Starter Jackets and Shenehneh
What were you watching on Thursday night in 1994? Well, according to Nielsen’s demographic data, if you were black, it was Fox. The then upstart network’s Thursday night lineup was watched by the overwhelming majority of African-American households into 1996. And mine was definitely one of them. I don’t think we ever missed an episode of any of the triumvirate of shows (Living Single, Martin, New York Undercover) that comprised the lineup.
Of the three, my favorite was “Martin.” When I grew up, I wanted a life — actually, just an apartment like Martin Lawrence (well, The “Martin Lawrence”, not actual Martin Lawrence.) His cabinets and leather couch were a) the same color and furthermore, b) that color was the exact shade of turquoise of the Charlotte Hornet’s logo. To this day, I’m still bitter about how I was refused a Hornets Starter jacket (because it was a “girls team”) and forced to wear a Chicago Bulls one instead.
Martin’s girlfriend, Gina, was a woman of “Jet Beauty of the Week” caliber looks with a fancy j-o-b to boot. I’m still not really sure what she did for a living (sales? PR?), but I knew it involved “presentations” and “clients.” Pam, the Ethel to Gina’s Lucy, was frequently a vision in quilted leather bolero jackets and matching purses. The first quirkily neurotic black characters I remember, she wound up being one the less one dimensional characters on the series. Sort of like a young, black Maude in stirrup pants.
And then, of course, there was Shenehneh.
A true “laaaady”, she was Lawrence’s tribute, in drag, to young urban black women taking life by the horns. People often mistakenly think the character was unemployed or a ne’er do well. But any real fan of the show knows that she was the proprietress of Shenehneh’s ShoNuff Salon. Gina and Pam were a little too highbrow for her and she a little to ghetto for them. (The irony being that in the end, they all sisters just trying to do it for themselves anyway.) Gina was your Essence friend, but Shenehneh was your Sister-2-Sister girrrrl.
“Martin” got a lot of crap. Critics derided it as post-minstrel entertainment. But what makes Martin different from say…”Homeboys in Outer Space” is that it came from a place of “knowing”…the whole show was a wink to the audience. Lawrence, taking a cue from the Wayans and “In Living Color”, created broad characters with clown like attributes that Middle America could sure…laugh at. But black audiences got these characters on a sub-textual level. We got that Bruh Man wasn’t just funny because he talked slow and liked free food. It was that he was that ghetto philosopher that was in every building…he had a Ph.D from the public library in a little bit of everything.
Shows like “Martin” were a celebration of…Hey! We’re not just ON TV, we’re PRODUCING TV and we’re inviting America to experience the kinds of people that fill our lives. If they care to dig deeper that’s cool, but if not…who cares? This shit is funny to us! The characters on “Martin” and “In Living Color” were drawn from our own commedia dell’arte; a stock cast of characters through which a story can be told. Whereas “HIOS” was just — Black people! Aren’t they funny?!
