How Martin Lawrence Responded to Paving the Way for Tyler Perry
Comedian Martin Lawrence has played several iconic characters in movies like the Bad Boy franchise and his own sitcom Martin. But one of his most famous roles seemed to remind fans of a character Tyler Perry made popular.
Martin Lawrence once commented on ‘paving the way’ for Tyler Perry
Of all of Lawrence’s characters, his Big Momma’s House role might be one of his most well-known. In the 2000 feature and its sequel, Lawrence played an FBI agent who disguised himself as an old woman to capture a criminal. Over the years, a very similar character in Tyler Perry’s Madea emerged. Like Lawrence’s Big Momma’s role, Perry played a woman in her twilight years who taught life lessons to the younger generation.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Perry once explained that his Madea character was inspired by his own family members.
“Madea is a cross between my mother and my aunt,” Perry explained. “She’s the type of grandmother that was on every corner when I was growing up. She smoked. She walked out of the house with her curlers and her muumuu, and she watched everybody’s kids. She didn’t take no crap.”
Still, others easily made the connection between Madea and Lawrence’s Big Momma character. Speaking with Today in 2008, he once commented on whether his Big Momma’s House movies made it easier for Madea to exist.
“Somebody paved the way for me,” Lawrence said. “Eddie and his Nutty Professor characters paved the way for me to be able to do what I’ve done, so anything that I’ve done that has allowed anybody else — Tyler or anybody — to come after me and take it and make it work for them and run with it, do your thing. God bless you.”
Martin Lawrence and Tyler Perry talked about crossing Madea over into ‘Big Momma’s House’
Both Lawrence and Perry seemed to have retired these respective characters for good. The last Big Momma’s movie was Like Father, Like Son starring Brandon T. Jackson in 2011. Perry initially exited his Madea role back in 2019. However, he brought her back in 2022 for the movie Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Perry asserted that bringing Madea back was a response to the state of the world.
“I was looking at the state of the world and how polarized it is… nobody’s laughing,” Perry said. “Nobody’s getting the chance to belly-laugh anymore. And I’m like, ‘What tool do I have in my arsenal that can bring that kind of laughter?'”
It seemed at one point that another Big Momma’s House might not have been off the table. And there was brief talks about Perry and Lawrence having a come over, but nothing came from the discussion.
“We’ve had dinner before together, but we didn’t talk about it. I think Tyler did tell me one time that he would love to make an appearance in Big Momma. They would have to team up on other people together. We wouldn’t have them fight,” he said.
What Martin Lawrence didn’t look forward to when it came to ‘Big Momma’s House’
Lawrence was used to putting on dresses to play the titular character. But the Martin star had to endure a lot of make-up to get into the role. And he wasn’t a fan.
“I can’t say that I look forward to getting into it, but it’s my job. It’s what I do. When it used to take three hours, that used to just drive me crazy. But we have a good make-up guy who got it down to an hour and a half. So, every morning, I was able to just calm myself and go through the process. But, when it took three hours, I just wanted to lose it.”
