Last O.G. Tracy Morgan pitches his own black superhero movie to old pal Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show

On The Tonight Show ostensibly to promote his new comedy series The Last O.G. (premiering on TBS on Tuesday at 10:30 Eastern), star Tracy Morgan, instead, spent much of his time complaining to host and former Saturday Night Live co-star Jimmy Fallon that he got to that whole “black superhero” thing long before Black Panther. Morgan—after doing a pre-interview sketch heckling Fallon’s character Peter crooning a sincerely felt version of Billy Joel’s ode to night-rambling, “The River Of Dreams”—even brought out proof in the form of a cardboard standee of Morgan suited up as his chosen superhero, The Black Bobcat. And even though it looked like an old Batman cutout with Tracy’s head pasted on it sporting a drawn-on domino mask, Marvel had better watch its collective, spandex-clad ass. Riffing in signature Tracy Morgan style, the comic spun a Tracy Jordan-worthy origin story for his abortied cinematic alter ego, noting that The Black Bobcat, logically, has a really good sense of smell, loves to pounce, and sleeps 20 hours a day. He does, however, only fight crime in the suburbs. “What do you want him to do,” he demanded, “Fight crime? Get hurt?”

Eventually getting down to the business at hand (after, among other things, blurting out that he and his wife so some Tracy Jordan-style cowboy-themed roleplaying that it’s best not to dwell on), Morgan explained the premise of the Jordan Peele co-created The Last O.G. to Fallon. Playing an ex-con returning to a rapidly gentrifying Bed-Stuy and an ex (the ascendant Tiffany Haddish) now married to a white guy (Ryan Gaul), Morgan’s Tray has to adjust, which—spoiler—he does not do without a great deal of Tracy Morgan shenanigans. Continuing his loose interpretation of standard talk show project promotion, Morgan explained his interpretation of “O.G.,” describing the concept as the guy with “the knowledge, and wisdom, and understanding” from back in the day. And while Morgan dubbed unlikely candidates Lorne Michaels and Obi-Wan Kenobi as O.G.s (“the one who tells you to go to the Dagobah system”), he also gave the honor to the late James McNair (aka Jimmy Mack), the fellow comedian and mentor who was killed in the horrific car crash that nearly killed Morgan as well. For Jordan, McNair and others are credited with being “that dude that’s there, that gives you that knowledge when you’re acting crazy.” Well, acting crazy in a not-entertaining fashion anyway.