On February 19, 1994, Martin Lawrence made his first and only appearance on Saturday Night Live. On paper, it made perfect sense: Lawrence was not only a successful stand-up comic who’d been hosting Def Comedy Jam for nearly two years, but the star of the hit Fox sitcom Martin as well. Unfortunately, his opening monologue generated many complaints after it aired, and he was never asked back to the show. Part of his set was even edited out of subsequent broadcasts and remains incomplete on the official SNL YouTube channel to this day.
Lawrence kicked off the show that night by poking fun at the censors and talking about Lorena Bobbitt cutting off her husband’s genitalia. In the original uncensored version, he also did a bit in which he discussed women not cleaning themselves properly. “I’m watching douche commercials on television and I’m wondering if some of you are reading the instructions,” Lawrence joked. In response to the idea that douching washes the natural juices out of a woman’s body, Lawrence fired back, “I don’t give a damn what you do. Put a Tic Tac in your a–.”
The version in circulation today is shown with the following disclaimer in place of that two-minute bit: “At this point in his monologue, Martin begins a commentary on what he considers the decline in standards of feminine hygiene in this country. Although we at Saturday Night Live take no stand on this issue one way or the other, network policy prevents us from re-broadcasting this portion of his remarks.”
“In summary, Martin feels, or felt at the time, that the failure of many young women to bathe thoroughly is a serious problem that demands our attention,” it continues. “He explores this problem, citing numerous examples from his personal experience, and ends by proposing several imaginative solutions.” Before returning to Lawrence, the statement reads, “It was a frank and lively presentation, and nearly cost us all our jobs.” Take a look below.
The fact that the set was edited and that Lawrence hasn’t appeared on SNL since has led a number of publications to report that he was banned from the show after the incident. However, during a 2020 interview with The Breakfast Club, Lawrence cleared the air about what he says really happened. “I’m not banned from SNL. No, they had banned me from NBC at the time…for a minute,” he explained. According to Lawrence, former NBC president Warren Littlefield eventually wrote him a letter apologizing and lifting the ban.
Though it’s possible Lawrence could’ve been banned by Lorne Michaels without knowing it, his side of the story does line up with how things played out back then. Following the SNL situation, NBC pulled the plug on Lawrence’s scheduled March 1994 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, saying that they felt it was “inappropriate for him to be on any of our shows.” The ban was short-lived, though, as Lawrence was back on NBC for the April 14, 1995, episode of Leno’s show, and has appeared on the network several times since then.
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