COMEDY REVIEW : Lawrence: Gifted but Lacking an Edge at Universal Shows

The last time a comedian named Martin played multiple nights at the Universal Amphitheatre, it was still an outdoor venue and the comic’s first name was Steve. That was 15 years ago.

This year’s model is Martin Lawrence, and his two-night stand at the Universal Friday and Saturday came with all the trappings of pop stardom: outside, fans trolling for tickets and young entrepreneurs hawking bootleg T-shirts; inside, light shows, smoke machines and video screens.

Friday’s high-energy sold-out performance made the reasons for Lawrence’s rising popularity apparent. He is a genial storyteller and expert mimic with a sharp eye for human foibles, particularly when it comes to relationships.

The show raised a question, too: What does Lawrence do next with his obvious gifts? He showed Friday he can get into a character’s skin, but so far he rarely gets under it. Even when he treads potentially prickly or painful turf, from racial tension to his absent father, he lacks the edge that could take him from likable to memorable.

Lawrence’s rise in the last year, courtesy of heavy TV exposure, has been a heady one. He has his own half-hour comedy, “Martin,” on Fox. On HBO, he’s been the regular host of the popular “Def Comedy Jam,” as well as the star of his own “One Night Stand” comedy special.

Yet another attempt to shoehorn a stand-up comic’s shtick into the sitcom format, “Martin” is a relationship show (natch) in which Lawrence plays not only the title role but also, to accommodate his knack for creating characters, two cross-dressing side roles. Despite a likable cast, the show’s energy is largely blunted by paint-by-the-number scripts.

Live concerts are a more natural environment for Lawrence, although fans of “Martin” may have been shocked by the language and the frank sex talk. The comic prowled the Universal’s big stage constantly with his cordless mike, using body language to illustrate every point.

“I’m buggy ‘cause there’s a lot of white people here tonight,” he joked at the start of the set. “White people love me now. It scares me.” Racism was the first topic on Lawrence’s agenda, from the more subtle indignities suffered daily by blacks--such as the way they are treated by white store clerks--to more egregious incidents.

In a brief bit on last April’s riots, Lawrence asked, “Weren’t white people nice that night?” If you were out driving and wanted to change lanes, he said, “They’d say, ‘Come right on in.’ ”

A routine about the change in his young life when his father disappeared (leaving behind a wife and six kids) brought a welcome personal note to the evening. The family went from a suburban house to the projects, and the young Lawrence went from running in his own yard (recreated in a priceless physical bit) to eating applesauce sandwiches on the project steps and being sent to a neighbor to “borrow” a pack of hot dogs.

These were just brief stops on the way to the heart of Lawrence’s act: his take on sex and relationships. Lawrence loves to dissect romances and pinpoint where they go wrong, spreading the blame in his varied vignettes between villains that range from oafish men who neglect their women to possessive women who can’t trust their men.

Laced with profanity and more story- than joke-oriented, the material doesn’t translate well to print. The scenes unfold like little plays, with Lawrence taking all the parts, and they are showcases for his ability to draw a recognizable character with a few well-defined gestures.

It played well, particularly to the women in the crowd, and the laughs Lawrence gets are clearly laughs of recognition. And although much of the set’s material was a carry-over from his HBO special, the execution Friday was much more seamless and assured, a sign that Lawrence is continuing to mature as a comic.

Still, there is room for growth. Most of all, though Lawrence may be adept at illustrating the how of relationships, he didn’t venture to answer the why.

If Lawrence could put some gravity behind the glibness, he could be ripe for more than sitcom stardom. Maybe that understanding will come with age; as it is, his declaration that women who stay in violent relationships do it because they’re “dumb” shows that, despite his glimmers of insight, he still has some growing up to do.