Here's a secret: I don't enjoy shooting the shit with celebrities just because they're famous. I expect pat answers — the celebrity version of a stump speech, if you will.
Tracy Morgan — and yes, it's an effort for me not to call him Tracy Jordan — doesn't stump. And he doesn't tolerate stupid questions, which I found out when I stumbled over my question about Richard Pryor: Is it Something I Said? and inadvertently implied he would play Richard Pryor in the 2017 film.
CL: You have a movie about Richard Pryor—
TM: I don't have a movie about Richard Pryor. Mike Epps is playing Richard Pryor. I'm playing Redd Fox.
CL: But you're a fan, right?
Of course. Who isn't? You know somebody who isn't? The two sweetest words in comedy: Richard Pryor. The two. Sweetest words. In comedy. Richard Pryor.
CL: What was your favorite 30 Rock episode?
I don't have a favorite one. I just loved the seven years we spent together.
CL: I've read you used to sell crack — is that true?
Yeah, I did. I did it out of necessity.
CL: What pulled you out of it?
My family. And a strong force called comedy.
CL: How did your family pull you out of it?
My family loved me so hard — I had to choose, this or that. I chose my family.
CL: What's your wish for your daughter?
Joy, love, good health and happiness and a long good life. She's sitting with me now, playing with her crayons.
CL: Does your family travel with you?
All the time. Thank god they weren't with me that night.
CL: You told Rolling Stone you'd watch the TV reports of your car accident over and over. Why?
I don't know why, I guess it was part of my therapy. I was compelled to watch it; I was still in shock.
CL: You've been as close to death as you can get and come back. How has that changed what you fear?
I'm still me; I've always not taken life for granted. People act like this changed me, but I'm still me. I'm still evolving. My life wasn't bad before the accident; the pain got a little deeper.
People don't believe in joy; we believe in pain. The pain got deeper, but I feel the joy a little bit more.
CL: You're coming to Florida after one of the most charged elections in our lifetime. What should your audience expect?
What's my performance got to do with the election? They're gonna get some more me. What they're gettin' since I started. Tracy Morgan, my life and times, my chronicles. They're gonna get my ups and downs; they're gonna laugh at my pain.
I've never voted in my life. I keep my faith in God; that's my president right there. Everybody don't deal in politics; It ain't for everybody. I don't drink the Kool-Aid.
CL: Tell us about your octopus.
She's about 85 pounds now, man. She's good, she just be chilling on the tank, she eats two lobsters a week, and she's great. I love marine life. I have a Giant Pacific Octopus, the biggest in the world.
CL: Is there anything reporters never ask you but you want people to know?
I love my audience. You never ask me that. I say hell, yeah. Tell them I love them and I can't wait to see them when I get out there.
See Tracy Morgan in St. Pete Friday night.
Tracy Morgan
The Mahaffey Theater, 400 1st St. S., St. Pete.
Nov. 11, 8 p.m. $35-$65
727-893-7832. themahaffey.com.
This article appears in Nov 10-17, 2016.