Lamorne Morris on Mike’s Hard Lemonade, New Girl, Spider-Noir, and More

Having grown up in the Chicago area, it wasn’t a direct path to Hollywood for actor Lamorne Morris, who took on a variety of careers before making the jump to Los Angeles. Even his most beloved role as Winston on the FOX sitcom New Girl was an opportunity he scored in an unconventional manner, as he joined the series in Episode 2 in the wake of Damon Wayans Jr. having to exit the project, though his comedic talents cemented him as an integral component of the ensemble. In honor of persisting through a number of professional ups and downs, Morris has partnered with Mike’s Hard Lemonade to deliver the “Mike’s Jobstacle Course” event in New York City, which puts fans through the gauntlet of diverse jobs to see just how challenging they really are. The Mike’s Jobstacle Course will be located at 477 Broadway from 2 – 8 p.m. ET on August 20th. RSVP at mikesjobstaclecourse.eventbrite.com.

The event is described, “Mike’s is partnering with hard-working actor Lamorne Morris to host an interactive pop-up event, Mike’s Jobstacle Course. This immersive experience will prove that every job has its hard days. And a hard day deserves a refreshing-tasting Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Just ahead of Labor Day on August 20th in New York City, a city renowned for its hustle and work ethic, the Mike’s Jobstacle Course is giving you the opportunity to experience what different ‘easy’ jobs might be like. Think reporting the weather looks pretty chill? Try your hand at being a weatherperson. Think you’ve got the right stuff to be a bookseller? Try organizing the stacks yourself. Does ‘candy taste-tester’ sound like a sweet gig? See if you’ve got the stomach for a job as a food taster. Participants (21+ only) will experience these deceptively challenging ‘easy’ jobs, proving that every job has its own laughably hard moments.”

ComicBook caught up with Morris to talk the new partnership, the odds of a New Girl reunion, the Spider-Man spinoff series Spider-Noir, and more.

ComicBook: I don’t want to skirt around the issue, I want to get right into it. This could be an easy question, could be a controversial question, but as a Chicago native, what’s your go-to Chicago pizza?

Lamorne Morris: Well, I would say, lately, it’s been Giordano’s just because it’s down the street from where I live in Chicago. I’d probably say Giordano’s. Lou Malnati’s gets sent over to L.A. every once in a while, so I thoroughly enjoy that. 

But I have a funny story. My friend Alex, when we were growing up in Chicago, has this reputation for being the guy with pizza. So we would always go to his house and people are like, “Oh, I heard you guys had pizza. It was a pizza party. It was a pizza thing.” Everything is always pizza-related with Alex, in particular. What people didn’t realize is that Alex was just throwing frozen pizzas into the damn oven, and it was just like, we knew it because he always burnt it, but other people would be like, “Yeah, we heard about your little pizza party.” 

I love pizza so much, but Alex always had the sh-ttiest of pizza. I’m like, “We’re in Chicago eating this BS. This doesn’t make sense.”

I appreciate that you’re proving to be a standout from the stereotype, because so many people are like, “Well, I’m from Chicago. I don’t actually like Chicago pizza.” No, you can be from Chicago and actually like Chicago pizza.

Oh, absolutely. It feels like a meal to me. People talk about New York-style pizza. Eck, what is it? You just fold a slice you got off the street? Who cares? It’s not a style.

You have this collaboration with Mike’s Hard Lemonade and it’s about various jobs, various career paths, and I know you have had so many different jobs throughout your career. Looking back, is there a job that you, at the time, thought, “This is the most difficult job on Earth,” and looking back it’s now, “Oh no, that was actually the easiest thing,”? Then also, along those lines, what do you think actually was the most difficult job you’ve had throughout your career?

There’s a few that I would say, whether it be working at a medical facility or whether it be waiting tables, but I’m going to go with the entertainment space in this one and name specific jobs. 

I originally thought New Girl was going to be the most difficult thing ever because it was my first time being a lead on a nationally syndicated television series. To start out, it felt rough. It did feel rough developing a character and wondering if you’re going to get fired every day and things like that. Now that I’m so far removed from it, it was the easiest job in the world, because all you had to do was just be loose and use your instincts and trust your instincts and all the characters. I give Jake [Johnson] a hard time, but Jake might be the greatest improviser in the world and it’s easy when someone is setting you up for jokes all the time.

One of the more difficult ones, Fargo was pretty difficult. Fargo, it was a fun job for sure, but shooting in cold weather like that, it’s literally bone-chilling and you have to perform, you have to use it, they say, and stay in the moment, stay in the pocket, but deal with the fact that it’s minus-30 degrees outside and your moisture is dried up and frozen on your face and your beard is white with ice. That’s brutal.

Coming back to Mike’s Hard Lemonade and this “Jobstacle Course” event, how did this whole collaboration come about? How did it come on your radar and what got you so excited to get involved with it?

Well, it just made sense for me in particular. You get a lot of opportunities to work with different brands, and sometimes they don’t necessarily align, so you have to sometimes say no to certain things that might seem cool. This one made sense because it mirrored my life. It’s like, “Hey, you’ve worked hard. Sit down, reward yourself, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, great flavors.” You go, “Oh, that makes sense, because that’s how I typically live my life.” 

Like you said, I’ve had a ton of jobs in my past and whenever, and I’m sure you can attest to this and most people can attest to this, what do you normally want to do? You want to, after work, you sit down, you want to have a drink. Mike’s Hard Lemonade, in particular, the lemonade being my favorite flavor, it feels like vacationing to me, you know what I mean? And so you want to have a little mini vacation before you’ve got to get up and go back to work the next day.

It’s very necessary for the human body to relax. You don’t want to get burned out. You want to keep enjoying this job, so don’t get stressed and burned out. And that’s how I’ve always lived, and I firmly stand by that. So when they brought this to me, I just thought, “Oh, well, these are my core beliefs,” and I think it’s going to be really fun at the Jobstacle Course for folks to test some jobs, what they think is easy, see if they can do it. Being a weather person seems like an easy job, but we’re going to see, we’re going to have people try it out and see if they can live up to what the other weather people do. Booksellers, taste testers, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to add a few jobs myself in there. Best prankster, I don’t know. We’ll see.

I will admit that in my former career of giving talks about sharks at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, I typically would unwind with Lou Malnati’s or Pequod’s. Pequod’s was another go-to.

Oh, wow. Really? Okay, all right, very nice.

There’s Lou Malnati’s locations downtown, so it was a little bit easier to go from the Museum Campus to Michigan Avenue or whatever.

I remember one time a buddy was talking about Giordano’s and I forget what he was saying, but I told him, I was like, “No, maybe I went to a different location,” because he didn’t like it very much, and I was like, “Oh, well we were in the Oak Brook location. That’s why. We didn’t go to the Loop location. We went to the wrong one, maybe.”

Not only just in your past before you got acting opportunities, but even since becoming an actor, you’ve done a sitcom, done with Fargo, been a podcast host, hosted Jimmy Kimmel, you’ve gotten to do so many awesome things. Is there an avenue of the entertainment industry that you are still holding out hope for, “If I can get that opportunity, that’s going to be another thing to cross off the list,”?

I’ve directed before, but I want to dive more into it, directing and producing. So having my sense of humor and my style on something, but not necessarily being on camera. I want to do that just for a little bit because I love performing, I love acting, but that’d be really nice to be on set and to guide actors the way some of the great directors that I’ve worked with have done for me and maybe add a little gem to their toolbox if I could. That’s something that I definitely want to dive into because, also, wearing makeup every day isn’t for me every day. Every day? Oh, boy. So as a director, I could just show up in sweats and flip-flops and I’m great, so that would be nice.

Unfortunately, I do have to bring it back to your former costar Jake. I spoke with him earlier this year, and I was saying, “Lamorne is up for a New Girl reunion, a New Girl revival. He’s open to it because he wants to give the fans what they want.” When I told Jake this, his response was, and I quote, “I call that politician Lamorne. For the people, Lamorne will do anything. Sign the contract, big daddy. I’m putting your digits on the streets.” And I would just like to afford you the opportunity to respond not only to Jake, but also to what the chances are of a New Girl revival.

I’ll say this: a lot of times, politicians, they overpromise, but me as a politician, I want to promise the right amount, and I want to let all the folks know that I will do anything for a New Girl reunion. Personally, that’s me. 

Now, Jake Johnson, who’s my rival, who’s my political opponent, Jake says that he’s down, but Jake is not. Jake is not, folks. I am Lamorne for the people. Jake Johnson, not so much. I want everyone to call Jake out. Call Jake Johnson out, let him know that his career began the moment he stepped on that New Girl set, and he should never abandon his roots. Never. Not like me. That’s why I always come home to New Girl land, always.

I’m about to start the grassroots foundation of “White Dudes for Lamorne for New Girl” and hope that I don’t get suspended from Twitter or X or whatever the hell people are calling it these days.

Yeah, I know, I know. Don’t get in trouble, man. We need you.

I am here with ComicBook and Lamorne, I know you previously mentioned Spider-Noir as being a bit of a bucket-list opportunity for you. I know it hasn’t started shooting yet. It’s early stages, you can’t talk about it much, but since this is a new spin on what people might know of Spider-Man, is there anything you can tease about what fans might be able to expect as far as what your Robbie Robertson is going to be like, or how it might be different from what audience expectations are?

Well, I can’t say too much. I’ve been sworn to secrecy. However, I will say it will be an experience unlike anything anyone’s ever seen on television. What they’re doing is insane. It really is insane, and I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to bring this version of Robbie Robertson to life. Folks who know me, you can assume that there’ll be a level of Lamorne in there, which is why they gave me the job. Like I said, I can’t tease too much, but I think fans will be overjoyed with what they see. 

The Mike’s Jobstacle Course will be located at 477 Broadway from 2 – 8 p.m. ET on August 20th. RSVP at mikesjobstaclecourse.eventbrite.com.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter.