Tracy Morgan: I Should’ve Gone with the Tsunami Jokes

New York, New York --

Tracy Morgan, star of ’30 Rock’ and former SNL alumni, has recently come under fire from what Gay Rights groups and the mainstream media alike for what is being described as an Anti-Gay rant, during his comedy act in Nashville. But Morgan's friends are standing by him, claming that he expressed regret. Way before his controversial routine hit the fan and subsequently the Internet.

"I heard him say beneath his breath right after he got off stage," said a close friend of Morgan. "He said, ‘I should’ve stuck with my Japanese Tsunami jokes.' Just as if he sensed for himself that his gay jokes did not come off as well has he expected."


Backstage, Tracy Morgan then reportedly yelled out loud enough for audience members in the front row to hear, "Get goddamn Gottfried back on the f***ing phone! Now!"

Unlike fellow comedian, Gilbert Gottfried, who was fired from his voiceover gig as a spokesman duck for an insurance company (that is heavily vested in Japan) for making tasteless jokes about the Japanese Tsunami, Tracy Morgan felt enough time passed that he could safely perform a like-minded comedy stand-up set.

"One that involved insulting, insensitive and tasteless jokes on the same subject, only without getting him into trouble," said Morgan's friend.

However, Tracy Morgan was persuaded not to do that set of prepared jokes, but instead do another.

"Just minutes before Tracy was to go on stage he got a phone call from Gilbert Gottfried, cautioning him to say away from any Japanese Tsunami jokes," explained Morgan's friend.

"Don’t do any Japanese Tsunami jokes," Gilbert Gottfried advised Tracy on the cell phone. "The audience is just not ready for it yet. Trust me. I know. Stick to some tried and true material."

"Like what?" asked Tracy Morgan.

"I don’t know…" said Gilbert Gottfried. "Wait a minute! I got it! Do gay jokes!"

"All gay jokes?" Tracy Morgan questioned.

"Well, not all gay jokes," said Gilbert Gottfried. "Throw in a few N-words and say something violent against women or children involving knives or guns. Anything but tsunamis. Stay away from the tsunamis."

"You think that will work?" asked Morgan.

"For me, as a Jewish comedian, no," replied Gilbert Gottfried. "But you, as a member of a suppressed minority group…I mean a big tough Black guy, sadly, yes. It’s a bit formulaic, but the stuff works."

"Thanks, Gilbert," Tracy Morgan said.

"Think nothing of it," said Gilbert Gottfried before hanging up. "That’s what friends are for. Now remember tragedy plus time equals comedy. Sure, it's all about knowing you're audience, too. But above all, tragedy is what happens to you and comedy is what happens to the other guy. That's what I've had to learn the hard way."

"Or how about taking your new material out for private test drive around the block with a group of your most trusted and diverse friends as possible to help you exercise sound judgment before going public?" asked Tracy Morgan.

"What? No way," said Gilbert Gottfried. "Who has time for that? I sure don't. Besides this comedy, not brain surgery."

"I guess you're right," said Tracy Morgan.

"Of course I am," said Gilbert Gottfried. "I just hope no one in the audience is recording your act and later posts it up on the Internet. Or else, you'll end up like me for sure, screwed!"

Copyright © 2008-2011 by Robert W. Armijo. All rights reserved.

Katy Perry’s Elmo T-Shirt on SNL a Last Minute Backstage Gift from Elmo?

New York, New York --


Moments before going on the air during last weekend’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) to help out with a last minute thrown together comedy skit, allegedly Elmo showed up at Katy Perry’s dressing room. Bearing a gift that would not only add to the controversy of their canceled video (previously scheduled to be shown on PBS), but ultimately would result in her getting banned from ever appearing on “Sesame Street” altogether.

“Knock, knock,” said Elmo as he intermittently giggled to himself, while standing outside Katy Perry’s dressing room door holding a box wrapped in red colored paper and tied up with a velvet red bow with gold trimming. “Guess [giggle], guess who?”

Katy Perry got up from her dresser seat to open the door, immediately recognizing the voice. She was already dressed in her SNL costume, which consisted of a low button white cotton blouse, black framed eyeglasses and a provocatively short parochial plaid schoolgirl skirt.

Upon opening the door Katy Perry grabbed the present out of Elmo’s hands and ripped into it on the spot.

“Oh my God,” said Katy Paerry as she held up the contents of the tattered box in her hands: a T-shirt bearing the likeness of Elmo’s red furry face, bulbs orange nose and bug-like eyes. “You shouldn’t have.”

“It’s for you, Miss Katy,” said a seemingly anxious Elmo as he grabbed the T-shirt away from Katy Perry holding it above his head while running around the dressing room. “To wear right now. Yes, yes. To wear right now [giggle]. Right now, now.”

“But Elmo, I’m already dressed,” said Katy Perry. She could see the disappointment in Elmo’s face, which gave her pause.

“Well,” continued Katy Perry, as she reconsidered. “I guess there’s still time to change -- Here. Give it to me.”

Seconds later, Katy Perry emerged from a screened partition wearing the Elmo T-shirt. However, as she modeled it for Elmo, she caught a reflection of herself in her dresser mirror and noticed the T-shirt was two sizes too small. And that it had been altered, low cut in the middle, revealing her cleavage. Risqué even for late night TV, she thought to herself.

“Elmo, where did you get this T-shirt?” asked Katy Perry as a note of hesitation in her voice echoed from inside the truncated garment, while she fudged with it. Trying to adjust it. Trying to make herself fit into it. Then struggled just to stay in it.

Elmo did not answer right away. Instead he dithered about the room, running his scarlet mitten of a hand along the dresser top.

“I…” replied Elmo, the three-foot tall ruby red master manipulator, guilt-invoking, smooth operator. “I made it especially for you, Miss Katy. Why? Doesn’t Miss Katy like what Elmo made for her?”

Once again, a look of disappointment appeared on Elmo’s face, overwhelming Katy Perry's sense of better judgment to the point that she just could not bring herself to deny that adorable red ball of fur anything that he asked of her.

“No, no,” said Katy Perry as she continued to struggle to keep herself contained in the modified two sizes too small Elmo T-shirt. “I love what you made for me. It’s just…just that I can barely breathe in it. It’s so tight.”

“So Miss Katy will wear Elmo’s T-shirt then?” asked an opened mouth Elmo.

“Yes, Elmo…” said an all too-ready-to-please and nearly out of breath Katy Perry as she used hairpins to anchor the Elmo T-shirt to her body piercings. “Miss Katy…will wear the Elmo T-shirt.”

“Yippee!!!” said Elmo as he began running around the dressing room again, unable to contain his excitement.

Meanwhile, Katy Perry quickly discovered that the only way to keep air circulating in her lungs was if she kept jumping up and down. Soon, one of Katy Perry’s body piercings gave way, and she experienced a wardrobe malfunction.

“Oh my God!” said Katy Perry as she wrapped her arms around her exposed breasts in a futile attempt to conceal them. “You didn’t see that? Did you Elmo?”

“See what?” said Elmo in a somewhat detached monotone voice and who was no longer running around the room. But stopped dead in his tracks, standing motionlessly behind Katy Perry. “Elmo didn’t see anything. Nothing at all [forced giggle].”

“Oh good,” said a somewhat unsettled and still panting Katy Perry as she readjusted her Elmo T-shirt, tucking herself back into it.

Katy Perry then caught the image of Elmo in her mirror, still standing silently behind her. Fixated in an almost trance like state. Just staring at her, which sent a chill down her spine.

“You know, Elmo,” Katy Perry nervously spoke. “I…I, ah, think I’m going to wear the white blouse instead, okay? Hey, where did it go?”

Just then a knock came at the door. Katy Perry motioned as if she was going to get up to answer it, but Elmo beat her to it.

“One minute to air time,” said an ambiguous male voice from the other side.

“Too late, Miss Katy,” replied Elmo as he raced to the door, ready to open it for her. “You got to wear Elmo’s modified two sizes too small T-shirt now [giggle].”

“You know,” said Katy Perry to Elmo as she passed by him jumping up and down. “I’ve been meaning to tell you. The way you refer to yourself in the third-person is really beginning to creep me out.”

“Ha-ha,” laughed Elmo as he opened the door. “Miss Katy make Elmo laugh out loud.”



Copyright © 2008-2010 by Robert W. Armijo

SNL’s Amy Carter Skit Criticized for Setting Controversial Precedent (i.e. Fast Forward: ‘Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?’)

New York, New York --

Saturday Night Live (SNL) has fallen under heavy criticism for its ‘Amy Carter Goes to Public School’ skit, which has been characterized by critics as insensitive, inappropriate, if not disrespectful, and should have never been aired.

“We’re talking about the President’s daughter here,” said one displeased SNL viewer calling into 30 Rockefeller Plaza to complain along with thousands of others. “She’s just a child. And no child deserves be used as either the butt or punch line of someone’s joke. No matter how much of a public figure the child’s father is.”

NBC says it never received so many complaints from their viewing audience before.

“Not since we took ‘Star Trek’ off the air nearly ten years ago,” said one concerned NBC executive.

“President Carter’s decision to send his daughter to a public school guarded by the Secret Service was the inspiration behind the comedy sketch,” explained an NBC spokesman. “His critics contend that it was an unjustified expense of taxpayers’ dollars and an intrusion into Amy Carter’s life as well as that of her classmates.”

In the comedy skit drawing all the fire, Amy Carter (Laraine Newman) is accompanied by two daunting Secret Service Agents (Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd) wearing dark suits, eyeshades and hidden walkie-talkie earpieces, standing at both sides of her desk in a classroom filled with other children after her father, President Jimmy Carter, insists that she attend public school instead of a private one.

Outraged by the complaints received for the skit, a protective Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of the late night scripted comedy TV show, vowed he would not allow anybody to intimidate his SNL writers.

“That’s my job,” said Lorne Michaels.

NBC’s legal department confirmed the controversial skit had been cleared for airing through its censor in advance, all according to policy and without incident.

“That should be enough, man,” said a SNL writer who collaborated on the creative work. “Beside, who knows, maybe one day there will be a Blackman in the White House who has kids. Can you dig that? And not placing an antic disposition on them like we did with little Amy Carter would be hypocritical, man.”

“If that day ever comes, I don’t mind risk having to place my SNL writers in the awkward position of being misperceived as racists,” said Lorne Michaels. “Better them than me.”

Copyright © 2008-2010 by Robert W. Armijo