Tracy Morgan, who promised to get “a whole lot of women pregnant” at the 2015 Emmy’s, looked terrific and told me he felt great Sunday evening at the Tribeca Film Festival world premiere of his new film “The Clapper.”
The “30 Rock” comedian entertained journalists on the red carpet where he introduced his “date” as Roz and said he’d get her pregnant right after the screening at the School of Visual Arts Theater.
Among other things, he riffed, “I don’t do the PC thing. I don’t do that. It’s straight up and down 6 o’clock. That’s how I do things.”
Then, “See my lady Roz? I have to get that knocked up.”

“Roz” looked suspiciously like his wife Megan Wollover, who Morgan married after a horrific crash in 2014 that put him in a coma. They have one child.

“The Clapper” is written and directed by Dito Montiel, which he adapted from his book of the same name. The film also stars Ed Helms and Amanda Seyfried. (Adam Levine also has a role.) The film’s described by Tribeca as “a charming and original romantic comedy for our modern, meme-obsessed moment.” (I couldn’t get into the movie, which was sold out and had a long rush line of people who eventually didn’t get in).

Among other things, on the red carpet Morgan talked about Richard Pryor’s influence: “He’s the Messiah! He’s the one who walked on water for us!”

On his stint at Saturday Night Life: “I got to work with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lorne Michaels, the force was with me.”

On what he and “Roz” do on date night:

“We watch the championship fights. We love our boxing. We talk sports all the time. Me and my lady have things in common. We just don’t do it. We talk and all that. She made some lasagna the other night, six different cheeses.”

Morgan’s worked with Montiel before, in the 2011 Al Pacino cop drama, “The Son of No One.”

What was like working with Dito again?

“He bring out the best in me. I love him. I love him. Dangerous. If a script scares me than I’ll do it. If it don’t move me than I won’t do it. If a script scares me, when I saw this (I ask), can I do this character? If it challenges me, then I’m doing it.”

I asked what he learned about himself taking on the role and if there were any surprises?

“Well you always have surprises because you don’t know what’s inside. You gotta go inside. I learned this trip what connects me to my character? I gotta create a back story. How did he get there? If he’s messed up what made him messed up? All that’s in your head.”

It’s good to see Morgan looking so good and doing what he does best, or second best if you count making women pregnant.

I told him he looked great. How does he feel?

“I feel well. I’m eating a lot of protein.” Then he pointed to his “date” Roz and said, for the hundredth time or so: “Yeah I’m probably going to get her pregnant tonight.”

Was it something about the film that inspired that?

“Yeah, it makes me horny. I’m going to take her back of that school and get her pregnant,” he told journalists before making his way into the theater.

Montiel, who directed Robin Williams in his last film, “Boulevard” and the straight-to-DVD action film “Empire State” staring the Rock and Emma Roberts, may have a winner with “The Clapper.”

(He also made a wonderful film called “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” which brought Channing Tatum and Shia LaBeouf to prominence. Trudie Styler, who produced “Guide,” was Montiel’s guest along with her husband rock star Sting.)

I asked Montiel, who wore a hoodie and did press long after Ed Helms and Morgan walked into the theater, if being a clapper was actually a profession.

“Now you’ll start noticing them,” he said, telling me the movie was inspired by his real-life experiences of going to L.A. from New York with his friend Eddie (Krumble) to look for jobs.

“He got a job as a clapper, a paid audience member, and he would just laugh on terrible shows and infomercials. He would get $75 a show. And then he got to answer a question on an infomercial and he got an extra $100. But because his face was exposed it screwed him up and he couldn’t get hired for two months,” he said. “The idea of fame screwing you up sounded like something that is kind of happening in the world these days as well, so it was an interesting route to go through.”

As for casting Ed Helms, who has a loopy grin and got famous with “Hangover” movies, he said, “ Ed’s a really great actor but he also brings a smile to it and we needed to have a little bit of a smile or else we can go down a dark hole.”

Cannes takes an odd turn next month. Will Smith, of all people, has been added to the main jury. Hmmm…Not exactly from the “arty” end of Hollywood, Smith should be an interesting choice. What will he make of films by Sofia Coppola or Noah Baumbach? Or, for that matter, what will he think of four films starring Nicole Kidman? That should be interesting.

More on target is the addition of Jessica Chastain, who will most definitely get “it.” Also director Paolo Sorrentino and Maren Ade, actress FanBingBing, France’s Agnes Jaoui, Park Chan-Wook, and composer Gabriel Yared.

Pedro Almodovar is the head of the jury for the 70th anniversary of Cannes. Unusual choices.

Adam Rifkin’s “Dog Years” unspooled last night at the Tribeca Film Festival last night. It’s a little gem of a film along the lines of last year’s “Grandma.” Only this time, instead of Lily Tomlin, the “comeback’ star is Burt Reynolds, now 81 years old (hard to believe) and reflecting on the subject of faded stardom after a life at the top of Hollywood.

“Dog Years” also features another octogenarian, although you’d be hard pressed to see her that way off camera: Kathleen Nolan, who’s 83, the first female president of the Screen Actors Guild, a popular and regular presence on TV starting with the late 1950s TV show “The Real McCoys.” “Dog Years” is her first acting job since 2008 and she hasn’t missed a beat. This turns out to be perfect casting in a very meta- movie, since Nolan and Reynolds once appeared together in an episode of “Gunsmoke.”

The meta part is that Rifkin has made a very clever turn for Reynolds– whom he obviously adores– in “Dog Years.” Reynolds plays a faded and forgotten movie star named Vic Edwards, who can barely walk without his cane and whose life as a playboy has been reduced to a lonely rattle through a big ranch house after putting his aged dog to sleep. It’s sort of “Sunset Boulevard.”

And then Vic gets an invite to a retrospective of his movies and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Nashville Film Festival, all expenses paid. Of course, it’s a rinky-dink set up, but brings Tennessee born Vic, whose real name is Marty Schulman, back to his home and a lot of memories. Set up with a driver (a hot mess well played by “Modern Family” actress Ariel Winter) Vic takes a stroll down memory lane via clips from the real Burt Reynolds’ movie career posing as Vic’s credits and even some clips from Burt’s famous appearances on the “Tonight” show with Johnny Carson.

Nolan comes in, in present day, as Martys’ first wife, now living in a Knoxville nursing home and suffering from Alzheimers. Rifkin lets her play a scene with Reynolds that’s most affecting and very touching in which Nolan utters almost no words and meet the challenge with grace.

Reynolds, who came to the screening last night, plays Vic with disarming clarity and charm. He has had his share of public troubles involved aging and finances over the last few years. He is not the big swinging star he once was– but you should remember that few at his age are. That’s the reason Gene Hackman retired, Jack Nicholson withdrew, and and so on. The theme of “Dog Years” is that ‘Aging is Not for Cowards.’ Vic Reynolds, the character, is living because he has no choice. Once the King of the World, he’s now limping through the supermarket using a cart as his walker, buying frozen dinners. It’s far cry from the days of, as he says, “banging everyone”– every pretty young thing– he worked with.

“Dog Years” is funny and poignant but Rifkin avoids cliches. The Nashville setting is refreshing, too. Reynolds, Nolan and Winter are all excellent, and there’s a terrific supporting cast that includes Clark Duke (last season of “The Office”) and Ellar Coltrane of “Boyhood” fame who has an easy way on screen.

“Dog Years,” which should find no trouble finding a distributor, also has value-added in lots of good music. Willie Nelson sings the closing credits song, written by Diane Warren, that should find a Best Song nomination later this year. And there are 11 more original and very catchy songs on the soundtrack by Jamie Floyd and John Martin, a pair of Nashville duo who record as Stranger Friends and just signed a deal with Sony/Red.