RE-RELEASE - Garrett Morris

7:58Garrett Morris:Well, I'm from Cambodian, Nigerian, West Africa. And by the way, Ancestrian.com says I have a little bit of finish in me. Can you believe that?

8:09David Spade:That's interesting. It's down deep. Yeah. I can't see. My skin cries when it's sunny.

8:15Garrett Morris:By the way, tomorrow's my birthday.

8:17David Spade:Tomorrow's your birthday. I read that your birthday's coming up. Is it the first? Is that what it is? Tomorrow's on February 1st, yes. Okay, we'll delete this because this is going to be airing in 2027. uh no we don't we don't know all right what's your secret i have to ask what are you what are

8:34Garrett Morris:you drinking this here is green tea okay that's it that's the actually glucose tea it helps to reduce your glucose um count so blood sugar stuff yeah yeah i i have a i'm type 2 diabetes your

8:51Dana Carvey:energy uh doesn't match your birth certificate it's huge i mean you're just like on fire You're just energetic.

8:57Garrett Morris:I can't tell you on here, man. This is recorded by cops. Okay.

9:05David Spade:Yeah, they're always monitoring this.

9:10David Spade:I will say, Garrett, you have sort of a very bright light and energy about you and a fun thing about you. And I see why in comedy you do well because you always bring it. You're very vocal. You got a strong voice. you just have a fun vibe and I think that's positive. People want to work with you.

9:29Garrett Morris:So when it comes to comedy this is what I say. I'm an actor who was in a comedy show many many years ago and I have been suffering ever since. Now why have you been suffering? Because everywhere I go people want me to be funny and as my ex-wife tells you well she used to tell me all the time, N word you ain't funny.

9:54David Spade:yeah fill in the blanks i got it yeah yeah uh well i think you're funny and uh you know a lot of people have a funny vibe about them like people say the uh when i date girls i go what do you look for and i go i like a girl that's funny but i don't mean she needs to be robin williams some girls just have like a charm and fun thing about them and that's funny to me and it's a lightness and fun they don't have to be like you know henny youngman yeah so i like that I'll take care of that part. Take my wife. Exactly. Yes. But by the way, Dana, Garrett has worked with Pryor and all these huge, huge stars, which I look over and I can't believe how cool it is.

10:34Dana Carvey:I got to work with Richard Pryor, but I want to hear your story first. Oh, don't one up him yet. I have a nice Richard story.

10:41Garrett Morris:I have a great Richard Pryor story, okay?

10:44Dana Carvey:I want to hear yours. It's got to be better.

10:45Garrett Morris:When Richard and I were cult fiends. that's the title of the story doesn't start like that right but richard brought his own group because he had heard that i was learned nobody had heard about me except people on east

11:06Dana Carvey:coast so richard brought his own writers nobody knew i got this job which i was facing in 75

11:12Garrett Morris:five with a pretty good job for a black guy to get. They're thinking I'm Lorne, Lorne, help me. Lorne Michaels.

11:22Dana Carvey:Lorne Michaels.

11:23Garrett Morris:Lorne Michaels inward. Can I say it?

11:26David Spade:Like you were his main man.

11:28Dana Carvey:You can say anything you want as far as I'm concerned.

11:31Garrett Morris:I basically thought that was going on. That Lorne had gotten some guys who knew. Well, at the time I got to saturday night live i'd already been in new york for like 17 years i had written two plays two plays yeah i read that i did at like 15 off broadway and broadway shows uh and so i paid my dues right and they didn't know that so when richard came he brought his own group and he didn't use me and i was really hurt by that because until this day richard is my favorite monologuist of all time, right? And at that time, I was really very hurt because I wanted to work with him. So he did the show, didn't use me, but later on when I went to California, he was doing a movie called Critical Condition.

12:20Garrett Morris:And I got a call from my agent saying, Richard Pryor wants you to be in the show, be in the movie. And he doesn't say anything. I assume that was his way of saying, hey, you know, I'm sorry, or something like that. I like it. Yeah, yeah. That was... Very sweet, sensitive.

12:40David Spade:Well, you know, a lot of hosts do that. I mean, a lot of hosts still bring in writers just because they get scared. Like, maybe Paul Mooney was with Richard. I don't know who he was with.

12:47Dana Carvey:He was a force of nature. Paul Mooney, I used to do stand-up with him in the late 70s, and I would go, why is this guy in this little club? I mean, he was so charismatic and so good-looking and so funny. It was like just everything.

13:02Garrett Morris:I love Paul Mooney. I'm sure he was behind Richard doing what he did because he was Richard's writer. But to this day, I see because much of what Richard did was Paul Mooney. Right.

13:15Dana Carvey:OK. Go ahead. What do you think? You know, when the idea of a monologist, you know, I think of that more voice orientated. But I think that with Richard, from when I first saw him on the Ed Sullivan show, he mimed for two minutes a guy reaching under his underarm to see if he had B.O. And it was like just a silent movie, you know. So Richard had that capacity to paint a picture instantly. And he could do just a straight monologue. So I don't know.

13:43Garrett Morris:He could tell stories.

13:44Dana Carvey:Yeah.

13:45Garrett Morris:And play all the characters. Yeah, you could talk when you talk about Mudbone, you wouldn't be laughing for like two or three minutes.

13:52Dana Carvey:Mm hmm.

13:53Garrett Morris:Till he got to the punchline.

13:54Dana Carvey:Yeah.

13:54Garrett Morris:But you were so engaged in Mudbone till it's time till this day again. How did you say the word? I said monologous. You said say it again.

14:02Dana Carvey:A monologist.

14:04Garrett Morris:Anyway, sometimes I had trouble with English.

14:07Dana Carvey:I knew I knew what you meant. I want to tell my Richard Pryor little story here. Tell me. Tell me. So I'm working at the Hollywood Inn as a waiter. and it was near the Circle Star Theater up near San Francisco. Richard's headlining there. So Richard's in the restaurant. So I got to go serve Richard and I was really nervous. So I brought him a Denver omelet. Okay. And then later on I came back and I took the plate and he looked up at me and said, quote, whoever made that omelet can suck my dick. and i never knew if it was a positive or negative review 12 years later i'm in a movie with richard prior which i'll tell you about we're at lunch and i just wanted to know what he meant that day but i didn't want to bring it up he probably wouldn't remember so i look at him i take a bite of my cheeseburger and i said this cheese uh this uh this cheeseburger is really really really uh good And he goes, wow, well, you must want to suck somebody's dick.

15:10Dana Carvey:No, I can't. I got the headline. He got it wrong.

15:15Garrett Morris:He uses that suck dick metaphor a lot. Yes, what he. Well, OK, so it wasn't just me.

15:21Dana Carvey:Yeah.

15:21Garrett Morris:One of the funniest jokes I ever heard was when he said this bitch was so fine. I want to suck her daddy's dick.

15:31David Spade:I like that one.

15:37Dana Carvey:I just want to say I just had a root canal and a crown put in and I'm kind of spaced out. So the end of the joke went like this, you know.

15:45David Spade:OK, do it again.

15:46Dana Carvey:He goes. I like. Wait a minute. I'm so I'm so stoned from the dentist. The punchline. The punchline. You do it. Oh, I said. No, I can't. I really can't remember.

16:00David Spade:I think you said this cheeseburger can suck my dick. No, it was.

16:04Dana Carvey:Yeah, it was a reverse that I got the. the information by setting a trap you know oh and he and i i will get to it before this podcast over but i am so high right now i mean i i'm just like i'm very what kind of what kind of marijuana marijuana no it was dental stuff oh okay but if i if i do smoke marijuana my brand is sure my brand is sledgehammer that's my brand of cannabis oh yeah god your brand of cannabis is what sledgehammer sledge from the peter gabriel collection yeah i like that name it sounds cool i will be smoking a joint okay hey garrett i have a question for you you can smoke a joint right now

16:52David Spade:while i ask you if you want um now garrett when you okay bring me a joint oh boy uh uh so when When you come on SNL, it must be like the Dirty Dozen. So you guys all get together. You probably don't know each other, right? Right. And then you are thrown together and you're sort of like, okay, let's see what works, what doesn't work. And you were a writer. You were a writer at the beginning, right?

17:17Garrett Morris:Yes, I was, yes.

17:18David Spade:Okay, so you were not, I don't think you were on camera until later, I think that was a decision that was made later, correct?

17:24Garrett Morris:I actually was on camera the first show. Oh shit. Let me tell you. You're in the middle of a story. I don't want to cut you off.

17:32David Spade:No way. It's about you.

17:35Garrett Morris:I was a playwright. So I brought on my play. He read it and liked it because there's a couple of funny things in it. He hired me. I didn't know that just because you write a play that's about two hours doesn't mean you can write 30 seconds.

17:53David Spade:Yeah, a little tiny sketch. Yeah, for sure.

17:55Garrett Morris:It took me about four or five months to realize I couldn't do it. And I was really pissed off myself. Then finally I realized I had an idea. Because in my play, the Black Panther group that I have is called the Young Lions, makes a joke about how when they're collecting money at fundraising, they want to raise a lot of money when they have white, guilty white liberals in the audience. I love him. Right. So I have to tell that idea. I'm going to call his name to Schiller. Oh, Tom Schiller. Oh, Tommy Schiller. Yeah. Right. Schiller goes over to the studio and tells it to another guy whose name I will not call.

18:45Garrett Morris:That guy then writes it down as his idea. Whoa. Wait a minute. Right, when I come over, it's written down, and he's not even giving me credit for even contributing, right? So anyway, what happened? I'll tell you the whole story. Anyway, what happened was it became a thing called a white guilt relief fund.

19:13Dana Carvey:Yes, I remember the sketch.

19:15Garrett Morris:Right.

19:16Dana Carvey:Yeah.

19:16Garrett Morris:And I don't know when I started off to help me because I'm 85. I may be on track.

19:22Dana Carvey:I'm trying to ask white people for donations out of guilt and make them an honorary Negro. You'd send them a plaque.

19:31Garrett Morris:Anyway, that was the only thing that I did that I thought was worthwhile. And this guy who at that time was a second in command to end beats. Right. Now, here's what happened was my man. I was so angry. about that. Yeah. A couple of weeks to stew over that. And I was going to make a serious mistake. I'm going to come in this particular day and let him know what's for. And even if it meant physically confronting him, I was going to do that. Although I knew he was a wrestling champ.

20:04David Spade:Now, I think I know who it is.

20:07Garrett Morris:Wrestling champ from Harvard. I think I know who it is. I didn't care. I said, if I'll get a couple of licks in. Yeah. after he whips my ass he's still gonna remember me right yeah so i get off to the elevator and somebody's there says garrett lauren wants to see you in the green room i go to the green room and sure enough john and gilda and jane had told lauren michaels look you've got got garr bringing in black actors he's one himself and here's a movie he's done they were looking at cooley high cooley hi right so long looked at cooley high he auditions me with gilda and i was totally counter-punched because gilda is like gilda was i to this day i'm real she how she improvised you didn't even know she's doing it right and i kind of punched throughout that it was i said it was i was a taxi driver driving from gfk with her as my my uh passenger and i was cheating the hell out of her all the way right and so anyway that's how i became a member of the group so i was there the first the first time we did it from the beginning but i didn't start off that way no wow but how about you turn your anger and you had to switch gears and i look i i look i'm a buddhist so i don't believe in necessarily in a personal god but somebody really was in the works who stopped that because i was gonna make a serious serious mistakes franken's franken's got some ground game

21:42Dana Carvey:too did you have go-to moves garrett i mean how as a fighter would you do the kind of hey let's be friends and then headbutt or would you work the body or what would be your kind of go-to moves

21:53Garrett Morris:gone to the source of factors first because that would have brought him down then i would have kicked him in the chin he's going to get up mad as hell and do some kind of a hole and break my it okay but okay look if you're short like i am and don't weigh much you gotta go for what you

22:11Dana Carvey:know you gotta get away you hit fast and then you move but be scrappy there was no way to get one in

22:17David Spade:no one could have won that fight yeah no i know the dude and he would he's very tough when he gets in the ground game i would say i listen i got mad at him too but i didn't i didn't think of

22:28Dana Carvey:decision. Hey, before we go on, can I just do the Richard Pryor joke? We can cut it out. All right. I'm so sorry about the dentist, but here it is. I waited. I'll set it up real fast. When Gabe Richard Pryor, Denver, on the holiday end, I brought got the plate up and he said, whoever made that omelet can suck my dick. Twelve years later, true story in a movie, wanted to know what he meant by suck my dick. Was it positive or negative? I'm having lunch with him. I take a bite of the cheeseburger. I look at Richard and I say, well, whoever made this cheeseburger can suck my dick. And Richard said, you must love that cheeseburger.

23:05Dana Carvey:That's how you do it. Boom. Dana. I'm making Garrett happy. That's what I love. I never knew I would say suck my dick on this podcast. Now I've said it seven times. That's a mic drop.

23:17Garrett Morris:No more. Ladies and gentlemen, what do you have? if you have a potato with a penis.

23:28David Spade:Excuse me?

23:29Garrett Morris:A patinas. No. You have a dictator, stupid.

23:38Dana Carvey:Why do you have to add the stupid part? It's a pretty good joke.

23:44David Spade:No, because you didn't know what it was, stupid.

23:47Dana Carvey:Stupid. I like the stupid at the end. It was hilarious. That could have been a guy character. So, so you were part of that original Lex economy. Now who is your hangout friend of the cast? These are just basic SNL questions. So who'd you gravitate to? Was it Gilda or just everybody? Or did you have people?

24:05Garrett Morris:Gilda, Jane, and Chevy. But I didn't do what I should have done. Cause I should have also after the show, after the show at the first couple of years, it was, you go downtown to this bar. I think of Willie. Oh, yeah, you have the party. Yeah, that's equal to that golf game. Yeah, people talk about where you form alliances. Right. So I didn't do that. So I really had a lot of people not liking me thinking I was stuck up and all that. Well, yeah.

24:35David Spade:Why didn't you go? I'm now I want to know. Because I even to this day am an introvert working against that.

24:43Garrett Morris:All right. I've really gotten over it to a large extent. But also I had at that time Okay, do you want to know the real truth? I had probably a couple of girls at home Waiting for some cocaine To do what we were going to do

25:00Dana Carvey:So it was either the girls and the cocaine Or having Lauren tell his story About how we met her Well, listen

25:11David Spade:That's a tough one, Dana Because his story sounds great Like all that fun stuff But then you look back and you realize you've got such huge, talented, cool people that you get to. Because I was going to say, Garrett, did you have an official after party? It sounds like you didn't. But we had Dana was on and then I was on with him for a while. And we had they would walk around with a ticket, a secret, you know, during the show. Remember this, Dana? And they'd hand you and you put it in your wardrobe or something. You go, here's where the party is. Don't tell anyone. And it was during the live show.

25:40David Spade:So you go, OK. And then after the show, you'd go straight there. But they want everyone to find out about it. and so we'd have a designated spot every Saturday and we'd go there. Sort of the same thing. You just go there and get all fucked up with everybody.

25:53Garrett Morris:But you see, I'm sure that the reason why that didn't happen to me is because at first, I set up not going in the first place.

26:00David Spade:Right.

26:01Garrett Morris:So when that started happening, people probably said, well, you know, fuck him. You know, he doesn't.

26:05Dana Carvey:Well, you had some responsibilities to get back to. But I remember when I first got on SNL, Laura was telling me about, you know, Chevy and Danny and everybody and Garrett. You said, Garrett, the only way to get - Wait a minute, do that again, do that again. Chevy and Danny and, you know, Eddie and all the people and Paul, you know. You could never get Garrett to the party unless you brought some cocaine and some hookers. I go, really? Right. I'm sure that. Right. I'm sure that.

26:30David Spade:Listen.

26:30Dana Carvey:I'm sure they would have said that and they would have been correct.

26:33David Spade:It's good bait.

26:34Dana Carvey:Well, the thing about it was coming in 86, you guys were badasses. like to me that original cast you guys were oh it's a little well a little bit of a okay let's a little power flower let's oh you're gonna blow your nose yeah a little gentleman joins us um been on saturday night live from the original cash um young man named uh garrett morris can we but we thought of you guys as badass pirates you would fight there were drugs you know chevy and and Bill Murray would fight and Belushi was like a badass. And then we got in and people were having like Ampstel lights. We'd have a Bud Light at the party with me and Phil and just look around.

27:14David Spade:Yeah, we didn't party as hard.

27:16Dana Carvey:We felt we didn't belong.

27:17Garrett Morris:Well, can I say something about John?

27:20David Spade:Yeah.

27:21Garrett Morris:Mm-hmm. John, when he and I were both into the cocaine thing, he didn't really talk to me unless he needed cocaine. Mm-hmm. And I get a knock on the door. come in and I put my 10 saw down there and you know what he would do?

27:41David Spade:Do 10 of them?

27:42Garrett Morris:By the time he got to, I had

27:44Dana Carvey:none left.

27:45David Spade:So he would just

27:46Dana Carvey:go in, get a straw on his nose, go down on the desk. You were about to snort the coke and he would snort all of it? Oh my God. He would leave

27:54David Spade:a little bit at the end. Oh, nice guy.

27:59Garrett Morris:He's a brilliantly challenging man, but boy, boy.

28:02Dana Carvey:I had mineral water and Nora Dunn would come in and just chug it. I'm kidding. But what was it about? Like, I tried cocaine. I've talked about it. I just like you're saying you're fighting being introverted. Like when I did cocaine within 30 seconds, I was very sad. I just really it made me very anxious and very paranoid. I only tried it twice. And I one time I did some cocaine, drove to the comedy club and I couldn't go in the club because I knew they all hated me in there. And I just drove back home. So how did it? But I knew people that cocaine spoke to them, that eventually they had it in a little thing and they just sniff it all day.

28:44Dana Carvey:Yeah. So what did it do to you?

28:47Garrett Morris:I mean, cocaine did the opposite to me. It livened me up.

28:52David Spade:Yeah. Mm hmm. Oh, because you were an introvert. So it kind of opened you up.

28:56Dana Carvey:But then you need more cocaine, right? You're losing the high. You got to get more, right?

29:00David Spade:That's the trouble.

29:01Garrett Morris:That's the trouble because the thing that first high, you never get it again. Then you get it again. David. Okay. After that, you're striving to get that first high. So even if you're on for like 35 years, which I was 35 years. Yeah. You get never get that again. Then you start smoking it. Right. And you get that. And then smoking it, you're coming down. So you keep coming down. You never get that first tire again. Okay. So doesn't make you stop chasing it.

29:33David Spade:I was there. I did it for a while.

29:34Garrett Morris:Well, Lynn Byers is one. Do you remember Lynn Byers? Oh, yeah.

29:38David Spade:What a mess. Yeah.

29:39Garrett Morris:When he, when that happened to him, I started thinking, Garrett, you're way older than this guy. You're way older. And, you know, something's going, you know, you're lucky that that didn't happen to you.

29:50David Spade:You know, Garrett, I was in it during Lynn Byers. for the listeners is a basketball player that got recruited by the Celtics, I think. And I think he died after draft night or something from doing too much cocaine. Something, I think, before he played. And that was the first time I think I knew you could die from just doing straight cocaine. Like, I hadn't heard that.

30:10Garrett Morris:Excuse me, excuse me.

30:12David Spade:He dropped his joint, his house is on fire. No, he's actually...

30:17Dana Carvey:Is it okay to say that we think our friend Garrett Morris is enjoying some fine cannabis sativa sativa oh so that's like what does that do it evens your energy out or what

30:30Garrett Morris:sativa is a kind of marijuana that lets you stay awake oh it's upper okay yeah it's an upper uh if you get a hybrid it's in between if you get indica you're gonna go to sleep so a lot of times when i'm working i'll either do it is that weird outfoking or with this you know

30:49Dana Carvey:Well, I worked with Scatman Carruthers once in Rock and Roller Center. I envy you, okay? Oh, I got to see. I'm a scatman. Angel from heaven, sweetest guy.

31:02David Spade:Oh, wow.

31:03Dana Carvey:And always was, he'd go in the bathroom and you'd hear him and he'd be smoking weed, you know. And so one night, it was the one year anniversary of John Lennon's death. And my brother was visiting the show. It was a sitcom with Mickey Rooney, another crazy man. And Scatman gave us a joint. He rolled it in front of us, and both ends were closed off. He did it without even looking. And so then we tried it, and it was terrible. It was really weak. So the next break, I brought back some Colombian pot from Santa Cruz. No, you didn't.

31:37David Spade:Purple hair. I did.

31:38Dana Carvey:And the next day in the elevator, now, Scatman was from the 30s when it was illicit. In the elevator, people around, he says to me, quote, The music was good. might I get a pound

31:51David Spade:of your weed

31:52Dana Carvey:so after the show was over my brother and I got a huge bag of pot grocery bag of pot drove it down to Van Nuys where Scatman brought him the pot played banjo kept in touch with him his guitar and ukulele still going strong we never met a character like Scatman you know you see that man there he points to the janitor He goes, that man's an artist That man is an artist You know, he was just taking us all these different places I like that He was in Blues Brothers, Dana

32:24David Spade:And that's the only reason I knew who he was Because I was young and I saw I think he was in Blues Brothers He sang Minnie the Moocher Is that what I'm thinking?

32:32Garrett Morris:I know Rita was in it, right?

32:34David Spade:He was in The Shining Oh, I don't know Oh, yeah, that was him too

32:38Garrett Morris:With Jack Nicholson You know what? I've never seen that

32:43David Spade:It's scary

32:44Garrett Morris:I love my man, but I hate

32:48David Spade:Scary movies

32:49Garrett Morris:Yeah, I hate scary movies

32:51David Spade:Yeah, so do I, dude, I'm with you

32:53Dana Carvey:Well, you said that Jack brought in a suitcase of pot Into London By Pogging Me Cocaine? No, this was cannabis And he goes And Jack goes, I'm not gonna sell it It's just for my personal use And they let him through Really? Yeah Because he's a monster

33:14David Spade:shoe. I have another thing. Did you have any favorite sketches back then, Garrett, when you were there that first year?

33:20Garrett Morris:The Colossal President. What was that?

33:25Dana Carvey:The Colossal President.

33:26Garrett Morris:Yeah, there was this thing at the 12 Mile Island or something like that, where the nuclear thing. Oh, Four Mile Island? Three Mile. Three mile. I know it was a phrase.

33:38Dana Carvey:5K.

33:39Garrett Morris:Yeah. Everybody's big. And I'm the wife of the president. And he's big and I'm big, you know. Another one that was my favorite, not for any other reason, but I really think about it as a way in which somebody didn't get the message. It was with O.J. Simpson.

33:59Dana Carvey:Oh.

33:59Garrett Morris:Oh, well, he was a Mandingo who goes around, raping all the black slaves, female slaves. And at the end, I'm supposed to kiss. I don't want to kiss him, David. In a sketch? Simon is to kiss. You know, I'm like this to kiss him and he backs away. As if I really wanted to.

34:23David Spade:Yeah, you were just acting, right? Oh, man.

34:27Garrett Morris:Another one is something that Alice White Belt did the baseball.

34:34Dana Carvey:Very very good to go Chico.

34:36Garrett Morris:It's probably been very, very good for me. Yeah, actually Chico Escuela is really Brian Dole Murray's original concept. He's funny. His brother came up with then Alan enlarged on it. Right. So we would do a piece like that all the time. And also, I can't throw out something that Chevy came up with for me, which is Hard of Hearing.

35:01Dana Carvey:Yeah, which became kind of a runner. Everyone knows that.

35:05David Spade:Are you sure? Yeah. And Zwei Bell's a big writer there. Yeah, he was good, right?

35:09Garrett Morris:I love him. I love Zwei Bell. Yeah.

35:11David Spade:Yeah, he's great.

35:18David Spade:But Garrett, now, when you did in the beginning. First of all, I don't know when Pryor hosted or what year it was when they did that sketch with Chevy. I think it must have been the first year. Wasn't Chevy only one year?

35:30Garrett Morris:Yep. No, Chevy came in after a year and a half.

35:35David Spade:Oh, no, I thought that was Billy.

35:37Garrett Morris:I'm sorry. No, Chevy was in after a year. You're right. He was in a year, right. And then Bill Murray came in.

35:44Dana Carvey:Right. And Chevy blew up. What was that like when one cast member was like, wasn't he on the cover of Time or something? and he just went pew. Was he on a couple of times? I didn't know that. Or Newsweek. I mean, I know that Chevy just got so much.

35:57Garrett Morris:I said, right on. He did with Fletch. That was the name of Fletch.

36:01Dana Carvey:Yeah, he did a lot of movies.

36:02Garrett Morris:Yeah. I thought, however, he waited, he should have waited a little longer. Of course, I agree. He wishes he'd never left.

36:10Dana Carvey:He wishes he'd stayed at least five years.

36:13Garrett Morris:Right. Just like the guy who was on that cop show who later on did a CSI.

36:19David Spade:David Caruso? so yeah he left too soon you know that happens and i get i sort of get it but chevy was a tall great looking guy and he's a and he was really good in comedy and then he was a movie star like i don't even know what that would be like but to leave when you know it's the best show it's a coolest show like you guys i know chevy blew up but all you guys were huge the beatles i mean

36:41Dana Carvey:everyone on the show rebel i mean there's just was nothing like it i mean i was in college and when it came on and I saw all you guys.

36:48Garrett Morris:It makes me feel old, fellas, okay? When I was one. I feel old all the time. How old were you?

36:55David Spade:I was being born in the hospital and it was on TV and I was like, this looks pretty funny.

37:00Garrett Morris:Oh, my God.

37:02Dana Carvey:I was born in 1988.

37:06Garrett Morris:When I got into Saturday Night Live, I had been in New York about 17 years, right? And you were 38. When I was asked to join a Saturday Night Live, all those other, excuse me, motherfuckers had just got out of high school and college. I was about 10 years away from AARP.

37:29David Spade:You did not look older than anyone. You didn't stand out as like someone older. Phil Hartman, who I think was 38.

37:35Garrett Morris:I was 39 years old.

37:36David Spade:Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. now Garrett this uh Dana I just want to ask him that which I everyone might know this but Chevy does there's some sketches people remember you know and one of them is Chevy interviewing Richard Pryor when he was there for a job and who wrote that huh who who

37:53Dana Carvey:wrote that one I think Chevy and Richard together oh cool yeah that yeah that's like I mean when you look back on what you guys did. That's a classic. And then what you could what we call it now, since what we can get away with now, you know, it's just very different at the time, even at the time it was incendiary. But now it would be like go to a test pattern.

38:20Garrett Morris:Right. It would just get canceled. I mean, Lauren, he did at the right time because in about 10 years we got into what we're

38:28David Spade:into now right which is where which is a softening yeah you i mean with all the respect to the

38:35Garrett Morris:brilliant cast that saturday life has always had you can't really write for them the way they wrote for us uh then i mean you know and i i hate that i hate that it changed it's a real it's a rubik's

38:49David Spade:cube you got to really you really have to cleverly get clever stuff in because you can't it's almost like you're pulling from the same eight jokes that everyone's allowed to use now right and that won't make people mad but you guys i think the first five i think you're on for five years that at least the standards and practices didn't even know what to say no to they were like this is so ridiculous like they had to learn and go oh wait we don't like that we're getting a lot of complaints about that we have to stop that but it was like playing whack-a-mole because every week you think of a new way to offend people and that was the greatest part of it well no no one cared initially

39:23Dana Carvey:and then the show became a smash. At what point? I mean, two years in, you guys just blew up. But initially, probably they didn't. No one's watching.

39:31Garrett Morris:We had a lot of people who we thought were progressive. Okay? Look, in my opinion, the true progressive. Yeah. Without any sign of racism whatsoever. But I thought -

39:43Dana Carvey:So he's like me.

39:44Garrett Morris:I thought, for instance, that Michael O'Donohue, because of his past, would be the same way. Michael Donahue, with all due respect, was an absolute racist motherfucker.

39:58Dana Carvey:You got to add motherfucker to that because it just completes the thought.

40:02Garrett Morris:The very first show, there was a skit that was going to have a black doctor, right? Have a doctor, not a black doctor. And I wasn't in it at all. So I said, hey, Michael, why don't we have the doctor be black? You know what he tells me? Well, Gary, the audience might be thrown by a black doctor. Now, this is 1975, right? I'm from New Orleans, where from the time I was 12 years old, I was surrounded not only by hordes of black medical doctors, but black PhDs as well. And I'm wondering how a guy whose name is associated with National Lampoon doesn't fucking know this.

40:43Dana Carvey:Did he not see Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with Sidney Poitier Which I saw in the theater At age eight And it infected me the rest of my life And I got to do a lot of benefits With Sidney Poitier He's another real gentleman Sorry I'm still a little high and slurring

41:01David Spade:Well that's tough because yeah you're lighting the show You say hey can I get thrown into a sketch And he said no this one's not right for you And it's like oh boy

41:08Garrett Morris:You can't be a black doctor what are you talking about We're talking about Sidney Poitier I remember being almost high. You walk by a person just walk by and you I'm on 7 2nd Street and he's coming towards me and I feel like a half a block away. I say that's fucking T-N-E-5-8. And I just passed him like that. To this day, I remember that day.

41:34Dana Carvey:Oh yeah, he was so eloquent. I remember I did a bunch of benefits for Cedars Sinai and he was always there. and then one time I got off stage and I was walking to the audience he stopped me and I was able to do my yeah and he gave me some praise and I did my I said they call me Mr. Tibbs and he laughed so hard it was with Rod Steiger I think but yeah for me there were so many brilliant movies in the 60s and 70s and just a lot of my heroes were black I mean just Jimi Hendrix My brother came in 1966. He came home. He was 13. He said, I just saw the best guitar player in the world. I said, what's his name?

42:12Dana Carvey:He goes, Jimi Hendrix. But we didn't we were we were kind of progressive in our own way back then because we just wanted to see Jimi. We didn't think, you know, and I went to the first integrated, a very, very well integrated high school with busing in 1969. So, oh, my Jimi Hendrix, you know what he did when he came back from England, where he'd always become famous.

42:32Garrett Morris:he got on the corner of 125th street and 7th avenue and played the guitar for like 18 hours or so just to introduce people to him he was really something else he was no like neil

42:48Dana Carvey:young has said about no one's ever played the guitar like jimmy hendrix did jimmy hendrix was

42:52David Spade:never he did he die before snl or he's somebody they would have he was one of those caught up in

42:58Dana Carvey:Yeah, he died. He was like 27, right?

43:02Garrett Morris:27.

43:03Dana Carvey:Yeah. You know, Janis Joplin around the same age.

43:08David Spade:Kurt Cobain.

43:10Garrett Morris:I hate it when that happened to Janis. I loved her ass, man. I mean, you know what I mean?

43:15Dana Carvey:Yeah. Well, again, you know, there's just certain talents. Like Janis is singing, and there's a word I use a lot, supernatural. I mean that screaming The intensity of it was just crazy

43:29Garrett Morris:With all due respect Especially coming out of a white woman Okay Yeah she has such a talent

43:37David Spade:And then it almost like They burn out quickly Because it's so much talent And so that voice is so cool And everything and you hope it's around forever Yeah

43:47Dana Carvey:Well it's also just the accidental playing with fire You know Jim Morrison And once you start playing with opioids and mixing that stuff in, you know, of course, you know, John Belushi, you know, it's it wasn't intentional. But you're playing with fire. It's it's just.

44:04Garrett Morris:Matter of fact, that's another thing that started me to straighten up.

44:09Dana Carvey:Yeah. John's death.

44:10David Spade:Was John during when you were on SNL? When was it? I can't remember. He was 30.

44:13Dana Carvey:Well, like 83, I think. Right. It was after SNL when he died. Yeah.

44:17Garrett Morris:And the thing is, John and I didn't really hang. Only when he needed cocaine.

44:21Dana Carvey:yeah right yeah sure yes so what how did that affect you that that gets you off cocaine or

44:27Garrett Morris:you just started to slow down or what happened to slow down and by the time i came here here i was it's not something you could just stop um but by 2005 uh i went to a a uh alcohol synonymous and they do something that exacerbates you, they will call your ass, okay? And they will sponsor you over and over and so through that I really I've succeeded in getting rid of it, okay? Much different with cigarettes which I still am struggling with but I'm glad that 2005 has been now 2022

45:10Dana Carvey:Yeah, here we are since that's what 17 years 16 yeah yeah well the body has a remarkable healing apparatus once once you give it a break you know so you're did you have a lot of people who lived a long time in

45:23Garrett Morris:your family tree matter of fact my grandfather lived in 92 okay so you got some longevity yeah my grandmother got i'm sure got cancer when she was in her 50s my mother lived to 80 but she didn't take care of herself okay so there's a cut you know either i'm gonna hook up my grandfather and you know stay for a minute how do you deal with stress

45:51Dana Carvey:are you really buddhist are you really zen are you are you relaxed in your brain all the time

45:56Garrett Morris:got the respect i know you guys hear buddhism and you think zen zen not but it's not it's only one part of Buddhist that three right over 200 ,000 Buddhists worldwide and kill them are like me. They chant, which is not the same thing as the Zen Buddhist. OK, right. So you chant. They meditate.

46:19Dana Carvey:Don't they got to dominate. I got to dominate. I got to dominate.

46:23Garrett Morris:I got to know it's not my herringy. How he got to. Oh, shit. I fucked it up. You know, let me hear it. Nam-myo-harin-ge-kyo, nam-myo-harin-ge-kyo, which means that you're dedicated to the mystic law of cause and effect, which means you don't believe in a personal God, but you do regard the law as being in the place that most other religious place God. It is the most sacred. Right. Why?

46:49Dana Carvey:I did transcendental meditation and my mantra is dumb. I'm not a lot of people. I'm a TM practitioner, too. Yeah. My mantra, Dominoly, which I found out later was Native American for your shorts, we don't have much time. Are you telling people your mantra? No, I was kidding. I'm just joking. I would never tell you my mantra. Yeah, don't tell them. My mantra is Garrett.

47:15David Spade:Garrett, after SNL, first of all, there's too many cool people there. You had Danny Aykroyd, who I did two movies with, three actually. Great guy.

47:23Garrett Morris:Beautiful guy, yes.

47:24David Spade:He was a beautiful dude. I see him like. Did you hang with anyone after the following years, Mesonel? Did you stay in touch or did you see him when you see him kind of thing?

47:33Garrett Morris:Sort of. I saw him when I saw him. When Jane was out here doing two rock, we used to talk on the phone.

47:38David Spade:Oh, that's right. Jane was on a second rock from the sun, third rock from the sun, right?

47:43Garrett Morris:And now I have a big quality relationship with Lorraine.

47:47David Spade:Yeah.

47:47Garrett Morris:Lorraine. And her daughter, Hannah, who is very, very talented. Did you see her in Hacks?

47:54David Spade:Oh, Hacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

47:56Garrett Morris:She is a dynamite actor and also a very fine comedian. She did my show last year. Yeah.

48:06David Spade:Garrett, who was your head writer when you started? Was it Ann Beetz?

48:09Garrett Morris:Ann Beetz was, yes.

48:11David Spade:She was. See, they had a girl head writer back then, which is probably more rare than a black doctor.

48:17Garrett Morris:And that other guy we mentioned, that was the assistant head writer. I know who you're talking about. And look, I was very sorry about what happened to him because I think that I'm not going to call their names. They backed him up when that thing happened. They should have backed him up and not let him go the way he did.

48:41Dana Carvey:Was that a lot of politics? Oh, I know what you're talking about. A lot of politics.

48:44Garrett Morris:What you did was not, he didn't have to leave because of that.

48:49Dana Carvey:Yeah, I tend to agree. It was a purge that had to happen, but it some people got swept up into it that maybe in a more reasonable time would have. Yeah.

48:58Garrett Morris:Yeah. He's done a bit like that.

49:00Dana Carvey:I don't. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Geez, I wonder if I'm canceled right now. Do you think we could be canceled because you agreed? We said, suck my dick. I said, Cindy, point, yeah, black man.

49:11David Spade:First of all, he says, with all due respect to us. And then he says, with all due respect, motherfucker and other people. so it really did. I got called a white motherfucker

49:19Dana Carvey:from Karen Moore. So I'm just happy the rest of the day. Like my day is a home run now because it was with love. Do you have any kids? I've got two sons and they're in show business. You're talking to the mother every day. Oh, Jesus. Are you a fire, motherfucker?

49:35David Spade:Yeah, I guess so. I mean, he got you on a technicality, David.

49:39Dana Carvey:Motherfucker is just a great word because of the rhythm of it. Motherfucker. You know, it's a great word. I mean, gosh darn it. That's not doesn't get done.

49:48Garrett Morris:In my community, gentlemen.

49:50Dana Carvey:You say it better.

49:52Garrett Morris:He's a bad motherfucker, meaning you, Dana, meaning a great guy. Yeah, I like that. I say of like, oh, Rachel Maddow. I say she's a bad bitch, right? Rather than a motherfucker. Right. She's a bad bitch. Also, I don't look at any of us anymore because it depresses me.

50:11Dana Carvey:No, no, no. It's designed to get us all angry.

50:15Garrett Morris:When I was looking for Rachel all the time, and what's the old lady, Joy Reid. Joy Reid, yeah. Yeah, you know. And Ari Melberg, you know. Yep. Brian. Yeah. Brian Williams. It was my thing until the news just started bringing me down.

50:42David Spade:Here before I before I we let you go. Do you still sing? Dana said you're a good singer.

50:50Garrett Morris:I used to sing high C's. Now I sing low C's. I sing the blues now. I don't sing, you know.

50:57Dana Carvey:Oh, you do any Albert King or who you sing? Muddy Waters and stuff like that. Muddy Waters? Yeah.

51:03Garrett Morris:My favorite blues singer is Muddy Waters.

51:05Dana Carvey:Oh, I loved Albert King Blues Power

51:08Garrett Morris:That baby

51:11Dana Carvey:In his baby bed all fussing up He's got the blues He's got the good old fashioned country blues Remember Albert? Wasn't he magic? And of course Money Waters That's another guy

51:25Lay it honest

51:27Dana Carvey:Don't be shy What are you saying with the Harry Belafonte I was with him for like nine years

51:34Garrett Morris:as a my first job in the business was as a singer arranger with uh yeah that's so amazing

51:41David Spade:the belafonte singers the belafonte singers yeah there's a 12 member group that he managed

51:49Garrett Morris:right he sucked in periodically but they used to sing without him so we're too who's saying that

51:55Dana Carvey:thing you put the lime in the coconut you put a little right that was harry okay that was harry belafonte yeah yeah and then it became a commercial too yeah some product

52:11Dana Carvey:what about seven up is the blues now you can you can get laid with that hey 85 that's all day 85 still alive 86 you're in heaven 88 don't be late 89 won't you be mine 90 Holy heaven, honey You can spit

52:31David Spade:Was this your SNL audition? That was a good one

52:36Garrett Morris:Baby, you can spit

52:37David Spade:I know I've had dinner with them Well, Garrett, thank you for coming on with us

52:44Dana Carvey:Garrett, this has been a delight You're so much fun I just feel happier hanging out with you for this hour Thank you so much, fellas

52:50Garrett Morris:For even thinking about this old guy

52:52David Spade:Yeah, you're a good dude And we all got a job because of you and the squad up there oh my god and lauren and everyone i just want to say 100 episodes on jamie foxx

53:03Garrett Morris:you're on the martin show talented men okay thank you bud extremely talented and that's how you got

53:10Dana Carvey:your job we do the best we can you're terrific a tremendous excuse me many people is who's better than garen morris nobody listen many people are saying never better nobody's ever done it like him Come on, let's get real, folks. No joke, I'm not kidding around. Garrett Morris, here's the deal. Come on, we can do better. We will do better. You got Trump and Biden at the end. I love your impressions out of me, Jenna. I love your impressions, man. Thank you, brother. Can we hang out sometime?

53:41Garrett Morris:You got my number.

53:43David Spade:All right, Garrett, miss you, bud.

53:45Garrett Morris:No, let me thank you guys for this. I appreciate it.

53:49Dana Carvey:I just really enjoyed this. I know I'm a little fuzzy and my words aren't coming out as well as they normally do because of the dental work. But I got the prior joke out. I completed it. And that made my day.

54:00David Spade:It was a three-parter.

54:01Dana Carvey:Yeah. Now I'm going to pack myself an ice, get a B12 shot, and crack a Coors Light.

54:08Garrett Morris:We don't want to end the show with the words suck my dick.

54:11Dana Carvey:Okay? No, no. What would be the substitution? So instead of saying Suck my dick You kind of say How about a handjob dear? I guess that's a little more benign Maybe not so dramatic I got one Good night motherfuckers

54:33David Spade:Hey guys if you're loving this podcast Which you are Be sure to click follow On your favorite podcast app Give us a review Five star rating And maybe even share an episode That you've loved with a friend If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey, an executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung-Kaiser and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey.

55:01Dana Carvey:Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweetech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Maura Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtney, and Lauren Vieira.

55:24David Spade:Reach out with us. Any questions to be asked and answered on the show, you can email us at flyonthewallatodyssey.com. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y dot com.