Comedian Sam Morril has plenty to talk about these days. He just had an interview on David Letterman’s show “That’s My Time,” and he’s currently on his national “Class Act Tour” following his Netflix special “Same Time Tomorrow.” His busy schedule will be landing the New York native at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville on June 8 at 7 p.m.
The local venue took to Instagram earlier this month praising Morril for a “fearless approach to humor,” and celebrating his “razor-sharp wit.”
Before the show, The Daily Beacon sat down with Morril to discuss his thoughts on sports, sensitivity and how comedians survive in troubled times.
The past few years have been a rough patch for most who earn a living on stage. With the COVID-19 pandemic effectively shutting down live performance, comics have had to find new ways to improvise. For Morril, ingenuity came in the form of moving venues, in a more drastic sense.
Morril did a stint of rooftop shows during the height of the pandemic, something he credits to his momentum as a comedian staying intact.
Even legends in the field like David Letterman have been impressed with Morril’s ingenuity.
“The resourcefulness is amazing, and it’s a good thing to offer yourself, your arts or your crafts,” Letterman said in an interview with Morril.
Morril did a special in Feb. 2020, just a month before the world shut down.
“I had to find a way to build off of that somehow, or else I wasn’t gonna be heard,” Morril said. “I still needed something to come out of COVID.”
A brief look at any of Morril’s routines will have you see his knack for audience interaction. Whether it’s clapping back at hecklers or breaking the ice on a first date, one of the main places he seems to draw energy from is the people he’s around. Morill, however, said he doesn’t necessarily try to play into this perceived trademark.
“I mean I don’t look for it, necessarily,” Morril said. “I honestly feel like I do it less than people think, like if it doesn’t present itself I won’t do it. I just think it sort of breaks up the rhythm and makes things more fun for them. You look at Dangerfield and how he broke rhythm with his stuff, and I think that’s where I get the inspiration from, trying to emulate that.”
For Morril, opportunity presenting itself is sort of the name of the game. When writing new material, it’s less of a search and more based in revelation.
“I feel like it’s a little of both, like sometimes in the moment I’ll make note of something, but usually it takes some reflection on it to come up with the joke,” Morril said. “It’s definitely a process. I wish it were easier. But I guess if it were easier everyone would do it.”
Morril got his start in comedy almost as an instinct at a very young age. He was integrated into a blended family when he was 6, something that he said seemingly felt uncomfortable to everyone but him. He says trying to break the ice in the living room is ultimately what led him to doing the same thing on stage all those years later.
“I mean I was always a pretty funny kid,” Morril said. “I was never gonna be a pro athlete, and I wasn’t especially good looking. I wanted friends and girls, so from there I kinda had to be like, ‘Okay, well what’s my thing?’ So I think that kinda pushed me to be funny. Being in a blended family definitely did too. I think it was an awkward transition for everyone but me, who was like 6. I didn’t know how uncomfortable it was for everyone, I was just happy to have more people around to try to make laugh.”
What’s Morril’s trademark to getting a quick laugh, you may ask? Sarcasm. He’s practically patented the short-response, smart-aleck lane in modern comedy. Credit it to a commanding, bass-toned voice and eyes that imply they know more than they’re letting on. His observations on the world are maybe more contemplative than his delivery would have you believe.
“I’ve always been sarcastic,” Morril said. “I like short swings. Short swings and sarcasm are always your quickest route in comedy. Sarcasm is always the fastest to the punchline, I’ll just say that.”
Talking about comedy in 2023 instinctively includes discussing political correctness, or maybe the perception of it. Its subjectivity, and how much it really matters are all things harped on in Morril’s Netflix special “Same Time Tomorrow.” While maybe a concern for Twitter feeds, it doesn’t seem to be something keeping most comics, including Morril, up at night.
“No, it’s not really something I worry about,” Morril said. “I mean, I said in my special I think it’s a bit blown out of proportion. Like, Chapelle got ‘canceled’ and he’s doing fine.”
Morril continues by saying the worry only really comes in monetary form, most likely under contract.
“I’m not on TV or at risk for a network pulling show, the only way I’d be starving is if venues wouldn’t have me,” Morril said. “But then again, there’s a lot of comics saying way more outlandish stuff and can still book shows, so I’m not really worried.”
Morril also said the only true opponent in that arena is social media.
“TikTok algorithms don’t account for nuance and jokes,” Morril said. “So I could say ‘Nazi’ in a set, even if it’s totally berating them or whatever, the algorithm is still gonna push it to the bottom just cause it flagged a word I said, not taking the context into account.”
Politically charged or otherwise, rejection is still a sting felt by anyone who’s ever tried to open mic. Morril went into detail on bombing, perfecting a set and making tweaks along the way.
“I mean I think, more so than other areas, comedy is defined by collaboration,” Morril said. “Have you ever been on a bad date? There’s times when it’s one person’s fault or the other, but sometimes it can be both. So, when it comes to bombing or a set not panning how you want, I really don’t think there’s a clear cut explanation. Sometimes the chemistry just isn’t there.”
With comedy, there comes a certain sensitivity needed to pick apart the world around you. Combined with a suit of armor to shield that skin from the punctures of rejection, Morril has interesting insight on how comedy and feeling really coincide.
“You have to be thick and thin skinned at the same time, as weird as that sounds,” Morril said. “I mean, you’re essentially a writer and actor, so you’re the only creative force behind your material. I have friends that are actors, and they’re like, ‘I could never take criticism from a script I wrote,’ and I’m just like ‘I have to do that every night, so.’”
For Morril, the sensitivity comes in the writing more than his quasi-stoic performance.
“Hemingway is a great example,” Morril said. “One of the greatest writers ever, a true tough guy American, but he was also weirdly emo.”
So, how does Morril perfect this juggling of emotion? Repetition. For him and most comics, the real reward comes in rinsing, repeating and figuring out what works through that. Morril cites fellow comedian Bill Burr’s quote on being able to “kill in obscurity” as the biggest tell in a good comic.
“I mean if you want your set to be good, you just have to run it through the mud,” Morril said. “You can tell when someone’s only done their act in New York or Los Angeles.”
Morril seems to be a big proponent of “practice makes perfect,” and being aware of audience power.
“It’s as collaborative an art form as anything, which kinda makes me sound like a douche, but it’s true,” Morril said. “You have to try it in front of as many people as possible. Especially when the endgame is special — it’s all just practice and focus groups essentially until then.”
When he’s not on stage, he can be found in the studio with friend and fellow comic Mark Normand on their podcast “We Might Be Drunk,” or with former New England Patriot Julian Edelman on their newest venture, “Games With Names.”
Aside from standup, Morril’s other passions have led him to a more isolated sense of monologue in podcasting. When he’s not on stage, he can be found in the studio with friend and fellow comic Mark Normand on their podcast “We Might Be Drunk,” or with former New England Patriot Julian Edelman on their newest venture, “Games With Names.”
In his newest venture, “Games With Names,” the pair invites guest star athletes to recount past moments in their career, and hopefully have a laugh or two along the way.
“I think the funniest guest we’ve had has to be Gilbert Arenas,” Morril said. “He just had no filter to the point of being cruel. Like, he still holds a grudge against Richard Jefferson from their college days. It’s like dude, that was almost twenty years ago.”
Morril has always been a sports fan, and as any New York native would, he has a pretty unique relationship with the games he loves.
“As a New Yorker, there’s something kind of hilarious to me about the 2009 Giants team,” Morril said. “Beating a Patriots team so close to perfection, being 18-0 — if I had to choose a funniest sports moment, as a New Yorker, that’s the one.”
What’s next for Sam Morril? With how well his resume has been built so far, it feels like the sky’s the limit.
“I’d definitely like to do more movies, I think,” Morril said. “I was in ‘Joker,’ so clearly I have range. I haven’t been approached about doing ‘Joker 2’ yet, but Todd Phillips if you’re reading this article, I can sing and dance pretty well.”
For tickets and more information on Morril’s upcoming show at Knoxville’s historic Bijou Theatre, you can visit his website.
The Bijou is a popular performance venue in downtown Knoxville off of Gay Street.
