The Varnell Hill Show chronicles the ups and downs of late-night television host Varnell Hill, played by Tommy Davidson, who was, back in the day, Martin’s professional rival on the nineties hit series, Martin. But there’s something a little more heartwarming at the driving force of this new incarnation: friendship.
“The thing I love about Martin the most is that though it may seem like he’s got a harder side to him, he’s really an emotional person,” Davidson told EBONY at a buzzy mixer by Scene & Heard, where Paramount+ screened the series’ first episode.
“To be able to come back together all these years later and take what we’ve learned to put into one vehicle, that’s real success to me.”
Davidson mentioned that he and Lawrence shared a close mutual friend, the late Robin Harris. He mentored the two comedians as they earned their stripes at the Comedy Act Theater in the late ’80s and early ’90s. When Harris suddenly passed in 1990, Davidson was the first person Lawrence called. That unbreakable bond has led them to this very moment.
“Tommy would come over [to] my house, and my mother would cook for him, and when I moved, he helped me put my furniture on top of the car and get it down the freeway,” Lawrence told EBONY, with a chuckle. “We’ve just always been there for each other.”
That spirit of camaraderie extends beyond its onscreen talent. The show’s co-creators Sherri McGee McCovey, Bentley Kyle Evans and Kevin G. Boyd all grew up together in View Park and Baldwin Hills, two historically black neighborhoods in south Los Angeles.
“[Kevin] and I sold the show in March 2020, two days before the world shut down. In the interim [between then and now], Bentley came aboard and got it over the finish line,” McGee McCovery said. “ To work on this with people that I’ve grown up with in this business, it just feels like a full circle moment.”
Evans also has a long-standing relationship with Lawrence; the two worked together extensively on Martin, with Evans serving as a writer, producer and showrunner. They even co-wrote Lawrence’s cult classic feature film A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, and they’ve remained supportive of each other over the years. For Evans, coming on board for this spin-off was a no-brainer.
“I probably learned 60%-70% of what I know about comedy from Martin Lawrence,” he told EBONY earlier this summer while discussing his upcoming aspireTV+ sitcom New State of Mind.
“He was so instrumental in my growth as a comedy writer, and I was able to rise to the top of that food chain because he allowed me to be who I was, and he also protected me. I’m glad we’re still in sync.”
The Varnell Hill Show streams on Paramount+, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday.