, television like the Muppets and Sesame Street (which was

45 Nick Zaino, “Topper Carew On Why We Laugh,” Boston Comedy Blog, http://bostoncomedy.blogspot.com, August 2, 2009 46 K. Sue Jewell, From mammy to Miss America and beyond: Cultural images and the shaping of U.S social policy (New York: Routledge, 1993), 61 33 geared toward ‘multi-racial’ and ‘multi-ethnic’ youth in the late 60s47), and other things that would still be fresh in the minds of Black audiences. And because families were the targets, the references and history was shared and passed on to a new generation. They forced viewers to think while laughing and opened them up to new topics and ideas without being heavy-handed and dramatic. “In-group” comedy allows viewers to see exaggerated images of themselves and laugh. They recognize the absurdity and therefore take their own lives less seriously, if only for the length of an episode. Martin was successful for five seasons because audiences could relate.

Everyone could say they knew a Sheneneh, a Gina, maybe even a Jerome. Being comfortable laughing at these ideas in a show means that you are comfortable with yourself and those in your immediate environment.

The issue with this is that there is sometimes a problem of being too comfortable or familiar with these depictions. Martin Lawrence could attest to that. Trouble found him as the misogynistic and sexist persona that he played on television became the persona that he lived in the real world. Now a very much public record, Lawrence had a lawsuit filed against him by on screen girlfriend, Tisha Campbell, for “repeated and escalating sexual harassment, sexual battery, verbal abuse, and related threats to her physical safety.”48 Campbell said that since the first season she had shunned his interests, and that the next season he “became increasingly manic and volatile.” Lawrence denied all claims and Campbell quit the show. During the fifth and final season, Lawrence was restricted from being on the set at the same time as Campbell.49

Things continued to go downhill for Lawrence. Stroke, arrests, divorce; it was as if his life was a

47 Melissa Rentería, “'Sesame Street' celebrates 40 years of learning,” SA Cultura (Nov. 2009), http://www.sacultura.com/Sesame_Street_celebrates_40_years_of_learning.html 48 Zook, 59 49 Steven Lang, “Disorderly Conduct,” PEOPLE magazine (May 12, 1997), http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20122118,00.html, 195- 196 34 tragic television show. This only fueled the negative critiques of his work and tarnished his career and the reputation of the sitcom.

If all of this had been Lawrence living out his life on set and not planned, stylized depictions of Black America, then what were we laughing at? Are our minds that twisted that it really was not comical at all, and we only laughed because we find our own denigration and pain funny? The answer is no. It just means that it was funny. The show had good writers, a great cast, and good direction. Lawrence’s personal problems did not last the life of the show so while he may be blamed for its failures, he cannot be blamed for its success.

There is no deep scientific explanation for why people laugh at the things they do. Every culture is slightly different in that aspect of human nature. What has proven true is that as a shared community, we do not need to have one particular comedic taste. “Target audiences” never prove to be homogonous in terms of who is actually attracted to the material. So what is described as a Black audience, simply refers to the majority. Laughing is a universal language, and Black sitcoms have the software to decode it.

Conclusion

Martin showed viewers that it is ok to laugh at stereotypic images on television as long as you recognize the satire. Laughing can render such stereotypes powerless as controlling images.

The show was successful because for a half-hour audiences were allowed to see these images as comical; to acknowledge the history while also looking toward a future where these caricatures will not exist. It is hard to say whether or not this show would work in today’s programming scheme because there is no other Martin Lawrence. His personal experiences and ideals, as well as those of his fellow writers, are what developed the show into what it was. The environment of the 1990s was drastically different than this post-millennium American society. A Black sitcom in general today would not be held to the same standards nor would it would contain the same elements of comedy, romance, or social commentary.

This show was uniquely American because of these complex narratives that I have discussed throughout this text. Shows reach syndication in countries around the world, but they are still identifiable as purely American in every way. Not only is Martin a snapshot of the

United States from 1992 through 1997, but it a snapshot of Black American narratives historically as well as today.

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Appendix A