Did ya miss me?
For those of us old enough to remember Martin (or caught up through reruns), that phrase is etched into our pop culture vocabulary. During a memorable two-episode run called “Hollywood Swingin’,” in the popular Fox show’s second season, In Living Color alum Tommy Davidson starred as talk-show host Varnell Hill who was in town as a guest on Martin’s local Detroit-area radio show on WZUP and would use “Did ya miss me?” as his famous catchphrase.
Feeling one-upped on his own show and sarcastically promised a guest appearance of his own, Martin would then fly out to L.A. to check out The Varnell Hill Show live and ultimately finessed his way on the show by hilariously crashing a Jodeci performance.
Well, Deadline is reporting that BET+ is ordering a series around the character 32 years later, centered around Davidson and his film crew as they go about making a late-night talk show. Varnell Hill will be a direct spin-off of that very character and it was created and executive produced by Martin Lawrence and Bentley Evans, who himself had a memorable character on Martin, which he recently talked about on the Holdin’ Court Podcast. Evans will also serve as the showrunner as he once did on Martin and The Jamie Foxx Show. He also wrote the pilot and will direct episodes.
In a statement, Davidson seemed excited to bring this character to life once again saying: “Did you miss me? Well, now you don’t have to! I’m excited and honored to be a part of such a creative project with the brilliant mind of Martin Lawrence, over 30 years in the making. Fans have requested it and now it’s coming to BET+!”
Martin premiered in 1992 and aired for five seasons, helping launch Lawrence’s movie career as a certified box-office draw.
We wonder if the catfish in Lake Varnell are still as delicious as they were back in ’93.
