Here it is! The most wonderful and happy news of the day: Saturday Night Live has announced that Tracy Morgan will return to the show as the guest host on October 17th.
We’re excited to announce our first three hosts of Season 41: @MileyCyrus, @amyschumer, and @RealTracyMorgan! #SNL pic.twitter.com/cVOrHZKPBk
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) August 17, 2015
Stoked to be going home…#SNL
— Tracy Morgan (@TracyMorgan) August 17, 2015
As you may well know, fans of the former 30 Rock star were not sure if they’d see Morgan return to performing. Following the fatal accident in June of 2014 that left him with several serious injuries—Morgan’s tour bus was hit by a tractor-trailer in an accident that killed his friend and fellow comedian, James McNair—the comedian’s future was put on a major hold.
It was so severe that Morgan was unable to attend Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary Show last year. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin—who both worked with Morgan for 7 seasons on 30 Rock—took the stage to honor their beloved friend, with Baldwin doing his best Tracy impression. It’s a hilariously loving homage to the actor’s ways that, if you’ve never seen, is definitely worth your time:
And while this will not be Morgan’s first appearance on TV since the crash, it will be his television return to performing. One year after the crash in June of this year, he went on the Today Show for his first televised-interview, where he talked about the struggles of his recovery and about his friend that he lost but was unable to mourn since he was in the hospital.There is no other way to describe it but heartbreaking: it was tough to know even then if a to return to comedy would even be possible.
So it’s no surprise that today’s announcement filled us with joy. Whether as the confused Brian Fellows on SNL to the difficult man-child Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock, it’s a relief to know his time making us laugh is not over—and we will hopefully have many more years of him invading our homes with his humor.
What’s your favorite Tracy Morgan moment? Share it in the comments below as we celebrate this tremendous news.
