Tracy Morgan Returning Home to 'SNL' to Resurrect Comedy Career

by Julian Spivey
The first three hosts for the upcoming 41st season of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” were announced on Monday, August 17 with Miley Cyrus set to host the season premiere in early October with Amy Schumer and Tracy Morgan hosting in the following weeks.

Cyrus and Schumer are pretty much no brainers to host the long-running sketch comedy show, as both celebrities currently see their stardom through the roof, but Morgan is the most interesting choice of the three announced hosts as his return to the ‘SNL’ stage will also mark his comeback to performing after almost losing his life in the summer of 2014.

Morgan was critically injured in July of 2014 when his limo was hit by a Wal-Mart owned semi-truck after the trucker had fallen asleep at the wheel. Morgan was in a coma for two weeks following the accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury, a broken leg, broken nose and multiple broken ribs in the accident that claimed the life of his good friend and comedy writer James McNair, which mentally might have hurt Morgan worse than his own injuries and rehab that forced him to spend many months in a wheelchair and still cause him pain to this day.

Morgan made his first television appearance on NBC’s “Today” back in June, in which he emotionally recapped the experience of trying to make his way back from his many injuries – both physical and mental.

Morgan memorably began his career as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” from 1996 to 2003 before appearing as a satirical version of himself named Tracy Jordan on the critically-acclaimed NBC sitcom “30 Rock” from 2006 to 2013, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for his performance.

Going back to New York to host “Saturday Night Live” for his first comedic appearance since the devastating accident in 2014, which almost claimed his life, seems like the perfect way for Morgan to resurrect his entertainment career.

‘SNL’ is a familiar home for Morgan and the passionate fan-base that has watched the show year-in-and-year-out is greatly anticipating the return of one of the show’s living legends after more than a year of heartache and pain.

Morgan’s performance on ‘SNL’ in October should be a key factor in seeing how far down the road his development series with FX will be. Morgan had signed a deal with FX to star in a comedy before his accident and the network promised to hold out as long as Morgan needed for the show.

---