-Thank you, Jimmy, for having me, man.
-It's so good to see you. Come on, you got --
you were kind of grooving over there when we came in.
-Yeah. -Just a little --
-Every now and then I got to give you a funky move.
You know, and The Roots, you know, they do their thing.
You know. -God, you got to.
Exactly, right. Come on. [ Cheers and applause ]
You had some like kind of boxing moves in there.
Are you -- -Oh, yeah.
Were you ever a boxer? -Yeah, when I was young,
I was a runner-up in Golden Gloves,
and I was a AAU champion.
-Were you really? -Yeah.
-Wow, before a comedian you wanted to be a boxer?
-Yeah, I could do work with these things, man.
-Yeah. -Oh, yeah.
-Did you have a go-to move, like a good knockout?
-Well, you know, you got the jab, right?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Let me stand up and show you.
You got the jab. [ Cheers ]
Then you got the right hand. -Uh-huh.
-And then you got the hook. -Ooh.
-All right, your hook -- you got to turn that --
you know, turn with it.
So, then when you put it all --
when you put it all together, you -- pow, pow, boom.
-Boom. -See that?
See that? Pow, pow, boom.
-See, I almost walked out and then you wah, wah, woom.
-Bop. That's it. -Ooh, that's when I walked away.
-That's the combo. That's the combo. One, two, three.
-'Cause you fake them out? You fake them out.
You go like --- you go like, "Hey, like, what's up?
How you doing?" [ Laughter ]
And then you're, like bop, go home.
-There you go. Hey, what's up? How you doing?
-Go home. -Go home.
-Yeah, that's it. Yeah. -There you go.
-That's the way to do it. That's the move, man.
I can tell.
But you stopped boxing. Why? Why?
-'Cause I got my eye swollen.
[ Laughter ] -Just a couple black eyes?
-I came home and I had a big eye, and my mother said,
"That's it. No more for you."
And I've been doing comedy ever since.
-Thank goodness. [ Cheers and applause ]
Thank goodness.
You ended up moving to New York City, right?
-Mm-hmm. -To do standup and you worked --
Did you work for Sears telemarketing?
-Sears and Roebuck. Yes, I was a T.S.R.,
telephone sales representative.
-How was that?
-We used to sell maintenance agreements.
-Wow. -So, when you buy new
appliances, we sell warranties
and stuff over the phone, and I never sold none.
[ Laughter ]
-No, you never -- -No.
-You just call and you go, "Hi, are you interested in the --"
-Yeah, that's exactly what I would say --
-Click. -And they would go, click.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, hang up.
But you had some very interesting people
working in the cubicle next to you that were also struggling.
-Yes, Salt-N-Pepa.
-Salt-N-Pepa was next to you in the cubicle at Sears.
-And that was cool 'cause I used to mess with them every day,
wouldn't let them get their work done.
I was always flirting and everything.
-Really? -Yeah.
-Just making them laugh and just doing stuff and doing bits?
That's wild. I heard that they asked you
to open for them for their first giant New York gig.
-Yes. -And you did it, right?
-It was a show at somewhere, I think at the Inferno
or something, and I was supposed to open for them,
and I got there early.
They weren't there yet.
So they put me downstairs to wait for them,
and they came and did the show, and I didn't know,
'cause I fell asleep downstairs.
[ Laughter ]
So when I woke up, I ran upstairs, they were leaving.
The limo was leaving. I was like,
"Oh, there goes my chance."
-Wow. That was -- really?
-Yeah. -Well, thank goodness
it all turned out great 'cause you ended up making one of
the funniest TV shows of all time, "Martin."
-Oh. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Which we love.
I mean, on top of that, your standup as well, but I mean,
"Martin" -- this is just some of the characters you did
on "Martin," and I loved --
-Yeah. -There's Romey Rome,
there's Sheneneh, Roscoe -- -Yeah.
-Dragon Fly Jones.
Are these based on real people or just you came up with
just in your head? -I would say Sheneneh is.
Sheneneh, I would say, I kind of based off my nieces,
and my sisters and stuff.
Did the attitude.
The, you know, "Oh, my goodness. Oh, yeah."
They don't take no stuff, you know?
"Oh, my goodness. Get out of my face.
I ain't taking no stuff. I ain't taking no stuff."
You know, that attitude. That whole, you know.
-Oh, my gosh. Did you know it was going to take off
and that you know, people would be still talking about it now?
-I wanted it to. That's why I did all these characters.
I was trying to do everything I could to make the show work.
I knew I only had one shot at it
and that's what I did to try to make it work.
-'Cause so many -- you did it and you hit it.
[ Applause ] That was the boom.
That was the knockout. -Yeah.
Pow! -Pow. Exactly, yeah.
LeBron James is a big fan of yours as well,
and I think -- well, he teamed up with Nike --
was it for his birthday, I want to say?
-For my birthday. -For your birthday?
-Yes. -They made Martin sneakers.
-Yeah. That was cool, right?
-Look at this, we got them.
[ Audience woos ]
Questlove -- Quest, you've never seen these?
-No.
-All of your catch phrases on the back.
I mean, how awesome is this? Are you kidding me?
-That's cold, man. I was blown away, man.
I was blown away. -That is fantastic.
And did you wear them? Do you ever wear them?
-Uh, yeah. I wore the size that could fit me, obviously.
These -- [ Laughter ]
These must be LeBron's. [ Laughter ]
-Like for Shaq, yeah.
-But, yeah, I did wear them one time.
-It's just -- how cool is that?
I just love any of the people that respect you like that,
'cause I mean, to get your own pair of Nikes from
the greatest basketball player living right now.
-Yes. -That's pretty cool right there.
-Yes, it is. -And then, I don't know if you
saw this, but there was an interview with Kendrick Lamar.
-Mm-hmm. -Who is, I think one of
the best rappers out there. -Most definitely.
-And he started talking about you.
-Mm-hmm. -And it was a really
funny interview, and he starts talking about your show,
and the interviewer doesn't recall --
doesn't know your show. [ Laughter ]
And he walks out of the interview.
[ Laughter ]
It's really funny, and we have a clip of it.
Could we show it? It's Kendrick Lamar. Watch this.
-I go back and watch "Martin."
-Wait, what did you say? -Watch "Martin."
Episodes of "Martin." -What's "Martin?"
-And Fruity Pebbles. -"Martin." "Martin."
♪ Martin Lawrence Martin ♪
-Oh, I'm not aware, but I know Fruity Pebbles.
-Oh --
-Oh [bleep].
[ Laughter ]
-"I know Fruity Pebbles."
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, that's the end --
that's the end of her career.
-That's it right there, yep. But, isn't that fun, though?
You have kids coming up to you now,
like doing all your catch phrases and --
-It's cool, man. It's cool. I love it, and I'm just glad.
I'm blessed. I'm very thankful.