Martin Lawrence is playing Martin Payne again. He returns in a recurring role on “The Varnell Hill Show,” the “Martin” spinoff premiering September 1 on Paramount+, which released the premiere date and first look photos this week. He is also an executive producer and co-creator of the series.Tommy Davidson leads it as Varnell Hill, the flashy late night talk show host he first played as a guest star on “Martin” in the nineties. If you need the refresher, Varnell was Martin Payne’s rival, the smoothest man in any room he walked into and absolutely certain of it, and he was one of the characters people quoted for decades after the show went off the air. Martin ran five seasons from 1992 to 1997 with Lawrence as a Detroit radio DJ, and it has never really left rotation since.
The new show is a half hour multi-camera workplace comedy set behind the scenes of Varnell’s own long running late night program. The premise is aging star versus changing industry. He is fighting to stay relevant while network executives push him to modernize the format, the writers room runs on chaos, celebrity guests come through, family drama shows up, and his ego stays exactly the size it always was. The official line from producers is that keeping a television empire together turns out to be harder than building one.Eight episodes make up the first season. Two drop on September 1, then one new episode every Tuesday through the finale on October 13.The cast around Davidson is deep. Kym Whitley plays Kim Jones, described as Varnell’s longtime assistant, emotional bodyguard, professional fixer and the talk show’s unofficial executive producer, which is a job description that tells you everything about what her scenes are going to look like. Wendy Raquel Robinson plays Rachel Perkins. Neil Brown Jr. plays Thad, Mina Quarterman plays Courtney, and Tim Chantarangsu plays George. Guest stars this season include Mike Epps, Deon Cole, Omarion, Ms. Pat and Damon Wayans.Behind the camera it is a “Martin” family reunion. Bentley Kyle Evans, who was an executive producer and showrunner on the original series, co-created this one with Lawrence, wrote the pilot, directs, and serves as showrunner. Production runs through Bentley Evans Productions, Jesse Collins Entertainment and Lawrence’s Runteldat Entertainment, with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon, Andy Horne, Stacy Lyles, Robert Lawrence and Rae Proctor also producing.One thing that changed since the show was first announced: it is not on BET+ anymore. BET+ ordered the series originally, back when Davidson said in the announcement that fans had requested it and it was finally coming. With BET+ being phased out, its slate migrated to Paramount+, which is where the show now lands. Same show, same team, different streamer.Davidson had said the project was over 30 years in the making. Given how long people have been asking Lawrence for anything from that universe, the number tracks.
