Tracy Morgan on ‘Saturday Night Live’ return, being inspired by cast

There has certainly been a lot of negativity as of late when it comes to “Saturday Night Live” thanks to the departures of Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah after six seasons, so let’s go ahead and talk about a different side of this business: What being on the show means to people. Even if Taran and Jay may have a range of emotions over their exit (hard to know; we’re not them), we imagine that they are extremely grateful for the platform and the opportunity.

For Tracy Morgan, who first rose to prominence as a part of that show, he felt a real sense of gratitude simply for an opportunity to come back and do more of what he loved. Speaking to Howard Stern in a new interview on his Sirius XM show, the comedian made it clear just how much it meant to him to be back in that room:

“When I went home, I was in the pitch meeting and this young cast, all of them … I know they were doing their hardest, their best pitches, and they inspired me so much.”

As a matter of fact, Morgan claimed that after that pitch meeting he went over to the famous Comedy Cellar and performed five minutes of stand-up, just to get himself back within that world. Since that time he has toured more, and he’s also now up for an Emmy nomination for his “SNL” hosting gig. We certainly imagine that Lorne Michaels would have him back in a heartbeat once more in the event he wanted to return.

If you do want to get some other news right now when it comes to “Saturday Night Live,” head over here to get some further commentary on the Taran exit. Meanwhile, sign up over at this link to secure some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)