Tracy Morgan has revealed that he had a difficult time fitting in at Saturday Night Live. The legendary comedian starred in the sketch show from 1996-2003 but he had to adjust to make it as a cast member.
Making an appearance on Peacock’s SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, the Last O.G. star shared how challenging it was to feel accepted
“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.
“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 continued.
After a conversation with Lorne Michaels, the creator and producer of the show, he was reassured that he was in the right place.
“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,” he recalled.
During the episode, Morgan got the chance to look at his audition tape. He recalled the moment that he wrote the character that eventually got him cast on the show.
“I don’t know what Lorne Michaels and them saw, but they saw something,” Morgan shared.
After leaving SNL, Morgan went on to have further success in TV and film. He had own sitcom, The Tracy Morgan Show for one season in 2003.
He returned to his old stomping grounds at NBC as a cast member of 30 Rock, from 2006 to 2013. For his work on the critically acclaimed show, he earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Morgan also starred in the TBS sitcom The Last O.G. from 2018-2021.