Saturday Night Live may have already passed its 40th anniversary milestone, but the series is doing a lot to make sure that Season 41 will be exceptional. On Monday, NBC announced that Season 41 will kick off with a couple of fun female guests and the return of Tracy Morgan to television. That’s right, one of 30 Rock’s biggest funnymen is finally headed back to the small screen.
Saturday Night Live won’t hit the schedule until October 3 this year, but when it returns, Miley Cyrus will be headlining the episode. Believe it or not, the “Wrecking Ball” singer will be hosting the late night sketch comedy series for the third time. That’s not too shabby for someone who is only 22 years old. She's also headlining the premiere to boot. The week after, Amy Schumer has nabbed the hosting gig, and she’ll make her hosting debut on October 10. Which leads us to Tracy Morgan. Morgan has hosted SNL once before, back in 2009 when he did a “Scared Straight” sketch with Kenan Thompson. More importantly, he was an actual SNL castmember for years and is well-known around NBC, having starred in the sitcom 30 Rock, which even earned him an Emmy nod. He'll be hosting the October 17 episode.
For more than a year now, Morgan has been sidelined, having been a part of a tragic accident that landed him in a coma for several weeks and killed his friend James McNair. The recovery has been long and difficult for Tracy Morgan, but a few months ago, the actor and comedian headed to Today, where he vowed to return to comedy again.
I love comedy. I’ll never stop loving her. I love comedy and I can’t wait to get back to her, but right now my goal is just to heal and get better. Cause I’m not 100% yet… and when I’m better, you’ll know it. I’ll get back to making you laugh. I promise you.
Morgan has still seen his name in the marquee over the past year, thanks to projects that filmed before the accident, including Top Five and Accidental Love. Still, he hasn’t officially appeared in a television show or movie since the accident occurred, unless we are counting his brief appearance on TV during his interview with Matt Lauer on Today. The SNL episode should get the actor back on his feet in terms of comedy gigs and will hopefully lead to more announcements down the line.
Tracy Morgan actually had a comedy project in the works with FX before the accident called Death Pact, which had been ordered to series shortly before Morgan’s limo bus accident. Hopefully, now that Morgan is back, FX will still have the space and budget for that comedy to move forward. We’ll keep you updated. For now, you can catch Saturday Night Live in its big return on Saturday, October 3 at 11:35 p.m. ET, only on NBC.
