For Lamorne Morris, his “Saturday Night” role felt familiar

For his Emmy-winning performance as Deputy Witt Farr in “Fargo,” Lamorne Morris underwent a complete physical transformation. In his latest role he is much closer to himself.

The Chicago-born actor plays Garrett Morris (no relation) in “Saturday Night,” the Jason Reitman-directed feature film about the birth of “Saturday Night Live,” released Oct. 11. The elder Morris was the first black cast member on the legendary sketch comedy show — an experience the younger Morris identified with.

While he played the only black lead in the sitcom “New Girl,” he told the Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday, fans often told him, “Oh, I know that show.” You’re the black guy.’

Lamorne Morris joined the cast of ‘New Girl’ shortly after Damon Wayans Jr., who played Coach in the show’s pilot, left due to scheduling conflicts. Early in production, the newcomer often found himself frustrated by the writers’ hazy vision of his character, Winston Bishop, which he found difficult to believe was not personal.

“The first two years of ‘New Girl,’” he told the Post, “I was like, ‘What am I doing?’”

The “Woke” star said he imagines his “Saturday Night” character asking himself the same question half a century ago, on the night “SNL” debuted. Garrett Morris, then a 37-year-old playwright and singer, was decades older than most of his castmates — and the only black member of the show’s creative team.

“With ‘Saturday Night Live,’ I was suddenly representing Black,” Garrett told Lamorne in a Variety interview published on Saturday. The conversation was certainly not the first for the pair, as despite the wishes of ‘Saturday Night’ director Jason Reitman, they were in touch before filming began.

“Jason didn’t want us to reach the real actors. His thing was, you’re an actor. You already know what to do,” Lamorne Morris said. “But I called Garrett anyway.”

Over several subsequent phone and Zoom calls, the two learned that they shared “a very, very similar walk,” he said.

In Reitman’s words, the “Fargo” actor was “born to play this role.”

“Lamorne actually understood the search for identity that Garrett was going through,” the director told the Post, adding that Morris brought a sincerity to his performance that makes for one of the film’s most compelling character arcs.

Fortunately for the actor, who admired Garrett Morris so much as a child that he told people they were relatedhis performance also landed on the “SNL” alum himself.

Watching the film was “a very cathartic experience,” according to Garrett Morris.