Tracy Morgan tells us why he loves playing New York

While not as well known as the Tribeca Film Festival or the CMJ Music Festival, the New York Comedy Festival has turned into one of the city's premier events since it began eight years ago. This year's lineup features many of stand-up's biggest names, including Louis CK, Bill Maher and Tracy Morgan.

amNY spoke with Morgan about the event and the state of comedy.

What do you like about playing the N.Y. Comedy Festival? First of all, I'm at home. You always want to play in front of the home crowd. Home is where the heart is.

How did growing up in NYC influence your style of comedy? It's a diverse place, so I got to make all kinds of people laugh. It gave me confidence to know that I could be in front of Israeli people, Irish people, black people, Hispanic people, and still get a funny reaction.

For people who've seen you before, are you performing a lot of different material? [The show is] just my experience as a young black man, as an older black man, as an American and as a human being. People have to focus less on material and more on the funny. That's what has messed up [stand-up]: It ain't about the material. Richard Pryor could make boogers funny. Are you going there to analyze the material or to laugh? We've gotten away from the first three letters of funny - fun.

Are there any lines you won't cross onstage? We don't control that line. Something can be funny, funny, funny, funny, then one day it's not funny. I might say something to one person that they think is hilarious, and another person doesn't think it's funny at all. There are too many different kinds of people in the audience for me to go to their world. I'd go crazy by the end of the show. It's funnier to bring them into my world. And my world is fun.

If you go: Tracy Morgan is performing stand-up at the Beacon Theatre Thursday at 8 p.m. 2124 Broadway, 212-465-6500. $39-$67. For a full schedule of N.Y. Comedy Festival events, go to nycomedyfestival.com.