In between interviews about his upcoming Netflix special,Watch Don’t Believe The Hole Online Tracy Morgan is taking a break.
The standup comedian and former SNLstar -- whose 2014 car accident shocked Hollywood -- has a line of reporters waiting for him, and when he returns they can hear his voice down the hall of this midtown hotel.
He's asking someone with him to choose a musical artist to completely erase from history, if they had to; the options are Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Beyoncé.
"The last one," his companion says, afraid to even say the name. Morgan notices this and laughs. He brushes off the existential artistic question. These days, Morgan vacillates between humor and philosophy and if you can't handle the combination, you can't handle him.
SEE ALSO: 'Master of None' breakout Alessandra Mastronardi on love, CVS, and that heart-stopping finale"Laugh, cry, think," Morgan says as we settle in for our interview, referencing Jim Valvano's 1993 ESPY speech. "When we all leave this room, we have lived a full day."
Valvano ("Jimmy V") was dying of cancer when he gave that speech. It doesn't take much sleuthing to see Morgan's kinship for well-known entertainers with a morbid history. Morgan suffered a broken leg, nose, and several ribs in 2014, and was extremely depressed during his recovery.
"I feel fortunate," Morgan told Mashable. "To walk on a stage after what I’ve been through? When I thought it was in bad shape, I always knew there were people out here in worse shape, doing worse than me."
Morgan said he "had the world to live for" -- meaning his wife and daughter -- but that getting moving after the accident was tough. In Staying Alive, he describes his wife scolding him to get out of the house and go to open mics. When Netflix gave him "an opportunity to express" and the freedom to do it in his own way, Morgan couldn't say no.
"Before I went on stage that night I'd seen my whole life flash before me," he said. "And I said 'I’m here. I’m here and I'm walking on the stage, holding the mic.' And I’ll just put it down and express myself in a funny way."
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Morgan's standup has been described as ballsy and bawdy and uproarious to boot, and Staying Aliveis no exception, with everything from comatose dick jokes to the Caitlyn Jenner MILF joke that he's on the defensive for even when I don't ask.
"I don’t fall into the bracket of PC, ain’t nothing PC about me," he says. "I come from the projects in Brooklyn. PC has no place in comedy. I just talked about what I felt like talking about and what was funny to me, so I put it down. Anybody can take it the way they want to take it."
I only get four minutes with Morgan, and it's a far cry from the persona on stage in Staying Alive. He's grateful to be back, to be working, to be funny, and to take the time to soak it all in.
"I just take it one day at a time," he says, when asked about the future. His daughter just had a dance recital, and he's still riding that wave between interviews.
"When I just came out of what I’ve come out of, I’m ready for anything the world throws at me," Morgan says. "Anything life can throw at me, I’m ready for."
Tracy Morgan: Staying Alive is now streaming on Netflix.
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Tracy Morgan won't play PC, goes all out for Netflix's 'Staying Alive'
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