{"id":1036622,"date":"2026-09-01T09:01:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036622\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:01:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:01:18","slug":"the-varnell-hill-show-review-tommy-davidsons-martin-character-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036622\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Varnell Hill Show’ review: Tommy Davidson’s ‘Martin’ character returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tommy Davidson, the comedian,<\/a> is starring in a new multicamera situation comedy, \u201cThe Varnell Hill Show,\u201d premiering Tuesday on Paramount+. It\u2019s the latest attempt by a streaming network to colonize a form virtually synonymous with broadcast television, with a shorter season and more (though not too many) bad words.<\/p>\n

Indeed, its roots are in 20th century network TV. The series has sprung, somewhat unusually, from Davidson\u2019s guest role in a 33-year-old two-episode arc on Martin Lawrence\u2019s Fox sitcom, \u201cMartin.\u201d \u201cHollywood Swinging,\u201d Part 1and 2, saw Martin, in the spirit of Lucille Ball, trying to boost his own show business career by shoehorning himself into an appearance on the fictional \u201cVarnell Hill Show,\u201d with Davidson playing an egotistical echo of 1990s Arsenio Hall, clad in a neon yellow jacket (with shoulder pads) and orange shirt.<\/p>\n

The shirt and jacket are still there at the beginning of this new \u201cThe Varnell Hill Show\u201d (the series and the identically titled show within the show), along with the character\u2019s catch phrase, \u201cDid ya miss me?\u201d \u2014 but not for long. Most sitcoms (most series?) begin with a moment of change \u2014 a new job, a new town, a homeless parent or unsuspected child showing up on the door. But change is pretty much the whole point of \u201cVarnell Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

After three unexplicated decades, Varnell \u2014 self-described \u201ceight-time Soul Train Award \u2026 presenter\u201d \u2014 is not riding quite as high as he was on \u201cMartin.\u201d His show has come to rest on Mammoth Television (\u201cIf you\u2019ve got one of those digital antennas it comes in real nice\u201d), where its future is less than assured. Varnell is surprised with a new executive producer, Rachel (Wendy Raquel Robinson), who, before he knows it, is dismantling his set and remaking his wardrobe. (Rachel: \u201cEven Batman changes costumes.\u201d Varnell: \u201cWell, the Flintstones don\u2019t.\u201d) She wants to fire his band and announcer (it\u2019s \u201cHuman Beat Box\u201d Doug E. Fresh), seeing them as old hat. What she doesn\u2019t know is that she\u2019s been hired, by \u201cinterim CEO while Dad\u2019s on sabbatical\u201d Jonah (Nick Cafero), specifically to annoy Varnell into quitting (a sort of Ted Lasso situation). There is no especially good reason for this, and it pretty much evaporates for the remainder of the eight-episode series.<\/p>\n

Naturally, Varnell, deemed out of touch, is resistant to the characterization and the alterations, and much of the comedy is mined from the contrast between the older and younger characters. (\u201cOur data shows your audience is shrinking,\u201d says Rachel, \u201cand that\u2019s a nice way of saying it\u2019s dying.\u201d) The remade writers room (adding six characters to the large cast) is generationally split and spends most of its time arguing and insulting one another. (They don\u2019t work much.) And a hot young comic, Marshay (Brittney Ayona Clemons, convincing), is being foisted on Varnell to heighten youth appeal.<\/p>\n

Created by Kevin G. Boyd, Sherri McGee McCovey and Bentley Kyle Evans (Evans co-created \u201cThe Jamie Foxx Show\u201d and wrote for \u201cMartin\u201d), the show can be obvious and exaggerated in that special multicamera way, and some jokes seem to have been pulled from the back of a long-unopened drawer. (References to Kato Kaelin and Rudy Giuliani.) But the characters, ranging from fairly absurd to comparatively natural, are individual and particular; they may represent relationships without ever seeming to actually have them, but most \u2014 which is to say, the actors \u2014 are entertaining in their own right.<\/p>\n

Kym Whitley<\/a> plays Kim, Varnell\u2019s right hand, who keeps his business, and the show\u2019s (and the series itself), nailed down. Gus (Oscar Miranda), an excitable new production assistant (and ex-con), mugs extravagantly, but it defines the character, and he is rather adorable. Lawrence recurs as an gangsteresque \u201centrepreneur\u201d (\u201cI have a record label, a funeral home, a soul food sushi bar and the chitlin rolls are off the hook\u201d) to whom Davidson\u2019s slacker nephew A.J. (Emmanuel Hudson) owes money, having given thousands away to strippers. (Minor tension is created.) As \u201cbest friend\u201d and errand man, Tre (a \u201cstruggling actor,\u201d he introduces himself as Trevon LaSalle Williams III), Chris Williams exists largely outside any plot, but he\u2019s a funny presence.<\/p>\n

Davidson, an energetic and athletic performer in his younger, and less young, days, is 62 now, bespectacled, comparatively restrained and quite happy to be the butt of ageist humor, as much as Varnell, who in trying to prove he\u2019s fit as ever will throw out his back, is uncomfortable with the whole idea. (\u201cI\u2019m a damn spring chicken.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s not what your neck says.\u201d) In my favorite line of the series, he\u2019ll defensively say, \u201cI\u2019m a grown-ass man,\u201d adding to prove a point, \u201cwith a colonoscopy scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n

As in \u201cThe Larry Sanders Show,\u201d<\/a> the greatest of all shows within a show, there are on-set segments featuring interviews with guests and, often, a musical performance. Varnell will keep confusing Damon Wayans with his brothers; he\u2019ll play pingpong with former basketball star Matt Barnes. He\u2019ll sing a little, dance a iittle. One episode involves a roast of Varnell, featuring Deon Cole<\/a>, Ms. Pat<\/a>, Lavell Crawford<\/a> and Mike Epps, who clearly have written (or are improvising) their own material. The laughs among them are clearly genuine. You can see why someone would want to join that club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tommy Davidson, the comedian, is starring in a new multicamera situation comedy, \u201cThe Varnell Hill Show,\u201d premiering Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1036623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[414781,1582,276,6997,414776,71316,414778,2961,224,5337,10442,414779,112564,2290,6166,4370,414775,414774,414777,414780],"class_list":["post-1036622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bentley-kyle-evans","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-change","tag-character-return","tag-decade","tag-guest-role","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-martin","tag-orange-shirt","tag-rachel","tag-review","tag-series","tag-show","tag-tommy-davidson","tag-varnell","tag-varnell-hill-show","tag-whole-point"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117194973805296839","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1036623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}