Tracy Morgan reunited the 30 Rock cast in his triumphant SNL return

The "30 Rock" cast reunites on "SNL"
(Image credit: Screenshot/NBC)

Tracy Morgan returned to his old stomping grounds to host a star-studded Saturday Night Live, marking his first extensive TV appearance since he was critically injured 16 months ago in a New Jersey car crash. The longtime cast member wasted no time in using his brain injury as fodder for laughs.

"People were wondering: Can he speak? Does he have 100 percent mental capacity?" Morgan said in his monologue. "But the truth is, I never did. I might actually be a few points higher now."

The comedian said he was helped through recovery by his comedy family, which we then see on screen in what SNL pretended was a cut 2012 scene from a very special episode of 30 Rock. Morgan's character, Tracy Jordan, nearly died after a characteristically ill-fated move — "non-artificially inseminat(ing) his box jellyfish."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Jane Krakowski, and Jack McBrayer all dropped by to reprise their old roles, seemingly in an effort to prove that even years after its cancellation, the beloved sitcom is still on a noble quest for peak silliness. Watch below. Julie Kliegman

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.