GARRETT MORRIS

(Redirected from Garret Morris)

'Garrett Morris' (b. February 1, 1937) is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Morris was a church-choir singer from his youth, trained at the Juilliard School of Music, and soloed early in his career with the Harry Belafonte singers. He performed in a number of Broadway musicals, including ''Hallelujah, Baby!'' and ''Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death''. He also appeared as a high school teacher in the memorable cult classic film ''Cooley High''.
Morris has appeared in numerous television shows and movies since the early 1970s, but is best known as one of the original cast members of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. At least twice on ''SNL'' he sang classical music: once a Mozart aria when guest-host Walter Matthau designated him as a "musical guest...in place of the usual crap", and once a Schubert ''lied'' while the titles on the screen purported to express his colleagues' displeasure at having to accommodate a misguided request by him. Morris appeared in five episodes of The Jeffersons playing a character named Jimmy.
One of Morris's best known character on ''SNL ''was the Dominican baseball player Chico Escuela. Chico spoke only limited and halting English, so the joke centered on him responding to almost any question with his catch phrase: "Baseball... been berra berra good... to me."
According to the book ''Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live'', Morris was frequently unhappy during his tenure on ''SNL'' from 1975–1980, and expressed the opinion that he was usually typecast in stereotypical roles. In the late 1970s, he began to freebase cocaine on a regular basis, and began to experience hallucinations and symptoms of paranoia, telling other cast members and writers that an invisible hypnotist robot was following him. This culminated in a bizarre outburst in front of Kirk Douglas during rehearsals for a sketch in February 1980, when Morris allegedly stripped to the waist and began to scream at the top of his lungs.
African-American performers who have followed Morris on ''Saturday Night Live'' have at times been publicly concerned with not experiencing the same fate Morris did. Eddie Murphy, for example, told ''TV Guide'' in the early 1980s that ''SNL'' producer Jean Doumanian "had tried to Garrett Morris me... turn me into the little token."
In 1985, he appeared in Larry Cohen's science fiction horror film ''The Stuff'', playing cookie magnate "Chocolate Chip Charlie", a parody of Famous Amos.
In 1994, he was shot in an apparent robbery attempt but went on to make a full recovery. In a radio interview, he mentioned that the robber who shot him was eventually incarcerated, and in prison some fans of Garrett's who happened to be inmates there teamed up and beat up the robber in revenge.
Among later television performances, he had regular roles on ''Hunter'', ''Diff'rent Strokes'', ''The Jeffersons'', ''Hill Street Blues'', ''Martin'', and ''The Jamie Foxx Show''.
As of 2006, he continues to perform regularly in films. He also operates and is the host of his own comedy club, The Downtown Comedy Club in downtown Los Angeles.
February is Black History Month. On February 9, 2007, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa honored Garrett Morris for his work and contributions to the black community. He declared February 9, 2007 Garrett Morris Day and named The Downtown Comedy Club the official club of Los Angeles.

Contents

Trivia

Recurring characters on ''Saturday Night Live''

Celebrity impersonations on ''Saturday Night Live''

External links

Trivia

★ Morris is the oldest living ''SNL'' cast member.

★ Was the second person to recite the famous phrase "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!" (Chevy Chase was the first)

★ Garrett Morris cameoed on an episode of ''Saturday Night Live'' in 2002 (host: Brittany Murphy; musical guest: Nelly) in Tracy Morgan's recurring sketch, Astronaut Jones.

★ Jamie Foxx has impersonated Garrett Morris on ''In Living Color''.

★ Morris was played by Dean Bernard in the 2002 TV movie ''.

★ Garrett Morris had a cameo appearance on ''Family Guy'' in the episode "Barely Legal" reviving his "News For The Hard of Hearing" bit he did during Weekend Update with Chevy Chase in ''SNL's first season.

★ Garrett Morris guest-starred in the second episode of ''Halfway Home'' as Jimmy the mailman.

Recurring characters on ''Saturday Night Live''

★ Chico Escuela, a Dominican baseball player for the New York Mets

★ Cliff, the streetwise friend to the Fenstruk Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin)

★ Grant Robinson, Jr., one of the Nerds

★ Hodo, one of Miles Cowperthwaite's cronies

★ Merkon, the leader of the Coneheads

★ Weekend Update's "News For the Hard of Hearing" translator, who simply repeated each line while shouting.

Celebrity impersonations on ''Saturday Night Live''

★ Alex Haley

★ Andrew Young

★ Anwar Sadat

★ Bob Marley

★ Chubby Checker

★ Diana Ross

★ Ella Fitzgerald

★ Hank Aaron

★ Idi Amin

★ James Brown

★ James Meredith

★ Jesse Owens

★ Ken Norton

★ Leon Spinks

★ Louis Armstrong

★ Martin Luther King, Jr.

★ Mickey Rivers

★ Muhammed Ali

★ Pearl Bailey

★ Richard Pryor

★ Rubin Carter

★ Sammy Davis, Jr.

★ Sherman Hemsley

★ Tina Turner

External links

★

★ Colfax roasting Garrett Morris

★ SNL Player:The Official Garrett Morris Fanlist

★ SNL People Entry

★ Morris as Chico on Weekend Update

★

★ The Downtown Comedy Club