Dylan Gadino of Punchline Magazine posted a response to the latest Tracy Morgan controversy, in which he outlines the difference between Tracy Morgan the actor and Tracy Morgan the comedian. More importantly, he suggests that Tracy Morgan the comedian, might want to just stop talking:
Listen, I completely support freedom of speech, especially in the realm of stand-up comedy. I also believe a stand-up act should be funny and maintain some semblance of “art,” which, of course is an incredibly subjective concept and near impossible to define.
I’m not asking for Morgan’s head. I’m not even asking him to apologize. Why should he? If he really despises gay people and we’re in a country where he’s allowed to say that, then go for it, Tracy. An apology would just be insincere– and an insincere apology is worthless....
So, Tracy can save the bullshit. Hopefully, he’ll just get off the stand-up stage for a while and stop leaning on his television credits. Most importantly, maybe he’ll just shut the fuck up. That would be nice.
The question of "how far is too far in comedy" is often raised, and usually by people who aren't equipped to answer it. But this latest dust-up over Morgan's material, so far, seems to have the comedy-faithful and the comedy-bystanders in agreement that the "30 Rock" star's set was less comedy and more bigoted rambling, and therefore, not art.