Comedian Tracy Morgan has recalled feeling isolated during his early years as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, calling it “the whitest show in America”.
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Speaking on documentary series SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Morgan said: “I wanted to show them my world, how funny it was. But the first three years, I felt like I was being culturally isolated sometimes”. He would later admit: “I’m coming from a world of Blacks. I’m an inner-city kid. To be on the whitest show in America, I felt by myself. I felt like they weren’t getting it”.
A resolution was found when he discussed the problem with SNL creator Lorne Michaels. He recalled: “Lorne Michaels had that talk with me. He said, ‘Tracy, I hired you because you’re funny, not because you’re Black. So just do your thing.’ And that’s when I started doing my thing”.
Morgan would be a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003, and later star in the sitcom 30 Rock, based on creator Tina Fey’s own experiences on the sketch show, from 2006 to 2013. He would also appear in the films Cop Out, Coming 2 America, and Death At A Funeral.
In 2014, the star was involved in a car accident involving a Wallmart truck that left him with severe injuries including brain trauma. He has since rehabilitated and a subsequent legal case between him and the company was settled out of court. He joked about his experiences in his 2017 Netflix special Staying Alive.
In 2020, Morgan reunited with his 30 Rock cast mates for a one off reunion, which was beloved by fans. The first episode of Saturday Night Live was dramatised for the film Saturday Night, which comes to UK cinemas January 31. The director Jason Reitman recently revealed that SNL legend Chevy Chase told him he should “be ashamed” of the film.
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