I don’t know what Martin Lawrence was going through, but he had me seriously reflecting whether or not he deserved my 25 years of fandom after that mess he made me suffer through Friday at Chaifetz Arena. Somebody asked me what I thought of the show and I had to steal a line from Bernie in “Waiting To Exhale”… and say “it was like watching paint dry.” I guess maybe he thought since we enjoy the “Martin” TV show reruns so much that we wouldn’t mind a stand up repeat. He was dead wrong. The set was so verbatim that I started to think the Chaifetz Arena had been turned into a portal that warped me back to 2011 when he told ALL those jokes the last time he came to town. Seriously, I gave him the same side eye as when I watched Melania Trump try it with her First Lady Michelle Obama copycat mission. In all fairness to Martin, plagiarizing yourself is not nearly as bad as what Melania did. I knew what I was in for when he talked about hearing “I Ain’t Never Scared” in the club. I was like “the last time I heard Bone Crusher at the club, I was at the Monastery.” And it went from bad to worse to sad. There’s really nothing safe enough for me to recite to let you know, but take my word for it. That being said, even in the midst of mess I have a few items of good news to report. The first is that Martin still looked good. Secondly, St. Louis didn’t boo or get belligerent when he didn’t deliver– which we are known to do when it comes to comedy shows. Lastly, it was quick. Just as I had settled in to how awful it was, the show was over. People didn’t quite know it at first. He was like “I love you St. Louis” and they were like “we love you too…wait, was that it?” I knew the general consensus was that people were unbothered by the show because instead of booing at the abrupt early finish, folks were like “well, that was quick.” Indeed it was. I was out of there in time to catch Sisqo and ‘nem pour their soul into “The Thong Song.” I do want to shout out Melanie Camarcho for making my face her with her filthy hilarious set. And congratulate Jovan Bibbs on what must have been fulfilling a life dream by opening for one of his comedy idols.
