TVSquad

As my Thursday afternoon time slot to interview Tracy Morgan came closer, I knew I was in for an interesting twenty minutes. As most people have seen and heard over the years, interviewing Tracy is an amusement park ride that even Busch Gardens couldn't conceive. He's blunt. His emotions rise and fall quicker than a roller coaster. And you never know what he's going to say.

When I got to talk to him, he had been interviewing all day in support of his surprisingly emotional and inspirational memoir I Am The New Black, and he was tired. But there was a lot of stuff I wanted to ask him about, only some of which involved his well-publicized smackdowns of SNL co-stars Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan. There was also his criticism of David Israel and Jim O'Doherty, the creators of The Tracy Morgan Show, and just the general details about his rough upbringing in the Bronx and Brooklyn in the '70s and '80s. Tracy didn't disappoint.

So, buckle up folks, and get ready for a fun ride. Audio and a transcript is after the jump.

(S01E01) I still stand behind the early look of Sit Down, Shut Up I did a few days ago: the pilot was underwhelming. For everything that works about it, there seem to be at least two things that don't. However, before I did this review, I decided to watch the pilot again, so it would be fresh in my mind. What I found is that the show definitely grows on you.

While I didn't really laugh at all the first time through, re-watching it allowed me to pick up on some of the more subtle things that I missed. That, combined with the fact that I've seen the second episode, which is much better, really made me appreciate this episode more.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has been breathlessly anticipating Sit Down, Shut Up (premiering on FOX Sunday at 8:30 PM ET), the newest series from Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz. SDSU is an animated series based on a live-action Australian show by the same name. It follows a group of under-performing teachers at a Florida high school.

The teachers are all flaky, disinterested in their students, and with the exception of Larry Littlejunk (Jason Bateman), highly under-qualified for their positions. An example? Miracle Grohe (Kristen Chenoweth), the science teacher, beat Larry out of the job by stripping off all her clothes and yelling, "I ain't come from no monkey!"

The humor manages to be both broad and subtle at the same time, much in the way Arrested Development managed to be. However, though Bateman himself calls this show an animated version of AD, that's overstating it a bit. Sit Down, Shut Up, is more like Arrested Development's annoying younger brother.