He’s been teasing it since his very first post-accident interview, but now it’s happened: Tracy Morgan has returned to the stand-up comedy stage. Mashable reports the comedian made a surprise appearance last night at the Comedy Cellar in Manhattan last night, where he performed a brief set for a clearly appreciative crowd. (The same obnoxious morons who shout out “I’m Rick James, bitch!” at Dave Chappelle during his sets can now breathe a sigh of relief, because they’ll soon be able to shriek “I am a Jedi!” at Morgan in similar fashion.)
Morgan was recently announced as the upcoming host of Saturday Night Live on October 17, so this set was probably part of a practice run leading up to his hosting gig, as the comedian also dropped in on The Stand comedy club Monday night for another unannounced set. Recording was banned at both locations, but a Refinery 29 writer present wrote up an account of it, mentioning Morgan’s set included jokes about his speech therapy, and at one point necessitated a pause for a coughing jag, with the comedian jokingly suggesting it was from smoking too much weed. 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander also happened to be on hand, celebrating Morgan’s return with him. Now all that’s left to do is wait for the inevitable triumphant belly-slapping morning-show interviews.