Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat

Martin Lawrence

Paramount Pictures · 2002 · 1 h 53 min

A combative comeback special addressing his arrests, coma, and tabloids.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Martin Lawrence returns to the stage with a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove. After a string of highly publicized personal crises—waving a gun in Los Angeles traffic, trying to board a plane with a firearm, and slipping into a three-day coma after jogging in heavy clothing during a heatwave—he uses Runteldat to offer his own version of events. The set operates as a combative confessional. Lawrence takes aim at the media, cops to losing his mind on bad weed, and mines his near-death hospital stay for character work and physical comedy.

Filmed at the DAR Constitution Hall in his hometown of Washington, D.C., in January 2002, this theatrical release served as his official stand-up comeback. Beyond the headline-grabbing anecdotes, Lawrence falls back on the stage pacing that made him a star. The back half of the act pivots away from his tabloid life into material on childbirth, prenuptial agreements, and a comparison of white and Black parenting styles. The film was a significant box office success, though critics were split on whether it was a vulnerable confession or an extended exercise in blame-shifting.

The set list

5 bits

  1. 1999 heat stroke and coma from jogging in heavy clothing

    Self-critical and detailed storytelling about waking up from a three-day coma and relearning how to walk, talk, and use the bathroom.

  2. 1997 incident shouting at traffic in Los Angeles

    Cheerfully concedes he was high while mocking media coverage and bad press.

  3. Witnessing childbirth

    Portrays childbirth as both an astonishing miracle and an alarming, visceral medical ordeal hidden from men.

  4. Dealing with a heckler

    Delivers a fast crowdwork retort: 'Somebody put something in that guy's mouth, my zipper's stuck!'

  5. Graphic sexual anecdote where a woman gets the last word

    A raunchy closing story patterned in the tradition of Richard Pryor's concert finales.

How it plays

Tone
Profane, raunchy, defiant, and self-defensive.
On stage
By turns defiant and apologetic, gleefully raunchy, defensive, and physically expressive.
Pace
High-energy with superb timing, animated physical gesturing, and facial contortions.
About
personal crises and recovery, media scrutiny and critics, marriage and divorce, childbirth, sex, corporal punishment and parenting

What the critics said

Lawrence's delivery can be funny, but the content is stale.

In the room: A predominantly African-American crowd at Constitution Hall offering a responsive, supportive atmosphere for his return to the stage.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: imdb.com, catalog.afi.com, en.wikipedia.org, metacritic.com, rogerebert.com, variety.com, cinafilm.com, washingtonpost.com, cbsnews.com, rottentomatoes.com.

Backstory

Lawrence addresses multiple publicized personal crises, including a 1996/1997 incident wandering and shouting at traffic in Los Angeles, a nightclub altercation, and a near-fatal 1999 coma caused by heat exhaustion while jogging in heavy clothing.

Details

Released
Taped
DAR Constitution Hall, Washington
Runtime
1 h 53 min
Where
Paramount Pictures
Director
David Raynr
Topics
Before
Funk It (1995)
After
Doin' Time: Uncut (2016)

More from Martin Lawrence

If you liked this