This year, SXSW in Austin, Texas saw the release of so many amazing works of art. Projects ranging from music videos, to shorts, to feature films all saw their American or Global releases at the festival last week. One of those features was Formosa House's new comedy, Cotton Candy Bubble Gum directed by J. Pinder. The film starred feature film newcomers Nick Darnell, JadaPaige, and viral comedian, Morgan Jay, who was gracious enough to take a break from his SOLD OUT tour and dedicate some of his time to speaking with us today. Together we discussed his influences, upcoming projects, and his upcoming milestone as the first American comedian to tour Brazil!
Rua: "Hello everyone, today I am lucky enough to be sitting down with actor and comedian, Morgan Jay, whose film I got to cover at SXSW. Morgan, how are you today?"
Morgan: "I'm good, I'm in Denver. The elevation - if you're not used to it, you almost feel like you're not getting enough oxygen here. But I'm good, I'm doing good."
Rua: "Such is tour life. Now, you were just in J Pinder's Cotton Candy Bubble Gum at SXSW, that was your feature debut, correct?"
Morgan: "It is, yeah."
Rua: "Amazing! How did it feel to see yourself on a big screen at SXSW?"
Morgan: "Cool, it felt like something I could get used to. Thank goodness everybody who watched it seemed to like my performance. I think I achieved what I set out to do which was to let people know that I have an acting background and that I'm more than this social media guy. I'm learning a lot about the premieres because I was just at one the other day at Cinequest and if a movie ends up getting picked up at one of these festivals you end up having to watch it sort of over and over again. Luckily I've only watched it at two festivals and I've been learning what a press tour entails. But again, it's all a learning experience and that's really what I wanted with this film so it's great."
Rua: "Right, in the film you play supporting character, Angel, and anyone who sees the film I think will be able to see a lot of your personal comedy in him. Where do you end and where does Angel begin in terms of personality?"
Morgan: "I don't know, I thought he was pretty different from myself. I was channeling this sort of person that we all know in our neighborhood. Essentially, I'm just channeling my goofiness, that's the whole Morgan Jay thing I'm just trying to be a silly guy. Looking back on it, I feel like I probably could've done some things differently or better, but ultimately there were a lot of fun moments. The shooting schedule was kinda run and gun so, trying to get locked into a role was a little but difficult. I don't think there's much of me in Angel, because off stage and off camera nowadays I'm pretty quiet and subdued unless I'm around people I'm really close with. What's interesting is that they told me he was written as a straight man in the sense that he's not very energetic, so they rewrote him a bit for me. All of the music stuff is very Morgan Jay, like the scenes where he's singing. But y'know, one of my first lines is 'the streets is as easy as fingering a bitch with a skirt on,' that's not a Morgan Jay line I would never say that, so in that regard some things are a little bit different.
Rua: "Your musical comedy style at your live shows, especially with the auto-tuned microphone is a very specific niche that you've slid into very comfortably and found a lot of success in. What was the journey like in finding that niche for you?"
Morgan: "That was a side quest, the auto-tune thing, that came out of the pandemic and I was doing a lot of zoom calls. Then I sort of just brought it to the live show and people seemed to like it and it just kept growing from there. I can't do a live show anymore without doing the auto-tune because now I'm like 'the auto-tune guy.' I've carved such a deep niche with this auto-tune stuff that I'm being emulated in Germany, India, Russia, Portugal, maybe Romania, other countries are now doing what I do. I suppose it is what it is, imitation is the highest form of flattery so it's all good. Often imitated, never replicated."
Rua: "That must feel insane. Now, you're on tour right now, and I think I read somewhere that soon you will be the first American comedian to do a tour in Brazil right?"
Morgan: "Yeah, a multi-city tour in South America because we might actually add Uruguay. But yeah I'll be the first to do it."
Rua: "And as someone who is half Brazilian, what does it mean to you to achieve that?"
Morgan: "Y'know, for me doing the shows in Brazil was important to me because I've always felt a certain disconnect from my cultural background. My mom is the only one in her family who came to America-"
Rua: "Me too, so I get it."
Morgan: "Yeah, exactly. So for me it's really important to go back and connect with my roots because sometimes in America, I feel a little bit left out of conversations because I don't feel either American enough or Latin American enough or ethnic enough. Most people think I'm Arab or Middle Eastern. So I sort of fall into this crack where there's no clear box for me to check, and I also don't want to take anything from people that do fit in those boxes. If I auditioned for a role and it was for a Middle Eastern person, I would feel uncomfortable if I got that role. Even with Angel, who's like clearly a Latin American dude, I might not look like exactly what they're looking for, but it is what it is and I'm just trying to do my best with what I can get. But yeah, going to Brazil is important, my family is coming to see me there! Brazil is this country in South America that I feel is often overlooked despite being like the second biggest democracy in the world or something."
Rua: "And, y'know Brazilian fans are notoriously the most passionate and loyal out there."
Morgan: "Brazilian fans are fuckin' lit dude! 'Come to Brazil!'"
Rua: "'Come to Brazil!' How has tour life been treating you so far, do you like it or is it just exhausting?"
Morgan: "I like it, some aspects are exhausting. I mean, my life is cool, man, my life is a movie and I'm gonna ride this wave until we get to the surf's edge. And it's not always gonna be like this so I'm just trying to enjoy myself. I try to keep that in mind while I'm doing this."
Rua: "You gotta strike while the iron's hot?"
Morgan: "Exactly, yeah."
Rua: "Now, you said feature films are something you'd like to further explore in your career?"
Morgan: "Oh yeah, I already have another film in the can with Chloë Grace Moretz, Manny Jacinto, and Anthony Ramos called Love Language."
Rua: "Wow, that's amazing!"
Morgan: "I'm a small part in the movie, I'm only in like five pages or so. But that's gonna be out in a year or two, you might see me back at SXSW, I don't know. I also shot a couple of TV episodes and I'm auditioning a bunch, just trying to get booked on certain things and see what happens, you know what I mean?"
Rua: "Yeah, I mean you're doing the damn thing man, congratulations! What are things that you look for in an upcoming project?"
Morgan: "Really just projects that want me in them, no I'm kidding. At this point I'm not being too selective. In an ideal world it would be cool to play a character who has a lot of depth and heart with a little bit of comedy to it. Right now I'm just trying to build my resume and get my acting chops on camera and I think little by little that's happening and eventually I'll get a big role that could change a lot of stuff for me."
Rua: "I've heard that other performers especially comedians find it difficult to separate their stage persona from their real persona, do you struggle with that at all?"
Morgan: "I don't, I think the only difference between me on and off stage is the auto-tune. I think the best entertainers are the ones that can be who they are on stage. If you're a character on stage and that becomes a hit, you become locked in as that character for the rest of your life. But if you can find a way for people to genuinely enjoy you and what you do and in the process you get to be yourself and have fun... it's much easier to be yourself for the rest of your life. I'm trying to not draw a line between myself on and off stage. Obviously when I'm on stage there's a contract between me and the audience, like I'm there to make you laugh, off-stage I don't have to do that but if I do it's great but it's not the biggest deal."
Rua: "Do you have any specific comedians that have influenced you?"
Morgan: "Of course, I love Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, Nate Bargatze, Rory Scovel, Tig Notaro is fantastic, Patrice O'Neal is really great. As far as musical comics though there's the obvious, Adam Sandler, Reggie Watts, Steven Lynch is great he ended up transferring to Broadway. All the people who do music comedy well, you can look to them for inspiration forever."
Rua: "I've always thought musical comedy is the most impressive thing you can be good at because you need to be musically gifted, funny, and write in a way that rewards repetitive listens, which is the hardest part. That's why I've always found Bo Burnham so impressive because I've seen his special Make Happy about a hundred times and it still never fails to make me laugh."
Morgan: "Yeah, he's innovated and changed the game, like every time he releases something you get angry because it's so good. He's fantastic."
Rua: "I'm just curious, do you have a favorite movie that comes to mind?"
Morgan: "The first thing that comes to mind is Kung Fu Panda, I know that seems off the beaten path. I remember watching the first one in college, it's very slapstick, very giggly, everything is goofy, it leaps beyond race and gender and age, I think it's funny to everybody. I like anything by Steven Soderbergh, I really love Sean Baker, obviously he just won the Academy Award but when I saw Tangerine I was hooked, I just love the hyper-realism of his work. I love The Lord of the Rings, anything sci-fi, I'm a huge Star Trek fan so I would love to do something science fiction. There's just so many great movies, have you ever seen About Time?"
Rua: "Yes! Really recently, actually. It's amazing!
Morgan: "That's a sleeper rom-com, it really is beautiful! But yeah, I'll watch anything science fiction, I'm pretty easy to please."
Rua: "One of my professors, Nick Sagan used to write for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager. He wrote the episode, Attached."
Morgan: "Wow, I remember. that episode, that's funny."
Rua: "I still need to get into Star Trek, I was always more of a Star Wars person."
Morgan: "See, Star Wars for me...all the movies felt the same - EXCEPT Andor which I find to me one of the best series I have seen in a long time. It's really amazing and the first season has nothing to really do with the force or good and evil it was about a rebellion. I thought it was really fantastic."
Rua: "The last question I ask all my guests is what is your favorite swear word?"
Morgan: "I mean, it's gotta be fuck. It's the most versatile one and...it's just gotta be fuck, y'know?"
Rua: "Well thank you so much for speaking with me today, Morgan in the midst of your busy tour, it means a lot."
Morgan: "It's all good!"
Rua: "Have a good one, man!"
Thanks again to Morgan Jay for taking the time to appear on our site. Make sure to catch him on tour this summer in Europe and Brazil! All of his tour dates can be found on his website: Morganjay.com. Thanks for stopping by Cinemasters.net and remember to never stop watching!