Jordan Peele talks Get Out, his Tracy Morgan sitcom, and “brewing a comedy legend”
On last night’s Tonight Show, Jordan Peele came out sprinting, which, considering everything he’s got going these days, makes sense. Sure, he was recreating the so-called “Get Out Challenge,” where fans of his uniformly praised “social thriller” (as he terms it) recreate that scene from the movie. You know the one. Still, the point stands that Peele has a lot of irons in the fire, plus whatever metaphor you want to use for the imminent birth of his child with wife and fellow hilarious person Chelsea Peretti. (Peele refers to their joint venture as “brewing a comedy legend within her.”)
There to promote Get Out’s DVD/Blu-ray release this past Tuesday, Peele was his usual charming and funny self, filling in Jimmy Fallon and an armed-forces-packed Fleet Week audience on the massive critical and commercial success of Get Out (he modestly asserted that its $230 million box office take was the worldwide gross), and the upcoming Tracy Morgan sitcom he’s producing, The Last O.G. Peele describes the series, coming to TBS later this year, as a fish out of water story about guy (Morgan) sprung from a 15-year prison sentence who finds that his street- and prison-smarts don’t translate into his old, newly gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood. Marking Morgan’s return to TV after his horrific car accident in 2014, the series has also given Peele plenty of time to work on his amusingly accurate Morgan impression. (Tracy choking on a Ding Dong is as hilarious as you’d think.)
Meanwhile, the newly minted media mogul is preparing both his Jim Crow-era HBO series Lovecraft Country (based on the Matt Ruff novel, and co-produced by Underground’s Misha Green), and another socially conscious horror film in 2019 where, as Peele describes Get Out, “humanity is the creepiest part.” He also teased the alternate ending on the Get Out DVD and Blu-ray release that, he claims, is “challenging.” No spoilers, but Peele does indicate, “You’ll know why we didn’t use it.”