--- title: 10 Questions with Tracy Morgan | TIME description: The Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star has a new memoir, 'I Am the New Black.' He answers readers questions in front of a live audience canonical: https://time.com/video/nATLle6X/ og:title: 10 Questions with Tracy Morgan og:description: The Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star has a new memoir, 'I Am the New Black.' He answers readers questions in front of a live audience og:url: https://time.com/video/nATLle6X/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nATLle6X/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Questions with Tracy Morgan twitter:description: The Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star has a new memoir, 'I Am the New Black.' He answers readers questions in front of a live audience twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nATLle6X/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # 10 Questions with Tracy Morgan > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 10 Questions with Tracy Morgan [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions with Tracy Morgan](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nATLle6X.m3u8) (10:08)  _Published 2009-10-15. The Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star has a new memoir, 'I Am the New Black.' He answers readers questions in front of a live audience_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:14 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [10 Questions for Chris Rock](/video/zDf2gZYF/) ### 10 Questions for Chris Rock [10 Questions for M. Night Shyamalan](/video/dk99rDgb/) ### 10 Questions for M. Night Shyamalan [10 Questions for will.i.am](/video/SpclAGMJ/) ### 10 Questions for will.i.am --- ## Transcript >> Welcome to another 10 Questions Live event. As you can see, our guest today is Tracy Morgan, star of 30 Rock. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> And author of the new 196- page memoir, Tracy Morgan, I am the New Black which is a pun. Let's open up with a question that I have a feeling you could ask all the time. How much does Tracy Jordan resemble Tracy Morgan? >> Well, they have- they have some similarities. I mean- the characteristics- I mean you look at Tracy Jordan as a lovable, likable comedian, so as Tracy Morgan, I guess, you know. >> Are there any parts of Tracy Morgan that you wish were more like Tracy Jordan? >> Yeah! Yes! I wish Tracy Morgan had $ 300 million. >> Are there ever any things that they write for the character that you fear might be a little too close to- >> No, absolutely not. I'm a 40- year- old black man. I mean what do the young white writers know about me? So I have to give it to them, you know. >> They ain't gonna write for me. I'm from [ unk ], you know. I wish I could even go harder. >> Someone wants to know what the cast members of 30 Rock are like to work with? >> On screen or off? I don't know when off. >> Oh, I don't know what they do when they're at home. I don't- >> I know, but I mean- >> I don't know with Tina. She's a mother of 1 and a wife, so I don't hang out. We don't hang out. >> Right. >> So I couldn't tell you, but I know there at the studio, everybody is behaving. But I know when I'm not at the studio, when I'm not the one on screen, I'm turning good girls bad. What do you expect? I'm Tray. Turning them good girls bad. I'm the big bad wolf. Huffing, pluffing, blow them vajayjays down. >> I think we'll use that as the headline. >> You want 10 questions. I'm gonna give you 10 answers, baby. >> Oh, right. I think you gave me 10 answers in that 1 question. >> Yeah, that's [ unk ]. >> Yeah. How does being on 30 Rock compare to being on Saturday Night Live? >> Saturday Night Live is the hardest thing I've ever did in my career. Period. If you could survive Saturday Night Live, then you're good as far as show business is concerned. That was the hardest schedule. My ex- wife, she was considered a widow 'cause I was never home. >> And did you write a lot of your own stuff on Saturday Night Live? >> Absolutely not. I couldn't deal with the rejection. My first season on Saturday Night Live, all my [ unk ] shut down. I say, " you know what, I'm just gonna perform. I'm gonna put all my strip into performance. I'm gonna let the writers cast me to whatever they're gonna cast me and when I get- find my little time to shine, I'm gonna block the spot ." And that's what I did. >> Someone mentioned once saw an episode of NBC's short- lived The Tracy Morgan Show on a plane. What did you think of your foray into the world of traditional sitcoms? >> I just think that when I did that show, America wasn't ready to see Brian Fellows with a family. People say all the time, " I'm sorry your show didn't stay on ." Well, maybe if you asked who would watched it. You know what I'm saying? Don't tell me. I've never seen a Nielsen box in a projects in my life. >> Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's not one on a plane either, so- >> You know what, Nielsen box. Somebody would have stolen that. I'd have bought one off the streets. They need to start putting them in projects and they need to get that government change program up and running again because the people will be too constipated to do crime. I was gonna rob somebody but I couldn't get off the bowl, you know. I stayed on the bowl, you know. And government changed. That's what Obama needed to get that program running. And as far as I'm concerned, I'm gonna put Coco butter on it. I hope the old remedy still work. Them old remedies still work. I've got this room by the bowl. >> Yeah, you got it now. -[ unk ]. >> Coco butter for everybody. What do you think of President Obama's winning the Nobel Peace Prize? >> I wish he would just punched somebody in the face. You cannot [ unk ] a bowl, man. Some people just got punched in the face, that's all they know. >> You're speaking of his problems with the opposition politically or you're speaking just- >> Yeah. I love Obama. You see how cool he is? I know other countries gonna mess with us. You see the way he gets off Air Force One? You see the way he walk. He kept that magazine where he kicked that leg. He walked like a black dude and kicked that leg. Looking just like Richard Roundtree, my biological father. >> I believe the Nobel people put that in their citation that they like [ unk ]. >> Yeah, he deserves it. >> Why did you decide to write a memoir now? >> Why did I decide to write a memoir now? Because they gave me a big bag of money now. [ unk ]. They gave me a bag of money and if anybody wants to read what my life was like, fine, cool. I'm cool with it. It's a book. I wrote a book. I'm a GED but I wrote a book. That's what I am the New Black stands for. You gotta try, at least you gotta try. >> You did have a co- author. >> Ha? >> You did have a co- author for the book. >> I did? I know it, but I'm not getting that much. >> No, no, it's a small. >> Hey, call my business manager. Let's get it straightened out now. >> How long did it take you to write the book? >> About 2 years. There was a lot of old wounds reopened. There was a lot of me going back to my father, my mother and what we had to go through living and growing up in the projects and my childhood of running away and all my friends that are lost to the war, to the struggle, the statistics. It was all of that. >> So 2 years. >> Took me a long time to write it, man. I took my time with it. Then at the time I was going through divorce with my wife, there was a lot of stuff happening in my life, man. The DY's, all that hot stuff was going on. >> So you did go through a fairly rough time a couple of years ago. I mean did- >> No more than anybody in this room. You know, when there are no struggle, there is no progress. >> What sort of pulled you out of it? >> Belief. My belief in God. I'm holding on to him. Staying funny to all of that stuff. Staying funny. You know, if I lose my sense of humor, I'm dead. I'm gone. Yeah. >> Was it tough with your relationship with your 3 kids while you were sort of a name in the tabloid news? >> I'm quite sure it was, man, but for me I thought I was just having fun. But I was also- I was what Kanye West was going through. I was not dealing with things and it was starting to manifest itself with the drinking, you know. I wasn't dealing with my marriage falling apart. I wasn't dealing with survival guilt. I wasn't dealing with none of that stuff, so I drink just to numb the pain, just to numb it. I didn't wanna feel nothing. >> Have you stopped drinking? >> Yeah, it's been a year and a half now. Don't ever think about it. >> That's great. >> I don't focus now- You know, I know what it cost me. >> So, on 30 Rock, they did take- it sounds like they take just about everything and made a plot. >> You can make funny stuff like people are wondering now. People are sensitive. Can we make fun of Michael Jackson? I've been on the road. I've heard comedians start to make fun of him 'cause you have to move on. You know, grieve a few months, but to put it in the sorrow, you know, Michael Jackson wouldn't want us to sit around feeling sorry for him. Now, people ask me one time, do you think we should make fun of Obama? Why not? Did you see his haircut? I'm starting from the top. Somebody needed to do Sasha's hair That little girl needed her hair done, and Michelle knows we have something going on back in the days. One of them little girls is biologically mine, biologically. >> This is just like our [ unk ] 10 questions. >> Yeah. >> Very similar. >> It's the best one, baby. >> Yeah, you said the same stuff. What's the best perk of being Tracy Morgan? >> This. Life, this. This every day. I wake up and it is like, it's surreal. I still feel that way. I can't believe every day. [ unk ] every day is a dream, you know that, 'cause I have my days- Lord knows I have my days but these are the moments that make it all worth it, just people interested in me and interested in you without you holding a gun to their face. You know what I'm saying? Laughing except for this dude in a funny straight face scare the shit out of me. Come on, man, don't short- change me, man. Don't short- change me, dude. He said, " I'm funnier than this guy ." Funnier than this guy, get Saturday Night Live. This is crap. >> Alright, folks. Our time is tight. So we're gonna have to wrap it up. But I wanna thank you all for being here. I wanna thank Tracy for being here. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions with Tracy Morgan","description":"The Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star has a new memoir, 'I Am the New Black.' He answers readers questions in front of a live audience","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nATLle6X/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-10-15T01:02:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nATLle6X.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/nATLle6X/","duration":"PT10M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/nATLle6X/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```