‘Woodrow the Homeless Man’ isn’t the most well-known character Tracy Morgan created, but he might just be the most revealing.� And although Morgan isn’t and never was exactly homeless, his rise from street life to superstar is astonishing.

While Woodrow lives in the sewer 10-feet below the feet of Hollywood stars, such as Britney Spears, who dropped by Saturday Night Live when Morgan was a reoccurring character on comedy’s most famous program.� The dreams and aspirations Woodrow showed in the absurd skits were seemingly Morgan’s version of social commentary during his rise to success.� Like the Eddie Murphy created character, ‘Buckwheat’, Morgan’s Woodrow represented more than a funny seven-minute segment to Morgan, it represented, in Morgan’s words, the ability to not only seize opportunity, but to take “it captive in the basement.”� Here was an opportunity to take the tragedy in his life and create laughter — a charm that got Morgan through his darkest times.

Like Woodrow, Morgan’s comedy is somewhat bizarre, but so is his story.� From the ridiculous skits he performed on SNL, to the manic antics he does today — things that often find themselves coming out of the mouth of ‘Tracy Jordan’ on 30 Rock — Morgan has reached the point of superstar.� But through it all, he was always being sincere.�

Morgan’s brand of honesty is felt only paragraphs into I Am the New Black — a memoir that captures Tracy Morgan’s life. “There are two things that will get you through life, and those things are simple and human and everyone can have them.� If they’re part of your life, you will always have a way to keep on living,” Morgan writes in the introduction.

I Am the New Black reveals the path that led him from the streets and squalor of Ghetto, U.S.A. — a particularly rough neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York� — to international superstar status.� Morgan ran away from Brooklyn to the Bronx — from a troubled relationship with his mother, to the doorstep of his drug-addled father — only to watch as his father died of AIDS after he had kicked the heroin habit.� Not yet quite a comic in job or disposition, Morgan began dealing crack when his father passed — a profession Morgan was admittedly awful at.� The murder of his best friend was the force that drove Morgan to his life of comedy — as things were spiraling out of control, Morgan knew it was his way out of the ghetto.

Years later, here Morgan is.� He was the ‘Hustle Man’ who sold items from the hood former on mentor, Martin Lawrence’s sitcom, Martin, he was an eight-year regular of Saturday Night Live, the star of an ill-fated sitcom, The Tracy Morgan Show, a star of many popular comedy movies, and finally, reaching his highest as a main star of the Emmy-winning 30 Rock, where Morgan plays� an eccentric, unleashed movie star, serving as a loose caricature of himself.

In advance of his highly anticipated stand up performance, SEE had an opportunity to talk Tracy Morgan about I Am the New Black, his inspirations, his stand up and, of course, Osama bin Laden.�

SEE: Hi. Tracy.� Thanks for chatting. How are you? Where are you at?

Tracy Morgan: “I’m good, just loungin’.� I’m in my crib in New Jersey, my house.� I’m on the property!� The compound was raided, you know?� Same dudes that designed bin Laden’s, designed my place.� I lack confidence though.”

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SEE: I was just going to ask you about Osama.

TM: “Yeah, I clipped him.� You wanna know if I clipped him?� Yeah, it was my work.�The fucking dresser fell on my foot though.� Clip the guy, dresser falls on my foot.� I knew where the guy was for two years.� Got close to him, you know.”�

SEE: The Osama moment was pretty inspirational for the United States — a lot of the world, really.� Where’d you get the inspiration for I Am the New Black?

TM: “That book’s about having no excuses — it has nothing to do with race or colour.� It’s about no excuses.� When Barack became president, I was motivated to write it.�The president’s black, — you don’t have no excuses.� Everybody’s gotta try now.”

SEE:� Your upbringing was tough and you write that it’s very difficult to make it through Saturday Night Live;� how did you do it?

TM:� “There are three things I seek in my life.� I seek enlightenment, I seek insight and I seek that guidance.� Whenever you are enlightened, you gain insight and it provides us with that proper guidance.� The proper guidance.�You must do things in life properly.� It’s not always about good or bad, it’s about proper.� How you carry yourself in this world,is how far a man’s gonna go.� And if you carry yourself properly, then you good.� People gonna treat you proper."

SEE: What were the moments that inspired you as an individual?

TM: “There were three.�The first one was when I buried my father at 19, that was really powerful.� Saddest, darkest, deepest, funkiest moment of my life.� And then I had the moment when I met my wife, Sabina.� Awesome, awesome moment for me.� And then she made it even more awesome when she gave me my first son.� Yeah … awesome stuff, man. She gave me that stability in my life.� At that moment I wanted destiny, I knew that was the place for me.� I know materialistic things ain’t always happiness.�There’s nothing like destiny.�Most people get afraid of it, me, I run towards it — I wanna know what it is.� It’s destiny.� Destiny.”

SEE: You sound like a life coach.� Can we expect that at the show?

TM: “I ain’t no motivational speaker, I ain’t trying to live in no van down by the river — this here is pure stand-up.� I’m going all out … we’re doing it all.”

�SEE: Well, comedy saved your life, after all.

�TM: “I was born with a sense of humour.� It’s what got me through my divorce, what got me through my father’s death, it’s what got me through everything — all the drama in my life —� my sense of humour.”

�SEE: If you are following the footsteps of Richard Pryor (who it is said walked a fine line between tragedy and comedy), there’s material in there.

TM: “All the drama in my life is turned upside down and it’s all comedy.� That’s all comedy is, tragedy turned upside down, turned inside out.”

SEE: Does I Am the New Black serve as any type of closure, then?

�TM: “I’ve been at closure.� I’m about forgiveness.�I seek that.� I’m not seeking monetary things, I’m seeking forgiveness and mercy.� The book was just about me telling my story.� It wasn’t about closure, I’m 42-years old, I’ve picked up the pieces.� It was just me telling a story, my story.”

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