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Staying Alive

Tracy Morgan

Netflix · 2017 · 60 min

A defiant comeback hour from a comic lucky to be here.

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Tracy Morgan takes the stage in a three-piece white suit and white Adidas sneakers, addressing the giant Walmart truck in the room immediately. Recorded at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey, just miles from the site of his near-fatal 2014 highway crash, the hour serves as a career resurrection. After a traumatic brain injury, a coma, and extensive physical therapy, his return to stand-up is treated as both a personal milestone and a victory lap.\n\nThe set begins with a pre-taped homage to Saturday Night Fever, where Morgan struts through Brooklyn carrying a Walmart bag stuffed with cash. On stage, he translates his brush with death into his trademark bizarre storytelling style, recounting how he avoided the ‘white light’ in his coma because he assumed it was the police and he had warrants. He also details his family’s sudden, aggressive interest in his settlement money, his conversations with God, and his experiences during rehabilitation.\n\nWhile Morgan strikes a more reflective tone than in his pre-accident work, promising that he wants to be a better person, he does not abandon his cruder instincts. The material swings between self-reflection and the crude sex routines that defined his early career, including a controversial bit about Caitlyn Jenner. He delivers the set with a raspy voice and a slower pace, but with the same unpredictable energy of his pre-accident years.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Parodying the opening strut of Saturday Night Fever in Brooklyn with a blue Walmart shopping bag full of cash.

    Re-enacts John Travolta's walk beneath the Bay Ridge subway line set to the Bee Gees, buying a white fur coat with crash settlement money.

  2. Being rejected by God at the gates of Heaven.

    Jokes that God turned him away because only the good die young, but reports back on conversing with several deceased celebrities before waking up from his coma.

  3. Still shopping at Walmart despite the crash.

    Notes that he harbors no ill will toward the driver and still shops there because the prices are great, joking that after his settlement everything in the store went up a penny.

  4. Rehabilitation, hospital fantasies, and learning to walk again.

    Recounts crushing on his physical therapist, passing time in the hospital bed, and the emotional milestone of learning to walk unassisted at the same time as his toddler daughter.

  5. Being an asshole versus being a 'piece of shit.'

    Reflects on his flaws, male shortcomings, and aging bad boys like Flavor Flav, resolving to work toward self-improvement rather than staying stuck in arrested development.

How it plays

Tone
Irreverent, raunchy, reflective, resilient, and life-affirming.
On stage
Dressed in a white three-piece suit with white Adidas, Morgan balances his trademark pugnacious, boisterous, and raunchy persona with newly open emotional vulnerability and gratitude.
Pace
Shifts between energetic physical stand-up, animated act-outs of family members, and slower, introspective seated moments in a chair onstage.
About
Surviving the near-fatal car crash and coma, Rehabilitation, physical therapy, and regaining mobility, The Walmart settlement and family members asking for handouts, Second marriage, sex life, and fatherhood, Growing older and personal maturity

What the critics said

Critics praised the special as a triumphant, resilient comeback that finds Morgan tempering his trademark filth and brashness with welcome vulnerability, introspection, and warmth, even if familiar crass moments persist.

In the room: Deep goodwill, warmth, and strong emotional support welcoming Morgan back to the stage.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: imdb.com, vulture.com, qr.netflix.com, netflix-movies.com, latimes.com, chortle.co.uk, decider.com, nytimes.com, en.wikipedia.org, theringer.com.

Backstory

In June 2014, Morgan's minibus was hit by a Walmart truck on the New Jersey Turnpike, killing fellow comedian Jimmy Mack McNair and leaving Morgan in a coma with broken bones and traumatic brain injury. After an undisclosed settlement with Walmart and extensive rehabilitation, he launched his 'Picking Up the Pieces' comeback tour.

Details

Released
Taped
2016, Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank
Runtime
60 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Ryan Polito
Topics
Before
Bona Fide (2014)
After
Takin' It Too Far (2023)

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