Tracy Morgan: "Funny Is Just F--king Funny"

It's January, and we're soon to be inundated with Oscar hysteria. I know. I, too, am weary and not yet filled with an urge to discuss the nuances of Keira Knightley's work in Atonement, either.

Wouldn't you rather kick back and think about, say, Tracy Morgan? I thought so. So, without further ado, here's Tracy, talking to us on the set of his upcoming movie First Sunday. It's about a couple of guys who knock off a church. Ice Cube and Tracy play partners in crime.

P.S.: This interview went down in the rec room of an actual church. I kid you not.

How do you get psyched on set?
You think about the premiere. You think about the red carpet. You think about the people who are going to come to the movie. That jazzes me up—$9.75, that's the price of admission.

Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Saturday Night Live: Free associate!
Chris Rock is one of my comedic heroes. But I just come from a different place than Chris. I mean, I came from a world of black; Chris was bussed out and all of that stuff, and he was exposed to white people. But I didn't grow up like that. I went to regular public school in my neighborhood.

So, by the time I got to Saturday Night Live I wasn't on the black and white thing; I was just on the funny thing. I've never been on the black and white s--t. I think comedy transcends all of that. Funny is just f--king funny, you know what I'm saying?

And I'm coming from the hood. I grew up across the street from Jay-Z. I raised Jay-Z. So, it was a different challenge for me when I got there, 'cause I come from Def Jam and all that. I had never performed in front of a white audience until I performed for Saturday Night Live.

How did SNL define you as an actor?
I think it made me crazier. I was hanging around Will Ferrell, Colin Quinn and all those guys. But as an actor, Saturday Night Live was like theater, so it refines you in that theatric way—you know about cameras, you know how to open up, you know about blocking and these things. But as far as my sense of humor, I'm still f--king raw, dog!