Lamorne Morris unfailingly brings the laughs to acclaimed TV series (“New Girl,” “Woke”) and movies (“Barbershop: The Next Cut”). The Second City-trained Chicagoan is up for his first Emmy, though, as the straightest shooter in the wackazoid cast of “Fargo’s” fifth season: North Dakota state trooper Witt Farr.
A rare decent man on showrunner Noah Hawley’s vast Northern Plains, Witt is wounded while trying to help protagonist-with-a-past Dot (Juno Temple) escape ruthless kidnappers sent by her deranged Christian Nationalist ex, Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm). She ends up saving him, and Witt spends the rest of the season — often on crutches and up against an array of violent lunatics — determined to repay his debt to Dot.
Morris is everywhere these days: substitute hosting for Jimmy Kimmel, in episodes of “Ghosts” and “Unstable,” co-anchoring the “New Girl” recap podcast “The Mess Around” and celebrity chat pod “The Lamorning After.” He’ll be seen this fall as Garrett Morris (no relation) in the “SNL” docudrama “Saturday Night.” And now the actor is in preproduction for Prime Video’s “Spider-Noir” series, in which he’ll play journalist Robbie Robertson to Nicolas Cage’s 1930s-era Spider-Man.
As may be expected, Morris, 41, is excited about the new directions his career is taking. The wintry Canadian location of “Fargo” was a key leg on that journey.
Writer-director-creator Noah Hawley’s nonformulaic casting formula keeps fans on their toes. “‘Fargo’ walks in the shoes of comedy, and also tragedy,” executive producer Warren Littlefield notes of its stars.
How does it feel to be recognized for this role?
It’s weird to be nominated for something that people haven’t seen you do before. But that is awesome. It’s given me so much confidence in other things that I’ve got going on. “Barbershop,” “Game Night,” “Woke” ... all these things are really, really silly. It just felt great to get serious. As an actor, we train in all mediums. It’s good to be able to flex that for sure.
How did you land on your approach for Witt?
I had a discussion with Noah about where I wanted to take the character and what level of levity he provides. There was a lot of silliness happening with other characters; I wanted to play this as straight and real as possible. Maybe float in and out [of] minuscule levity here and there. If something is slightly amusing, that’s the honesty of the character. But I didn’t ham it up like I would on a “New Girl.”
Witt faces little overt racism, but as a Black man in the militia-ridden MAGA bastion where he lives and works ...
Joe Keery and I had a bit of a standoff in the police evidence locker in Episode 3. He tells me he beat a Black boy with a tire iron and how if I keep getting in his way, that’ll happen to me. That kind of set the tone for who I’m dealing with. Outside of that, I already knew that about these people. That’s why I keep my head down: I’m gonna go where I’m needed, do my job, then go home. But I’m thrown into this chain of events and I have to see it through, against the racism and the B.S. and the foolishness of these people.
It’s weird to be nominated for something that people haven’t seen you do before. But that is awesome.
— Lamorne Morris
There’s a recent Men’s Health article about how you lost 40 pounds after making “Fargo,” accompanied by totally ripped photos.
When I was talking character with Noah, I kept picturing a burly man, someone who doesn’t stay active as much as he should because he’s in his car all the time and it’s cold. So I got the idea of putting on a little weight, which wasn’t hard in Calgary because the food scene there is awesome! And it’s too cold to want to leave the house and go to the gym very much. I wanna say I got up to 200 pounds, maybe? I’m normally walking around at about 175. So I bulked up, then afterward I got the call about “Saturday Night.” Garrett weighed 160 pounds at most, so I initially started dieting, cut sugar and carbs. Then my trainer said, “You may as well work out.” So I got in shape. It’ll come in handy for future projects, hopefully.
Anything stand out as the toughest aspect of making “Fargo”?
My daughter is almost 4, and having to travel back and forth or travel her back and forth ... I wouldn’t say it’s tricky, it’s just a bigger challenge to stay focused when you haven’t seen your child in a few weeks. FaceTime is cool, but my daughter is as wild as a 4-year-old can be, which is a bit of a stress reliever because they’re laughing and giggling all the time. They just see play, and before you know it you went the whole day without stressing because you’re coloring or running around or swimming or whatever. This was my first time working being away from her for a little bit, so I would say that was a challenge.
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