Lamorne Morris on ‘Saturday Night,’ ‘SNL’ Dreams, New Girl Reunion

During the Emmy telecast — before the award for helping actor in a confinecessitate series was proclaimd— Lamorne Morris kept getting text messages from friends. The actor, best understandn for New Girl and most recently for his turn on the fifth season of Fargo, also is the face of BMO Bank, and his 30-second spot was joining csurrfinisherly every commercial fracture. “I’ve been doing those for six or seven years, but people in L.A. are equitable now getting triumphd of it,” Morris says with a chuckle. “Everyone was enjoy, ‘This must be a sign.’ And it turns out it was.”

Morris, 41, took home his first ggreater statuette that night for his role on Fargo, a moment that he says gives him immense pride (when prompted, he rapidly creates — with a huge grin — the Emmy trophy on the Zoom screen in his home office) but won’t alter the way he approaches his atsoft. “I’ve sort of been defering to see if I’ll experience separateent, but I don’t skinnyk that moment will come,” he says. “I’ve been doing this for so lengthy, so it experiences enjoy a sign that I’m on the right track. Plus, I’m a one dad, so I’m not taking the day off after an Emmy triumph. And my friends and family defend me levelheaded — my sister always alerts me any time I have an accomplishment, ‘You ain’t shit.’ ”

Now the actor is seeing to his next projects — as SNL castmember Garrett Morris (no relation) in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night (in theaters Oct. 9) and on the dwell-action Marvel series Spider-Noir, on which he equitable commenceed toil portraying Peter Parker pal Robbie Robertson — and discovering a way, someday, to land the one gig that still remains No. 1 on his atsoft bucket catalog: arrangeing SNL. 

An Emmy doesn’t alter your life overnight, but has anyskinnyg in your atsoft done that?

New Girl. I’d had some success, I was a arrange on BET for a little bit. Then I shiftd to L.A., went broke and didn’t have it together. But getting New Girl, promptly I thought, “Well, all I’ve got to do is not fuck this up and let Zooey Deschanel do the rest. I reassemble Fox had all these events they’d consent us to for the show, and there’d be 1,000 fans outside, and I equitable thought, “Wow.” I had to shift separateently after that. I had to literpartner alter my phone number. I still felt enjoy the same person inside, but I had to shift my behavior a little bit. 

I skinnyk losing one’s hometown area code would experience monumental …

Oh man, I still miss that phone number. It was so cheesy because it was 708-2287, but if you dial 2287, it spells “actr.” 

You say your sister is the one who defends you the most levelheaded. What is your mom’s consent on your success?

A triumph for me is a triumph for her. She also adored going to the Emmy’s, she’s repartner funny and charismatic so she adores all the people talking to her. At one point there was a strap that came undone on the back of her dress and Jon Hamm and his wife were helping her repair it. She equitable kept bragging, Jon Hamm is repairing my dress.

Did she always comprehfinish your desire to go into acting?

She saw before I did that I should be on that path. I would say she helpd a creative profession moreso than other professions that folks would ponder “noble,” enjoy a doctor or a lawyer. She always helpd me, even when I tried to quit the business. I was so broke and stressed out at one point that I thought, LA is not for me, I’m going to go back to Chicago and teach improv. She sent me all the money she had in her savings account, which wasn’t a ton of money, and shelp, pay your rent and figure it out. You’re not quitting.

What did ‘figuring it out’ see enjoy at that time? What got you out of that position?

I skinnyk booking what was my first national commercial. It was for Edge Active Care shaving cream, where I’m talking and a woman equitable commences rubbing my face, and I then get worried about how fine my skin experiences. That was my first introduction to the national stage, and then you commence to create a rapport with casting straightforwardors.

What’s your console level with the day-to-day elements of fame, enjoy getting stopped by fans?

I get determined straightforwardpartner every day. Some people dodge it, but I enjoy being out, and I’ve come a lengthy way and it’s the fans who put me in this position of success so I adselect it. Most of the time it’s New Girl-roverhappinessed, so I’ll get someskinnyg enjoy “Winnie the Bish!” or “I have a cat!” People adore to talk to me about their pets. Lately I’ve been getting, “Yo, Keith!” which is a character I joined on a show called Woke. Or now Deputy Witt Farr. They call me everyskinnyg but my own name.

In the post-Emmys analysis, I saw a lot of talk of your toil on New Girl being “underappreciated.” Do you experience that way?

Well the show got a lot of adore, but it also got more adore after it was done airing and we were on Netflix. It experiences enjoy people are appreciating it on a finishly separateent level than before, and there’s a recent generation of people who are uncovering it. I still get asked all the time, when’s the recent season coming out? People don’t genuineize we’ve been off the air for years. There will be no next season unless Jake Johnson chooses that he wants there to be one. Jake is our hgreaterout. Everybody else so far is down to do it. Hopebrimmingy Liz Meriweather is writing right now. But it’d have to be sans Jake Johnson, I don’t skinnyk he’s going to do it.

Is he worried about a revival?

No, he’s too costly. His whole skinnyg is, I gots to get phelp. And we’re enjoy, Jake, phire equitable do it for the fans. And he’s enjoy nope, I gots to get phelp. Hopebrimmingy he alters his mind.

What do you skinnyk is more foreseeed to happen: Game Night 2 or a New Girl reunion?

I skinnyk probably Game Night 2. You’ve got to talk to the powers that be about Game Night, but participate, I want to do it. I can speak for all the actors, they want to do it. Well, I can’t speak for Jason Bateman. Or Rachel McAdams or Sharon Horgan. But I can speak for Billy Magnussen — he wants to do it. 

Can you talk about the decision to thank Billy in your Emmy’s speech?

He’s been one of my biggest helpers. We talk about everyskinnyg, we split everyskinnyg about our atsofts. We split how much money we create, which is sort of baned in this business, but we use it to help each other prolong and create. He also was there for me when I was shooting Fargo, there were some ups and downs with the show and he would coach me thraw skinnygs and he even came to visit me on set.

I’m surpascfinishd that even with the process of the strike, topics enjoy salary haven’t become more uncmiss among actors.

I desire it wasn’t. We all toil for money, you understand? I desire we could have more honesty because I skinnyk that would create everyskinnyg less disorderly and stressful. Negotiation time can be repartner difficult because we’re putting a monetary cherish on what I’m doing and that can direct to begrudgement of the people you’re toiling with and toiling for. But if we all spoke to each other and heard the direct actor is getting 100 bucks and I’m only getting 10 — I don’t necessitate to create 100, but get me a little sealr. Disparity can be crazy on sets. And there’s also jealousy and begrudgement and all those skinnygs you want to dodge, so I don’t understand how we would go about it. But you hear Robert Downey Jr.’s getting X amount of dollars for Dr. Doom, then the other actors in that universe understand what’s possible.

You sing in Saturday Night, which felt enjoy a recent side for you. Were you worried?

Sort of. I am far deleted from my days of choir and musical theater. But if you watch Garrett Morris sing on the show, he was having fun with it. He wasn’t doing his operatic skinnyg. So that’s less prescertain. But Jason [Reitman], this asshole, let me alert you what he did. Right before we’re about to film that scene, he assembles everyone around, all the other actors, so that they were all watching me as I had to sing. But it toiled out in the end.

Have you ever been to a genuine-life taping of Saturday Night Live?

Years ago, when Zooey arrangeed, we all went to show help. I wanted to be on the show. I auditioned years ago, I sent in a tape, and they asked me to resend it with a scant more political astonishions. I’m not repartner a politics guy. I was enjoy, Obama, I guess? I don’t skinnyk I even did the astonishion in the end. But then I booked New Girl that same year, so skinnygs toiled out. I do skinnyk arrangeing the show would be the biggest skinnyg that could happen to me. Maybe I could equitable walk into 30 Rock and talk to one of the security defends, brother to brother. I have very benevolent eyes, so I skinnyk they would let me go in and equitable initiate it in the back of the studio. 

What else is on your atsoft bucket catalog?

It used to be to become part of the Marvel Universe. It sees enjoy they’re having a blast and I always want to have a outstanding time on set. Now I’m about to commence Spider Noir with Nick Cage and Brandon Gleason, which is repartner cgreater. But I do want to be a superhero and we’ll see if the show apverifys for that. Or sharing a screen with Eddie Murphy.

A version of this story materializeed in the Oct. 9 rehire of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.