Lamorne Morris unfailingly brings laughs to acclaimed TV series (“New Girl,” “Woke”) and movies (“Barbershop: The Next Cut”). But the Second City-educated Chicagoan is up for his first Emmy as the straightest shooter in “Fargo’s” fifth-season madcap cast: North Dakota state trooper Witt Farr.
Witt, a rare decent man on showrunner Noah Hawley’s vast northern plains, is injured while trying to help backstory protagonist Dot (Juno Temple) escape ruthless kidnappers sent by her disturbed 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 facing off against a series of violent lunatics, determined to repay his debt to Dot.
Morris is everywhere these days: hosting as a stand-in for Jimmy Kimmel on episodes of “Ghosts” and “Unstable,” co-hosting the “New Girl” recap podcast “The Mess Around” and the celebrity chat podcast “The Lamorning After.” He’ll be seen this fall as Garrett Morris (no relation) on the “SNL” docudrama “Saturday Night.” And now the actor is in pre-production on Prime Video’s “Spider-Noir” series, in which he’ll play journalist Robbie Robertson and Nicolas Cage’s 1930s Spider-Man.
Unsurprisingly, Morris, 41, is excited about the new direction his career is taking. The wintry Canadian location of “Fargo” was a key stop on that journey.
How does it feel to be recognized for this role?
It's weird to get nominated for something that people haven't seen me do before, but it's cool. It's given me a lot of confidence in other things that I'm doing. Barbershop, Game Night, Woke… they're all really, really silly things. It was great to be able to take it seriously. As actors, we're trained in all mediums. It's nice to be able to show that, for sure.
How did the idea of approaching Witt come about?
I talked to Noah about where he wanted to take the character and what level of levity he brings. There was a lot of silliness with other characters; I wanted to play him as straight and real as possible. Maybe float in and out. [of] There's a little bit of frivolity here and there. If there's anything that's a little bit funny, it's the honesty of the character. But I didn't go all out like I would in “New Girl.”
Witt faces some low-key racism, but as a Black man in the militia-ridden MAGA stronghold where he lives and works…
In Episode 3, Joe Keery and I had a little confrontation in the police evidence room. He tells me that he beat up a black kid with a crowbar and that if I keep getting in his way, that's what's going to happen to me. That set the tone for who I'm dealing with. Other than that, I already knew that about these people. That's why I keep my head down: I'm going to go where I'm needed, do my job, and then go home. But I get caught up in this chain of events and I have to keep going, against the racism and the nonsense and the stupidity of these people.
It's weird to be nominated for something people have never seen you do before, but it's cool.
—Lamorne Morris
There's a recent article on Men's Health about how you lost 40 pounds after doing “Fargo,” accompanied by totally ripped photos.
When I was talking about characters with Noah, I was imagining a big guy, 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 came up with the idea of gaining a little bit of weight, which wasn't hard in Calgary because the food scene there is amazing. And it's too cold to want to leave the house and go to the gym. I mean I got up to 200 pounds, right? I usually walk around at about 175 pounds. So I got into shape and then I got the call about “Saturday Night.” Garrett was 160 pounds at the most, so at first I started dieting, cutting out sugar and carbs. Then my trainer was like, “You might as well work out.” So I got into shape. Hopefully that will come in handy for future projects.
Was there anything you highlighted as the most difficult aspect of making “Fargo”?
My daughter is almost 4 and having to travel back and forth or drive her back and forth… I wouldn't say it's complicated, it's just more of a challenge to stay focused when you haven't seen your daughter in a few weeks. FaceTime is great, but my daughter is as wild as a 4-year-old can be, which relieves some of the stress because they're laughing and giggling all the time. They're just watching games and before you know it, you're going through the whole day without stressing out because you're coloring or running or swimming or whatever. This was the first time I worked without her for a while, so I'd say it was a challenge.
