Lamorne Morris is much much funnier in person than his character Winston is on New Girl. Lamorne is a stand up comedian turned actor who had a strong start on Fox's new hit show... and then things got a little weird. Winston got weird and we didn't know whether to pity him, root for him or try to find a way to kick him outta the loft! Then weeks later Winston got a girlfriend, a job, and his fun personality back, possibly all within one episode!

POTP: Hello! I don’t expect you to remember me cause you meet so many people.

Lamorne: I do remember you.

POTP: Oh you do?

Lamorne: Was it... Don’t tell me. It was inside of a building and we were eating food.

POTP: I gave you my business card.

Lamorne: That’s right.

POTP: My really ghetto looking business card [laughs].

Lamorne: Your business card that you wrote out with crayon. *Total exaggeration! I had an actual card, but Lamorne is hilarious. 

POTP: Pretty much [laughs].

Lamorne: Your business card that you wrote out on the back of a piece of paper [laughs]. You wrote your number on the back of a football card, on some athlete [laughs]. That’s funny.

POTP: I noticed that your character has changed for the better, he’s matured. So how did it feel when he was kind of in a slump? I know there were about two episodes were he was just a bit strange. Did you feel that?

Lamorne: Yeah. I definitely did.

POTP: And were you like, ‘I can’t wait until these episodes end? [laughs]’

Lamorne Morris is the only black cast member on Fox's New Girl. Unlike most television shows and movies, Lamorne's race is a non-issue on the show. Winston did play basketball overseas, but the stereotypes end there. Lamorne, originally from Chicago, has some similarities to his character. They're both "safe," and they're both pretty funny. Lamorne credits New Girl's writers for giving him a modern, well-rounded character.

POTP: People like the guys [on New Girl] so much and they’re always saying 'I wanna see more of the guys!'

Lamorne: It’s an ensemble and we’re very grateful to have such good chemistry together.

POTP: Me being black and you being black [laughs], in case you didn’t know...

Lamorne: I noticed [laughs].

POTP: Your character is not exactly ghetto. Before you got the role, were you like your character or were you more hood?

Lamorne: I’m from the Southside of Chicago, born and raised, but when I was 14, 15, I moved to the Western suburbs of Chicago where we were one of the only black families there. My mom was very adamant about education, and so I kind of grew up in a hybrid situation where I have my roots. I was ghetto growing up and very hood growing up, but when you’re around different cultures, you actually develop as a person. You evolve beyond what you’re from. You evolve beyond the odds. That’s how I am. People used to always say ‘You’re a very safe black dude!’ But I used to find that offensive, but now I’m kind of like ‘Ok, great! We’re all safe.’

POTP: You kind of seem a little bit like your character. I like that. I don’t recall your character saying ‘I’M BLACK AND I CAN’T GET A JOB BECAUSE I’M BLAAAAACK! THE COPS PULLED ME OVER TODAY!’

Lamorne: [Throws head back and laughs] Right!

POTP: I find that so refreshing about the show.

Lamorne: I think it is. Our writers are multi-cultural. Everyone’s smart. It’s a new day, a new generation. We’re above that. It’s silly to make silly and dumb stereotypes.

POTP: Does that come up in any future episodes?

Lamorne: Not at all. There are certain elements of the show that I do reference the fact that I’m black.

POTP: It’s subtle. They’re not beating you over the head with it.

Lamorne: On the Thanksgiving episode, Nick says we’re gonna sit around watching football and then we’re going to go to Best Buy for Black Friday, and I say, ‘As I like to call it, Friday!' You know, small stuff like that, or I take him to a black barber shop. At the end of that episode, you see him at a black barber shop with all these old school black dudes. Small stuff that’s funny. If we do reference race, it’s funny. Like, we have Jewish references where it’s funny that we need to address sometimes. We have to stop being so sensitive.

If you'd like to catch up on our one-on-one with Morris, check out Poponthepop.com's exclusive interview with Lamorne Morris Part 1. New Girl airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on Fox.

It wasn't until Lamorne Morris was cast on Fox's hit show "New Girl" that fans of the show discovered his comedic talent. Morris is a stand-up comedian from Chicago. He has worked with BET, Vh1, and has hosted various programs before scoring his breakout role on Fox.

Lamorne plays Winston, one of the male roommates who shares a loft with Zooey Deschanel. I caught up with Lamorne at the Television Critics Association's all-star party a few Saturdays ago where he revealed what's in store for Winston, what it's like on the set, and how hard it is to remain in character. *** Be sure to come back next Friday for part 2 of my exclusive where Lamorne and I talk about racial stereotypes (always a crowd pleaser) and more!

POTP: At the UFC fight [which I also attended], you ran down the red carpet.

Lamorne: I was trying to avoid UFC questions because I don’t know anything about it. Is that bad?

POTP: What’s in store for your character?

Lamorne: I get a girlfriend, played by Kali Hawk. She’s a beautiful actress, really funny.

POTP: When will she be on the show?

Lamorne: After January 17th, I can tell you that much. It might be the following week.

POTP: Is she still your girlfriend right now that you know of?

Lamorne: Ya. So far, so good. We shot the Valentine’s episode recently and she was still my girlfriend and then we go and we have sex, which means it was probably pretty good, which means she’s still gonna be my girlfriend IF the writer’s see fit. If the writers do not see fit, then I’ll be home alone.

POTP: Is there chemistry?

Lamorne: There’s a lot of chemistry. There’s a bunch of chemistry! We hung out beforehand. I found out who was going to be playing my girlfriend on the show and we messaged each other on Twitter and she lives down the street from me, so we were hanging out every single day and we still hang out all the time.

POTP: So you actually LIKE her [laughs]?

Lamorne: Her boyfriend has muscles all over the place. I do not.

POTP: What’s in store for your character besides the girlfriend?

Lamorne: He gets a job!

POTP: He’s not stuffing envelopes this time I assume.

Lamorne: I can not tell you what he does, but it’s very unexpected. But it’s already been referenced in earlier episodes.

POTP: On the set, is it Zooey versus the guys?

Lamorne: We all legitimately get along. She gives me advice on stuff and we give her advice on stuff. We spend 15, 16 hours a day with each other and then we come to events like this where we’re hanging out as well, and because of the success of the show, these events happen a lot. We see each other more than we see our own family sometimes.

POTP: Were you doing comedy before the show?

Lamorne: I was doing improv comedy in Chicago. I made my rounds around the country, in the world I guess. I did a lot of commercials, I used to host BET, Cartoon Network, Vh1.

POTP: How do you keep a straight face? When you were playing those bells [on the Thanksgiving episode], ‘I was like this is ridiculous!' I would be laughing my ass off.

Lamorne: [Laughs] You don’t keep a straight face, that’s the problem. We have to cut away from it. I’m the one who breaks character a lot because it’s just so funny.

*** Part 2 of my exclusive where Lamorne and I talk about racial stereotypes will be posted next Friday! New Girl airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox