Tracy Morgan was on last night’s Late Show with David Letterman, and Letterman being Letterman, he wanted to ask Morgan about what happened this summer in Tennessee when Morgan flew back to apologize to an audience member because of a joke in which Morgan suggested he’d kill his own son if he found out he were gay. Caught up now? OK. Let’s roll the clip.
Letterman says he’s on Morgan’s side, and as comedians, it is important to stand up for each other and our right to free speech, even if the words coming out of someone’s mouth are dumb with a capital D.
But. I’m not sure I’m buying what Morgan is selling here. He claimed, in part: “I can’t remember, that was maybe 50 shows ago. So whatever it was, I do comedy in the spirit of Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and all the people like yourself who came before me…” Ahem. Have you been to a Tracy Morgan stand-up performance anytime in the past decade and thought, yep, Pryor, Bruce, Carlin and Morgan? Tracy Morgan has a history of saying ridiculous things onstage for the sole purpose of being ridiculous. Now if he actually believes some of what he’s saying, then we really do have a problem. Maybe he can go on his next tour with Hank Williams Jr.?