Def Comedy Jam (S3E1)

A very young Tracy Morgan steps to the mic and starts talking about project-brand perfumes. Long before his sketch and sitcom fame, he is just a guy trying to survive a loud room, doing a set about a fragrance called “pissy elevator” and a bubble bath named “cheese doodle”. The delivery is visibly nervous, but the manic rhythm that would define his career is already fully formed.

He shares the lineup with Mark Jackson, performing under the name Faceman. Jackson leans on absurd shower thoughts to win over the crowd, asking if blind people see their dreams, whether people with no arms need deodorant, and if kids in wheelchairs who leave home should be called rollaways. Daniel Gardner and impressionist Chris Thomas round out the half-hour.

Filmed in 1993 at the Academy Theatre in New York City, the episode captures the aggressive atmosphere of nineties premium television. Morgan had reportedly been performing stand-up for less than a year when he taped his set, going straight from local stages to HBO without a safety net.