About every six weeks, I read someone’s tweet sarcastically asking whether every black television comedy of the ‘90s had a pool hustler episode. Given there were 15 prime-time black comedies on TV at the decade’s peak in 1997, the answer, based on my extensive research, is a clear no. However, the question is also not uninformed, as four of the seminal ‘90s shows of the genre – specifically, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Steve Harvey Show, Family Matters, and Martin – all dedicated at least one episode to this subject matter. For Martin, it was “Martin in the Corner Pocket,” an uneven 22-minute episode from 1995 that couples laugh-out-loud moments with deplorable technical editing of the billiards.
For the uninitiated, Martin was an American sitcom that aired on Fox from 1992-1997 and was one of the network’s highest-rated shows at that time. The series starred comedian Martin Lawrence as Martin Payne, a smart-mouthed, self-centered, yet ultimately warm-hearted and loyal, Detroit disc jockey with a girlfriend (and later wife) Gina Waters (Tisha Campbell). Other main characters on the series included Martin’s two closest friends: level-headed and charming Tommy (Thomas Mikal Ford) and dimwitted but well-meaning Cole (Carl Anthony Payne II). Having attracted a viewership of more than 6 million (even at its nadir), Martin now regularly runs in syndication in most major U.S. cities.
“Martin in the Corner Pocket” kicks offs the series’ fourth season, with Martin and Gina returning from their honeymoon. Gina expects their first night at home as a married couple to be an intimate one, but Martin already had made other plans to meet his close friends, Tommy and Cole, at Nipsey’s to shoot some pool. As Martin says, “I do have business to take care of, Gina…I got to go down to the pool hall and open a can of whup-ass on Tommy and Cole.”
The initial billiards sequence plays out over classic Martin banter, with Martin chest-thumping upon entering the pool hall, “Pool school is in session, now who wants the first lesson?” and later proclaiming, “Damn I’m good. I don’t know why I’m this good,” and even boasting in the third-person, “Marty Mar has the skills to pay the bills.”
The thin plotline involves Martin getting hustled by Vanessa (Alex Datcher), a hot-to-trot vixen who initially feigns she can barely hold a cue. After telling Vanessa she can shoot first and to “have fun because you might not get another one,” Martin wins the game on a four-rail shot, prompting Tommy to announce, “You beat her like she stole something.
Having won Martin’s confidence, Vanessa then tries to lure Martin into playing for $20/ball. Since “Marty Mar don’t gamble,” she suggests they play for his watch. As expected, Vanessa is a shark, and after winning the watch, subsequently hustles him out of everything but his undershirt, boxers, and one sock, winning the final match on a four pocket combination.
Where “Martin in the Corner Pocket” falls apart, however, is in the unforgivably awful technical editing of the billiards. Watching the episode on YouTube, it is disturbingly apparent that at 5:20 the rack only has 13 balls and includes no 8-ball. At 5:22, Martin breaks and the 9-ball falls in the corner pocket, but at 5:29, Martin continues to play with all 15 balls now back on the table. I don’t understand how a shows that invests the time carefully setting up trick shots (e.g., Martin’s four-rail, Vanessa’s four balls) can so glaringly screw up the basic fundamentals of how to do an opening rack or how ensure balls pocketed stay down.
Like many Martin episodes, “Martin in the Corner Pocket” ends with an only loosely-related post-credits sequence. This vignette features Martin Lawrence reprising his recurring role as Dragonfly Jones, a martial arts “expert” who is stalked by Kenji, a real martial arts student owed money by Dragonfly. In the scene, Dragonfly is pool hustling at Nipsey’s. Having just taken an old woman’s bus fare, he gets into a fight with Kenji that involves Dragonfly jumping on pool tables, breaking pool talc, knocking down pool balls, and ultimately going karate-crazy when one-hit wonder Carl Douglas’ 1974 “Kung Fu Fighting” blares from the jukebox. After four seasons of losing, Dragonfly successfully knocks out his nemesis, only to then be clocked unconscious by the old bus fare woman.
“Martin in the Corner Pocket” is available on demand from Amazon.
