‘I’m Just Mimicking My Dad’ (Exclusive)

Tracy Morgan is back on TV — and starring in a role that reflects where the comedian is in life these days.

The actor, 56, stars in the new Paramount+ sitcom Crutch, which premiered Nov. 3 on Paramount+, and is a spinoff of the CBS hit comedy The Neighborhood, starring Cedric the Entertainer. Morgan plays Cedric’s cousin, Francois “Frank” Crutchfield, a brash but beloved Harlem shop owner whose life shifts when his highbrow son and free-spirited daughter move back home.

“It’s 100 percent me because I’m just mimicking my dad,” Morgan tells PEOPLE. “My older brother moved back in with my father, and that was sort of a battle, but a teachable moment. Imagine Simba moving back in with Mufasa. Who’s the Lion King? My father had to go about it a graceful way, let my brother know he was the Mufasa. And I’m just mimicking that.”

He also made set a family affair. His 12-year-old daughter Maven Sonae (whom he shares with ex-wife Megan Wollover) appears in a cameo role. It’s a moment that reflects where Morgan is today in his life, which is focused on family and grounded by gratitude.

Maven, who plays Raven in the series, lights up as she joins his interview and talks about working on the show. “It’s really cool being on a set and being dressed up,” she says. “I like fashion.” In Crutch, Raven is a local girl who stops into Crutch’s store selling popcorn to fund a school trip and negotiates her way into a deal with him.

The 30 Rock star says his approach to work now is different than it was earlier in his career. “I love everything that I’ve done,” he says. “I’m an older man now, so it’s that much fun. It’s getting even better now that I have the experience. You can’t see how big the mountain is if you’re right up on it. You have to step back and look at it and go, ‘Wow, that mountain is big.’ Now I see how big this mountain is. Now I’m gonna climb it. And I’m gonna climb it just because it’s there.”

These days, he adds, the projects he chooses need to mean something. “Anything with a heart. Because it has a heart. If it doesn’t have a heart, I don’t wanna do it.”

That perspective deepened after the 2014 highway crash that left him in critical condition and killed his friend, fellow comedian James McNair. He remembers the early days of recovery vividly. “There are people that have been through a lot worse, a lot more,” he says.

“Don’t cry for me. There’s people out there doing a lot worse. My grandmother told me that when I was in the hospital. [I] just came out the coma. She said, ‘Just when you thought you was doing bad, there’s people out there doing worse.’ So I feel fortunate.”

The Saturday Night Live alum adds that Maven and her mother were traveling with him for nearly the entire tour leading up to the accident, except the one night of the crash. “Thank the Lord,” he says quietly. “I’m here to see her grow.”

Now, more than a decade later, Morgan says his gratitude guides him every day. “I feel fortunate. I feel great. Every morning I wake up. Even on a cloudy day, the sun might not be out, but it’s up. The rest is up to me.”

Asked what advice he’d give his younger self, he doesn’t hesitate: “Keep doing what you doing. You’re doing fine.”

Crutch is streaming now on Paramount+.