Tracy Morgan knows the upside of being a former Saturday Night Live cast member better than most. He spent seven seasons on the NBC sketch institution, later became one of the funniest weapons on 30 Rock, and remains closely tied to the comedy world, even starring in a sitcom on the 2026 TV schedule that has been called 'catnip' for 30 Rock fans. But when he talks about what it feels like to miss the cut at SNL, the memory still sounds raw. In an interview, the funny man revealed how you know you’re “in trouble” while pitching sketches on the late-night staple.
During a Variety and CNN Actors on Actors conversation with current SNL cast member Marcello Hernández, Morgan looked back on his time at the show while also offering advice to the comedian who recently wrapped his fourth season and released his comedy special American Boy (which is available to everyone with a Netflix subscription). One of the most striking moments came when Morgan explained how quickly writing week can turn painful for an SNL cast member. As he put it:
Tuesday [at ‘SNL’] is writing night. That’s when you’re at peak creativity. That’s the only time you have creative control, and you hope on Wednesday, your stuff is lying on the right side of the board, because if it’s on the left, you in trouble. When I wasn’t in the show [because my sketches were rejected] — I got a wife and kids at home. They want to see me on TV. I would sit in my dressing room and play a song, and I would cry. Then I would have to go up on the stage and fake it and say goodbye. And smile when your heart is breaking.
That is a brutal little peek behind the curtain of a show that often looks like a weekly party from the outside. Viewers see the monologue, sketches, musical performances and goodnights. What they do not always see is the smaller heartbreak of spending a sleepless Tuesday night chasing an idea, only to find out by Wednesday that it may not survive the board.
Morgan’s description also makes the SNL process feel like a pressure cooker. Tuesday is when writers and cast members try to create the material that will define their week. Wednesday tells them whether those ideas have a real shot. If the sketch lands on the wrong side of the board, that can mean the difference between appearing in the episode and waving from the back during the final credits. Hernández clearly understood the feeling, adding:
That’s how I feel.
Hernández is working in a very different media age than Morgan did, where sketches can explode online long after the live broadcast ends. Still, the emotional math seems pretty much the same.
The comedy veteran's larger advice to Hernández was warmer than that one harsh memory. He told him he belonged at SNL, encouraged him to use his own name at the Weekend Update desk rather than just rely on characters, and said Eddie Murphy had taught him the value of becoming known as himself. Morgan also talked about feeling culturally isolated during his own run before Lorne Michaels reminded him he had been hired because he was funny.
That mix of pain and mentorship is what makes the exchange such a fascinating read. The NBC sitcom star was not romanticizing SNL as some magical comedy factory where every good idea gets rewarded, but instead reminding Hernández that the job can break your heart but also shape you if you survive it.
Tracy Morgan is also back on TV with the hit new comedy sitcom, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. The show normally airs Monday nights on NBC at 8:30 p.m. ET. While its first season recently wrapped, all episodes are available to stream with a Peacock subscription, which is also where you can go back and watch the comedian on his seasons of Saturday Night Live.
