If you were getting ready for Martin Lawrence to make you laugh tonight, it looks like you’ll be staying in and watching “Bad Boys” for the fifth time, because the Yuengling Center just postponed the comedian’s Tampa show until a later date.
Tonight’s rescheduling coincides with USF’s decision to postpone all university affiliated and sponsored events for the next 30 days—due to the spreading concerns of COVID-19. USF has yet to announce a rescheduled date for Lawrence’s stop in Tampa—but tickets for tonight’s show will be honored at the future gig.
Lawrence’s “Lit AF” tour, which features fellow comedians Rickey Smiley, DeRay Davis, Adele Givens and Clayton Thomas, will continue as scheduled at Orlando’s Amway Center tomorrow night.
Today's postponement follows a string of large event cancelations or suspensions in the last 24 hours. St. Pete cancelled all general admission at this weekend's Grand Prix this morning, and last night the NCAA called for all March Madness games to be played without an audience, including the upcoming games at Tampa's Amalie Arena.
It was recently confirmed that Lawrence—alongside Dave Chapelle, Kevin Hart and Jamie Foxx—will headline the new L.A.-based comedy festival, Netflix is a Joke, in late April. With the steady slew of entertainment cancellations that have been announced in the past week alone, fans of Lawrence maybe shouldn’t get their hopes up for this event either.
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This article appears in Mar 12-19, 2020.