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‘The Whitest Show In America': Tracy Morgan Opens Up About Feeling Culturally Isolated During SNL In Late '90s
Tracy Morgan shares his early struggles starring as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Read on to know the details.
Tracy Morgan, a former Saturday Night Live cast member from 1996 to 2003, opened up about the issues he faced in his early years with the iconic sketch comedy program.
On the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Morgan expressed that for three years he felt a sort of disconnection and was culturally isolated.
He recalled, "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."
Morgan said that his background and the neighborhood he was brought up in--an inner-city, largely African American community--were factors that contributed to that feeling.
"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," he added.
According to Morgan, it wasn't easy for him to feel perfectly understood because the environment at SNL was quite different from what he was used to during his previous stints on stage.
However, that conversation with Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, in which Lorne Michaels appreciated his talent and encouraged him to carry out his own brand of comedy.
He recounted, "[Michaels] 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." This helped Morgan gain confidence and get into a groove on the show.
Over the years, Morgan came to be recognized for his plethora of memorable characters, including Brian Fellow, Astronaut Jones, and Dominican Lou. His time on SNL helped lay the groundwork for a successful career he would later go on to star in Tina Fey's sitcom 30 Rock as well as hit movies, including Cop Out, Superhero Movie, Coming 2 America, and Death at a Funeral.
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night streams exclusively on Peacock.
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