Veteran comic, film star headlines Strip after 8-year break

When you return from an eight-year break from performing stand-up, headlining a 5,000-seat theater is not your first show. Not if you’re Martin Lawrence.

The film star and veteran comic plays Resorts World Theatre at 9 p.m. Saturday night in “Y’all Still Know What It Is” tour. Lawrence kicked off this series in 2024, his first extended tour since his 2016 “Doin’ Time: Uncut Live.”

Lawrence again appeared as a club comic, before he stepped on a theater stage or at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey, for his co-headlining show with Chris Rock and Cyrus Ruck.

“I go up to the Comedy Store, and I work out in the comedy club, for a the small audience,” Lawrence says during a phone chat from L.A. “I make sure it’s good enough to take to a big audience. Then I take it out.” That material is adult. This is an 18-over experience.

Lawrence is the first comedian to headline Resorts World Theatre since the venue was renovated over the summer to allow a standing GA section. His show will be totally seated (country star Riley Green will be the room’s first “GA” headliner Dec. 12).

Because of theater’s size, Lawrence’s show is taking on a multimedia feel.

“You have to project, and you have to be broader so you can reach people in the back,” Lawrence says. “That’s why we have film and footage, using the screens, so people can see my facial expressions and body language. That’s a big part of my comedy.”

So is raunchy material. The show is 18-over. Standout comic Loni Love is special guest.

The 60-year-old Lawrence is a veteran of three decades of sell-out shows, his most recent Vegas engagement in 2016 at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan. He was a trailblazer with “Def Comedy Jam” in the early ’90s. His “Martin” sitcom was an early success story at Fox. He’s swapped lines and action scenes with Will Smith in the “Bad Boys” film franchise, and starred in the “Big Momma’s House” series. He was cast with Eddie Murphy in “Life,” and with Luke Wilson and Dave Chappelle in “Blue Streak.”

Lawrence says he plans to return to film work, eventually. He calls sitcom acting “a grind,” but also says, “We have some television projects coming for you, a spin-off of the ‘Martin’ show, ‘Varnell Hill,’ starring Tommy Davidson. I’ll be on three of those episodes.”

Davidson made the announcement on social media with the character’s famous line, “Did you miss me?” No release date has been announced for the project, which is set behind the scenes of the long-running talk-show, “The Varnell Hill Show,” with eight episodes coming to BET+.

Even as he plugs the new sitcom, Lawrence is energized in front of a live audience.

“It feels so great, just the love that all the people give me, the fans give me,” the comic actor says.”They just want to laugh. We know we’re in hard times, you know. And you know, people just want to laugh, and they spend their hard earned money, they save up and everything, just to come out and have a good time. That’s just what I want to deliver to them.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.