The "Bad Boys" trilogy, meeting Spike Lee, auditioning for "Star Search"... These are five moments that defined Martin Lawrence's life.
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00:00Hi, it's Martin Lawrence from Brooke.
00:02What would be the first moment that changed my life?
00:04It was of my first movie, so I was excited to be in any movie that was my first, but
00:13Do the Right Thing was special because of its message.
00:16The message of Do the Right Thing is to do the right thing, and it's simple, it's all
00:22in the words, you know.
00:24On the hottest day of the summer, tempers start to fly and things like that, and you
00:30got to remain patient and calm at all times and know you got to do the right thing.
00:35And do you remember the first time you met Spike Lee?
00:39Yes, it was in California, and he was checking out a friend of mine, the late, great Robin
00:46Harris, and he was checking him out, and Robin Harris told him about me, and Spike took a
00:52look at me.
00:54Spike Lee was just a great director, and he just put out a great movie, and working with
00:59Danny Aiello and Sam Jackson and all those guys, it was just a lot of fun and a great
01:07experience for me.
01:08How did you get into music?
01:12I would stay up listening to Richard Pryor albums and looking at Richard Pryor on TV
01:18on Super TV or something, and I knew then I wanted to be an actor, and I thought that
01:25was the way I had to go about it, by doing what Richard Pryor did, by doing stand-up
01:32comedy.
01:33So I started doing stand-up comedy to get to acting like Richard Pryor.
01:38How did you get into music?
01:42I first auditioned for Star Search, and I got the audition, I won, and I was able to
01:50go on Star Search.
01:51I won one time, then I lost, but I got recognized from Star Search for acting, and I got a television
02:00show, and that's what started my acting and movie career.
02:04I didn't know that would be the moment that would change my life, but I was very excited
02:10and happy about the opportunity that I was getting, and I wanted to make the best of
02:16it, so I just worked hard to capitalize on everything that I did from that moment on.
02:22Did you know that Martin would be a turning point in your career?
02:26Did I know that Martin would be a turning point in my career?
02:29I didn't know at first until it hit, then I felt we had something, I was like, oh wow.
02:36Because we were coming in, doing big numbers every week, and the show was popular, and
02:41people was loving it, and talking about it, so that's when I knew we had something special.
02:46How do you feel when people are coming to you in the streets and asking for autographs
02:52or photos?
02:54I love it, because without them I wouldn't be here, so you gotta take the time and do
03:00as much as you can.
03:01You can't do them all, but you try to do as much as you can.
03:07I don't know if it changed my life, I'm more known, I think more people know me because
03:16of Bad Boys, I think, if it changed my life in that way.
03:22Can you tell us something about Will Smith that we don't know?
03:25Well, I don't think I can tell you anything about Will Smith that you don't know, because
03:29he tells you everything on his social media, so I can't tell you nothing.