“Morgan tends to play characters who, like him,
speak in energetic, irreproducible rhythms, jumping from one topic to the next
along logical grooves that are not always apparent to his interlocutors….
Morgan's
voice is thick and textured, almost syrupy on longer syllables, with an
old-school black Brooklyn accent. He erodes consonants, turns simple vowels
into unpredictable diphthongs, and takes each new sentence as an opportunity
for rococo improvisation. ‘What are we here?’ he asked a crew member, who had
no clue what he was talking about until Morgan fixed his lips to form a word
that clearly started with the letter ‘F.’ ‘Oh, a family,’ the crew member said.”—Vinson Cunningham, “Profiles: What
Are You Laughing At?” The New Yorker,
May 13, 2019
A few weeks ago, I heard the distinctive voice of Tracy Morgan that Cunningham captures
so perfectly in his New Yorker
profile, in, of all places, a drug store in Bergen County, NJ. Searching for an
item on the shelves, I was startled by rumbling tones, but couldn’t immediately
place this.
I glanced up. Of course! I should have known. The
man who made me guffaw through seven seasons of 30 Rock, playing a character not far removed from his own persona,
“Tracy Jordan,” an actor-comedian on a late-night weekend variety show, was
standing by the counter, chatting with the store’s manager. It wasn’t the first
time Morgan had been there, I gathered, since he was asking after a cashier not
there at the time.
I have yet to catch Morgan’s latest venture, The Last O.G., nor what sound like his
ribald stand-up appearances. But based on Cunningham’s piece—not just the
comic’s discussion of his near-fatal highway accident several years ago, but
his difficult childhood and youth—he already has the makings of a fascinating
memoir, whenever his career slows down enough for him to write it.
In the
meantime, I’m awed by what he’s already overcome and hopeful he’ll be able to
get through whatever else his life and career may have in store for him.
(Photo of Tracy Morgan taken at New York City's
Union Square Barnes & Noble to discuss his book I Am the New Black, Oct.22,
2009, by David Shankbone.)
No comments:
Post a Comment