| Tracy Morgan | |
|---|---|
Morgan discussing his book I Am the New Black, New York City 2009 |
|
| Birth name | Tracy Jamal Morgan |
| Born | November 10, 1968 [1][2] Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand up, Television, Film |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Genres | Black comedy, Musical comedy, Cringe comedy, Character comedy |
| Subject(s) | African-American culture, Race relations, Racism, Marriage, Family, Self-deprecation, Recreational drug use, Sex, Homosexuals, Current events |
| Spouse | Sabrina Morgan (1985–2009; 3 children) |
| Notable works and roles | Saturday Night Live Tracy Mitchell in The Tracy Morgan Show Tracy Jordan in 30 Rock Host of Scare Tactics |
Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968)[1][2] is an American comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and currently known for playing the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.
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Morgan was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the second of five children of Alicia (née Warden), a homemaker, and James Morgan, Jr., a musician. Morgan says his father returned after multiple tours of duty in Vietnam addicted to heroin,[3] causing him to leave the family when Morgan was six.[4][5][6] He was the target of bullies as a child[7]. His older brother had cerebral palsy and could not protect him so he used comedy to make bullies laugh rather than beat him up.[8]
Morgan grew up in the Tompkins Projects in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.[9] Later, Morgan moved in with his father and, as a teenager, was living with him when he died from AIDS.[3] After attending De Witt Clinton High School in the Bronx, he was discovered doing stand-up at The Apollo in 1984 by Martin Lawrence's ex-wife.[10] Before Morgan began his career, he worked in New York City as a painter, for L&L Painting and Rose Company.
Morgan began his career on Martin, where he played Hustle Man. The character sold random items he had from the 'hood', always greeting people with his trademark "What's happ'n, chief?" and had a pet dog that he dressed as a rapper. In the 2003 Chris Rock film Head of State, Morgan appeared as a man watching television, often questioning why they are not watching Martin.
Morgan was also a regular cast member on "Uptown Comedy Club"[11], a sketch comedy show filmed in Harlem which aired for two seasons between 1992 to 1994. He was also on the HBO show Snaps.
Morgan joined the cast of comedy show Saturday Night Live in 1996, where he performed as a regular until 2003.
He performed a variety of characters on the program, including:
Morgan is also credited with impressions of:
On March 14, 2009, Morgan returned to SNL as host and reprised his roles of Brian Fellow and Astronaut Jones.
Morgan is currently a cast member of the NBC television show 30 Rock, playing the character Tracy Jordan, a caricature of himself. His work on 30 Rock has been well-received, being nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2009 Emmy Awards[12] .
Morgan had his own show, The Tracy Morgan Show, in 2003, which was canceled after one season.
Morgan also had a stand-up special entitled "One Mic" that was shown on Comedy Central. He also was the host of the first Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which aired on June 13, 2007. In 2003, he was on an episode of Punk'd in which his car was towed from the valet parking. He can be heard as "Spoonie Luv" on the Comedy Central program Crank Yankers and as Woof in the MTV2 Animated Series Where My Dogs At?.
Morgan acted in commercials for ESPN NFL 2K, ESPN NBA 2K, and ESPN NHL 2K, where he co-starred with Warren Sapp, Ben Wallace and Jeremy Roenick. He appeared in the movie The Longest Yard, starring Adam Sandler, as a transvestite inmate.[13]
Morgan has hosted the VH1 Hip Hop Honors for 2 consecutive years and hosted the third season of Scare Tactics, the Sci Fi Channel's hidden camera show that pranks people by using their worst fears against them.
Morgan voiced Agent Blaster in Disney's G-Force and a Bulldog in the Blue Sky Animation Studios film Rio.
On October 20, 2009, Morgan's autobiography I Am the New Black was released. The book includes stories from his life living in Tompkins Projects in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to becoming a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Tracy appeared on National Public Radio's Fresh Air hosted by Terry Gross, at times tearing up about his former life in a New York ghetto.[3]
Morgan claims to have a number of tattoos, including: a peace sign; a happy and sad face; a cross bearing the names of his wife and three sons; the name of a friend he played football with in high school who was murdered; the words ME, MYSELF, & I on his back; and the phrase Stove Top.[14]
Morgan married his high school sweetheart Sabrina in 1985. They have three sons together.[15] Morgan filed for divorce at Bronx Supreme Court on August 7, 2009 after 23 years of marriage, although he and his wife had been already separated for eight years. A friend told the New York Daily News, "Basically they were divorced without the paperwork."[16] Morgan credits one of his sons with having saved him from his drinking problems.[17] Morgan is estranged from his mother and most of his family [18]
On September 18, 2011, it was announced that Morgan is engaged to model Megan Wollover, Morgan proposed to Wollover while the couple was in San Francisco.[19]
In 1996, he was diagnosed with diabetes, but says he never took it seriously, refusing to take medication or change his diet. After running a 104-degree fever on the set of 30 Rock, Morgan decided to finally comply with his doctor's orders. He is now very cautious when it comes to the condition. With his consent, many of Morgan's own troubles have been incorporated within episodes of 30 Rock.[20]
Around December 10, 2010, Tracy Morgan received a kidney transplant. It was announced on December 22, 2010 that he was resting and will miss "at least two episodes" of "30 Rock" in 2011.[21]
On December 2, 2005, Morgan was arrested in Los Angeles on impaired driving charges after police stopped him for speeding. On February 17, 2006, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, fined $390 and ordered to attend an alcohol education program.[22]
In November 2006, Morgan was arrested for DUI after police spotted him driving erratically and was also charged with probation violation. In April 2007, Morgan entered a guilty plea where he had to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet and perform five days of community service.[23]
On January 27, 2011, Morgan appeared on the NBA on TNT pregame coverage of the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks nationally televised basketball game. During the appearance, commentators Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith asked Morgan to choose between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey on who was better looking (Fey portrays Palin on Saturday Night Live and is a coworker of Morgan). Morgan said Palin was "good masturbation material". The comment led TNT to apologize for his remarks on live camera.[24]
On June 3, 2011, during a standup performance in Nashville, Tennessee, Morgan made inflammatory comments about gay people, reportedly including that, if his son were gay, he would "pull out a knife and stab" him. Morgan apologized, saying that he had "gone too far".[25] NBC Entertainment head Bob Greenblatt stated, "I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind, and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance... Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both 30 Rock and NBC — two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations — and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated." Tina Fey, Morgan's boss both in fiction and in real life, said, "I'm glad to hear that Tracy apologized .... but the violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT community...the Tracy Morgan I know, ...is not a hateful man and [would never] hurt another person. I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian co-workers at 30 Rock, without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket."[26]
On June 25, 2011, during a show at Caroline's in New York City, Morgan made degrading remarks towards the disabled, saying things such as, "Don't ever mess with women who have retarded kids,"[27] and referring to a woman as "a cripple". Peter Bernes, CEO of The Arc, an organization supporting people with disabilities, stated, "Tracy Morgan should apologize immediately. This quote is far too offensive to be excused as comedy, and it is very hurtful to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Mr. Morgan has an incredibly powerful platform from which to fix this, and if he's learned anything in the last few weeks, he can't bomb this apology."[28]