But his most enduring role came in the 90s, when he joined the cast of Martin, playing the eccentric neighbor Stan Winters. The show was a huge hit and Morris’s performance was widely praised.
Throughout his career, Morris has been a trailblazer, breaking down barriers for Black actors in comedy. He has faced racism and discrimination, but has always persevered, showing incredible resilience and talent.
Today, at 87, Garrett Morris is a living legend, a pioneer in comedy and television. His impact on the entertainment industry is immeasurable, and his legacy will continue to inspire future generations of performers. As he continues to reflect on his life and career, Morris remains grateful for the opportunities he has had and the doors he has opened for others.
Garrett Morris in 2024. Photograph: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images And while he’d often join forces with other SNL alums, Morris only worked with Michaels once after leaving the show on the 1993 Coneheads film. By then, Morris had already moved to Martin – the Martin Lawrence small-screen vehicle that has been described as the I Love Lucy of Black TV. Morris played Stan, the skinflint radio station boss that time forgot. The gig was going well until Morris was shot in an LA car park during a botched hold-up attempt.
“Something happened to this day that I’ll never understand,” says Morris. “While I’m going to get what amounted to 10 operations, I get a script that says, ‘Stan sells the radio station and moves to China.’ My makeup lady was in the hospital room at the time, and I had her read it. I said, ‘It sounds like I’m being fired.’”
Luckily for Morris, Foxx was waiting with his own network TV project to pick up Morris as soon as Martin dropped him. “And he didn’t do any background checks, either!” Morris jokes. He wound up scoring a lead role as Uncle Junior – the gambling addict father figure who runs the family business, an LA hotel – and The Jamie Foxx Show went on to a 100-episode run, the bar for syndication.
After The Jamie Foxx Show, Morris strung together bit parts in film (Ice Cube’s The Longshots) and TV (Family Guy) before landing another mega sitcom role in 2 Broke Girls as Earl, the tart-tongued diner cashier who’s stuck in his 60s heyday. So what if it was another supporting role. That sitcom ran for 138 episodes, longer than any of his other hits, and paid him more than he’d ever made on TV.
Morris was not slated to be involved with the SNL feature film Saturday Night. But then Lamorne Morris, the New Girl star tapped to play the SNL pioneer (no relation), reached out to his namesake after being explicitly told not to by the director, Jason Reitman. (“I wanted to make sure he was actually going through this stuff,” Lamorne told Variety.)
The cast of Saturday Night, with Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, bottom left. Photograph: Hopper Stone
It’s just one of a number of ways that this generation’s Black performers look out for Morris. Robin Thede, the creator of A Black Lady Sketch Show, is one of a number of Black writers who have scrambled to cast Morris in their projects. Their respect for him means the world. “I like what I see coming up,” Morris says. “I have no doubt that the new crop of comics will hold us in good stead.”
As for SNL, he still watches, of course – but can’t help feeling as if something’s missing. “I don’t see the courage,” he says, “the experimental impulses. That was the whole core of what happened the first 10 years. I keep expecting it to attack in a funny way and bring out the foibles not only of individuals but of the government and all that. And nowadays, although people still check it out, I think they’re catering to too many people too much of the time.”