The legendary actors are coming together after 30 years in a long-awaited television reunion.

The television landscape changed forever on August 27, 1992, when a new half-hour comedy sitcom, Martin, debuted on Fox Network. And now, the show is being honored with a long-awaited reunion: Martin: The Reunion drops on BET Plus on June 16.

Martin was the brainchild of comedian Martin Lawrence, who was already well-known for his role as Cee in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, Bilal (the DJ with bad breath) in House Party, a stand-up routine called One Night Stand, and a three-season stint as host of Def Comedy Jam. With that experience in mind, transitioning to his own sitcom felt inevitable. Says Lawrence, “I was hot out there on the stand-up circuit. It was perfect timing ’cause I was in the groove and ready to do my thing.”

But no one, not even him, would imagine that 30 years later, we’d still be rapturously enjoying the show in syndication, with younger generations laughing as hard at the classic shenanigans as their parents. In an age of the reboot, the push for the cast to get together again has been swirling for the past few years, finally manifesting into this fun reunion special, which serves up all the nostalgia fans will want to see.

The energy around the reunion is palpable, even surprising Tisha Campbell, who told Oprah Daily in a recent interview about the on-set atmosphere. "Everybody wanted [this] to work so bad. You could feel it; it was vibrating in the air. Everybody was just working hard to make this happen for us, to make us comfortable, to make it right, and I was like, Oh my God, [people must] really like this show.”

All four remaining cast members—Tommy Ford (Tommy) passed away in 2016, but is memorialized in a rousing tribute—Martin Lawrence (Martin), Tisha Campbell (Gina), Tichina Arnold (Pam), and Carl Anthony Payne II (Cole), converse on a replica set of Martin and Gina’s living space. The set is right out of the nineties, complete with mint green cabinets and a rusty-brown fridge. The reunion is brilliantly hosted by comedian Affion Crockett, who seamlessly orchestrated the night, taking viewers down memory lane and spilling behind-the-scenes tea that will be surprising to longtime fans—like the fact that in the infamous “New Jack City” scene, producers promised Lawrence a real dog, but the prop master brought in a stuffed animal instead.

The cast displayed love and respect toward each other as they reminisced, laughing out loud at clips shown throughout the night. For this sitcom in particular, the genuine affection will be refreshing to witness after a much-publicized feud between Lawrence and Campbell, which resulted in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the actress in 1997 during the show’s last season. Since then, Campbell has said that the on-screen couple have worked really hard to reconnect and forgive.

The reunion included memorable guests like Reginald Ballard (Bruh Man), who indeed came through the window, Marla Gibbs (Miss Minnie), gospel singer Le’Andria Johnson, and crooner Brian McKnight, who says his 1994 appearance on the sitcom boosted album sales to upwards of two million.

A show that has the same if not more, notoriety three decades later is groundbreaking. So what gives Martin its staying power? One reason can certainly be that the show churned out numerous pop culture catchphrases that have settled into the vernacular of millions. Talk to the hand; Wassup (in Martin’s voice); and You so crazy, to name a few. Perhaps the most memorable is You go, girl, which eventually spurred You go, boy. In the clip below from Martin: The Reunion, Lawrence explains how the popular phrase originated, and the cast talks about the other well-known phrases from the show.

Martin is also viewed as legendary because of the way it portrayed the reality of young Black love. Audiences hadn’t quite seen the authenticity of a relationship like Martin and Gina’s before, so twenty- and thirty-somethings found them relatable. The interaction between the pair was loving, and they didn’t water down how that affection was displayed.

“I think people really resonated with the fact that we were two young [Black] people in love,” Campbell explained in a CBS Mornings interview with Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson. “All we really had was Claire and Cliff [Cosby],” Campbell continued, “so to see these two young people trying to figure it out with their friends, I think that’s what really made [people] love the show and embrace it.”

Additionally, the cast, although seasoned, worked tirelessly to hone their comedic chops. Even though they were all talented actors, the bar for success was set at trying to make Lawrence laugh. Says Arnold to Martin, “We were trying to make you laugh all the time.”

Ultimately, the brilliance and versatility of Lawrence, who played characters like Sheneneh, Jerome, and Otis (who all could legitimately have had spin-offs), was the anchor in making the show historic. When Crockett asked what he thought the legacy of the show should be, Lawrence said, “This was my baby. I just want it to continue to go on and help people like it has and for people to remember us as one of the funniest sitcoms ever to grace television.”

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