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Tracy Jordan, is a fictional character in an American television series 30 Rock, played by the actor Tracy Morgan. The character is a movie star whose name is "Ogbert Jordan" and whose stage name is "Tracy". The character's personality traits and life events are taken from Morgan's own life. In the episode "Grandmentor", Jordan refers to himself as "Tracy Morgan".

The concept[link]

Jordan has a reputation for unpredictable behaviour. In the pilot episode, another protagonist, Jack Donaghy forces character Liz Lemon to hire Jordan as the new star of her sketch comedy program The Girlie Show. To the chagrin of Liz, Jack renames the show TGS with Tracy Jordan in the show's second episode. Tracy has since remained the star of TGS.

Character history[link]

Jordan is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings.^[1] Jordan was born in Yankee Stadium but his age is unknown as he has no birth certificate. He was given the honorary birthday of February 24, shared with TGS Co-star Jenna Maroney and male supermodel Steve Harnden in the March 5, 2009 episode "Goodbye, My Friend". He grew up in a tough neighborhood in The Bronx, though many of his claims about it sound fictitious. As a child, Jordan was a cast member on the Nickelodeon show Ray Ray's Mystery Garage. He also claims to have attended middle school in an Exxon station. He lived with his single mother in 1979, dropped out of Frank Lucas High School over his inability to dissect a frog, and was discovered after doing stand-up at the Apollo in 1984.^[2] Jordan did a Christmas album in 1998 and is a big fan of Pat Benatar. In addition to his acting career, he writes a column in Ebony Magazine called "Musings". He owns several houses but got into debt because he didn't make the payments on them.

Character traits[link]

Jordan is a dim-witted, self-centered prima donna. For instance, in "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" (episode number 5x12, airdate: 20 March, 2011), Tracy says, "Perfection is my middle name. 'Unclaimed Perfection Baby Boy'. He aspires to own an island. Jordan is treated for a mental health disorder by Dr. Leo Spaceman, a doctor of questionable integrity and qualification, who describes Tracy's problems as "erratic tendencies and delusions brought on by excessive notoriety and certainly not helped by my (Spaceman's) highly experimental treatments." He is unable to do the same thing twice, making his employ as an actor difficult. Jordan is also a conspiracy theorist who believes, for instance, in shadow organizations or vampires. Despite all this, the character is supposed to be generally well-meaning and more intelligent than he appears. He is able to remember details of American history and is able to answer trivia questions correctly. He also has a sensitivity to the mistreatment of African Americans.

Relationships[link]

With Angie[link]

A 2007 episode suggests Jordan has been married to Angie for seventeen years. They like to roleplay, including 'playing rape', when he wears a ski mask. Jordan often walks around his house naked to show his oldest male child "who got the biggest ding-dong". He has two sons, named Tracy Jordan Jr. and George Foreman Jordan, as well as a fake son named Donald (played by Michael Benjamin Washington), who is two years older than he is. Although he "parties with women to keep up his rap credentials" Jordan claims loyalty to his wife.

With Liz[link]

Tracy refers to Liz by either her last name or her full name, for example, "Too late, Liz Lemon!". Jordan treats Liz with contempt and mimics her.

With his entourage and friends[link]

Jordan tends to loiter around the studio with his entourage of Grizz and Dot Com. Jordan considers himself a mentor to Kenneth Parcell who willingly runs errands for him. Kenneth often puts himself in harm's way to help Jordan. Jordan helps Kenneth with his shyness around women. Jordan is more sympathetic to Kenneth than most of the other characters are. For example, when Tracy quit TGS after learning he no longer needed the money he earned from the show, it was Jack's threat to fire Kenneth that made Tracy change his mind, returning to the show in order to keep Kenneth employed ("The Bubble"). Kenneth acted as an asexual, de facto, on-set wife to Jordan during his brief estrangement from Angie (Season 2).

With Jenna[link]

Jordan and Jenna often disagree. For instance, whether it is more difficult to be a black man or a white woman in America (Believe in the Stars). However, they have some friendly moments at times and become closer, assuming they are both "special people". There is also an increasing occurrence of the two being involved in shenanigans together.

Jordan's life[link]

Career[link]

Jordan has a reputation for being uncontrollable and his habit of insulting powerful movie executives cost him roles. However, Jordan's engagements are many and varied.

Politics[link]

Jordan is not overly interested in politics. Jack tried to recruit Jordan to join the Republican Party, but Jordan came to realize that African-Americans would never support the GOP. In the 2008 US Presidential Election, Jordan voted for Ralph Nader.

Religion[link]

The character fails in an attempt to adopt Catholicism due to, as expected, intolerance of guilt. Jordan wrote a novelty song entitled "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", which he recorded for Geffen Records. The lyrics include "Werewolf bar mitzvah, spooky, scary! Boys becoming men; men becoming wolves!" He learns some Hebrew phrases.

Finances[link]

Despite his personality difficulties, Jordan succeeds financially. For example, he makes $300 million by creating and marketing a pornographic video game.

Typical dialogue[link]

• "You don't know my pain."
• "You watch your mouth Tyrese."
• "I'll have hashbrowns."
• "You hooligans better watch out, because this honky grandma be trippin'!"
• “Watch TGS, Fridays at 10:30. Word!"

Noteworthy scenes[link]

• Running down Interstate 405 in his underwear with a toy lightsaber while repeatedly shouting "I am a Jedi!" ("Pilot")
• Trying to stab talk show host Conan O'Brien and claiming to be a "stabbing robot" while he was being interviewed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. ("Tracy Does Conan")
• Being arrested for walking naked through LaGuardia Airport. ("The Aftermath")
• Falling asleep on Ted Danson's roof. ("The Aftermath")
• Biting actress Dakota Fanning on the face. ("The Aftermath")
• Doing the robot walking backwards into a Starbucks while holding a dog that he had apparently stolen (although this was in fact misinterpreted as an act of normality). ("Jack Meets Dennis")
• Looting a television "because the Jets lost!" ("Cleveland")
• Pulling down Jenna's blouse revealing her breasts during what he believed was a "live broadcast" to Japan ("Secrets and Lies")
• Getting arrested in three separate Chuck E. Cheese's and forgetting his name during at least one arrest. ("Believe in the Stars")
• Yelling at a pair of nuns thinking he was at his high school reunion. ("Reunion")
• Hiding his money in Kenneth's page jacket
• Inciting social and financial panic by comments on Larry King Live. ("Larry King")
• Showing his buttocks on live TV and his own commercial, shouting, "Here comes the Funcooker!" ("The Funcooker")

Behind the Scenes[link]

In Tina Fey's original pilot script for 30 Rock, Jordan was called "Lawrence Jordan".^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

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