Mohr and Morgan ready to 'take off the roof' at show tonight in Dillon

In anticipation of tonight's comedy show, the 'Prince' caught up with Tracy Morgan and Jay Mohr.

Mohr called on his cell phone in the middle of walking his dog, Shirley, on the sands of California's Seal Beach where he and his wife, model and actress Nicole Chamberlain, rent a home they call their "decompression chamber."

The day before, Morgan's agent patched him through on a conference call from New York City. Morgan was candid and uncensored.

When Morgan takes the stage Thursday night, Princeton students will get a look at fresh material from his upcoming Comedy Central special. "It's going to be totally new stuff, 30 minutes of new stuff," Morgan said. Mohr plans to use both new and old material.

Morgan said he does not plan to pick on the Princeton kids. He believes that his life has furnished him with enough material that he can leave the audience alone. "I think when people come to see a show they come to just enjoy it and have a good time and I don't think it's necessary to rag on the audience," he said.

Mohr is confident that he can handle the Princeton crowd. All the students have to do is show up, sit down and face forward. "If they do that then I got 'em," he said. "I'll take over from there."

Mohr jokes about the material in his routine. "I was actually thinking of just reading 'The Canterbury Tales.' Maybe do like a preliminary joke and then just go right into 'The Canterbury Tales' and switch over halfway through to the very, very beginning of 'Moby Dick' before they even hit the water."

Morgan is also excited to perform in front of a college crowd. "I do college campuses all across America. It's great I love doing colleges."

Both Mohr and Morgan enjoy performing at colleges, though neither chose to attend.

Mohr does not regret his decision to skip college. "No regrets whatsoever. The way my mind works, I don't think college would have expedited the maximum usage of me. That's four years I wouldn't have been on stage telling jokes, working on material, making contacts."

As if there was any remaining doubt, Mohr adds, "Who wants to go to class after you just fooled around with three chicks after getting a standing ovation in Manhattan?"

Morgan has a similar attitude about starting his career immediately after high school. "It didn't hurt me obviously. I'm doing my fuckin' thing, thank God I'm funny. I think education is very important . . . I got all 12 years [in]."Although Morgan and Mohr both hail from "Saturday Night Live," they were never on the show at the same time. But their paths crossed on the comedy circuit."We all meet and we work out at the same clubs in New York City. Jay Mohr is like a big brother to me," Morgan said.

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Upon hearing that Morgan thinks of him as a big brother, Mohr goes into a perfect Tracy Morgan imitation, "That's my big brother Jay Mohr, you know what I'm saying, that's my brother, from my heart, from my heart, he's been there from day one." Then in his own voice again, Mohr said, "I've known Tracy a very long time and I'm very excited to work with him."

Morgan is upbeat and positive. He is happy with the place he is at in his life right now. "I got my wife, my three kids. Everybody's coolin'. My career is doing well . . . I got a lot of support," Morgan said. "I feel great, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Mohr also sounds satisfied with life. "I'm unbelievably happily married, in love with my wife." Although he does not have any kids Mohr clearly has plans for the future. "One day my friend, I will prove with my wife that human beings are the noblest of creatures because we are the only creatures that are sent to Earth to co-create with God. Marinate on that."

Mohr can be funny but he's deadly serious about drunk driving. He has a tattoo on his arm that reads "Will 12-27" to memorialize his cousin who died in an accident with a drunk driver.

"It's very simple to not allow someone to drive drunk. It's the most easily avoidable death, maybe ever. And it's simply takes your friends to look at you and say, 'No, I'm actually calling the police right now. You will kill someone.' "

Mohr uses a graphic image to prove his point. "You don't have to be going fast to send a 5-year-old through a windshield."

Morgan said he sees comedians performing an important role in a society increasingly plagued by hate and violence — like that demonstrated in the 9/11 attacks. He says that comedians have to "keep 'em laughing man. If we don't laugh, we gonna cry."

When asked whether he prefers acting to doing stand-up, Mohr makes a separation between the two. "I like it all, but the stand up isn't really applicable to the acting because acting is something I sort of figured out how to do and stand up is something I have to do, or else, I go crazy."

Morgan said he can imagine how difficult this year must have been for the students. "It's been a long year for you guys man as far as September 11 and your studies and not being distracted from that and we're proud of you guys. You understand? We're proud of you guys. We know this shit was hard for you guys."

Morgan expressed optimism for this generation of students. "I'm just glad you guys hold your head up and just stick in there and don't give up. Maybe things will change in the future and you guys could change it so we're proud of you guys."

Mohr is currently writing his "Saturday Night Live" diaries for Hyperion Publishing. He also has two movies coming out in August, "Simone" and "The Adventures of Pluto Nash." Although he does not have a starring role in either film, he is excited to work with talented costars. "It's Eddie Murphy and Al Pacino, you take what you can get, and you don't complain."

Morgan says his upcoming Comedy Central special is the most important project he's working on right now. He is reluctant to talk about other future projects. "As far as anything in the future, I try to leave [it] in God's hands so I don't stress out. I don't know what's going to happen, I just try to take all of this one day at a time."

Morgan says he is excited for his Princeton show.

"I get out there with all the kids and me and Jay Mohr and we performing, come on man I couldn't even ask for a better audience."

Mohr is also looking forward to the show and to working with Morgan and fellow comedian Robert Kelly. "Robert Kelly is unbelievable," Mohr said. "There's no drop-off. There's no open, middle, close in this show. These are three headliners you're getting, it's great."

"Do you guys have good construction crews here?" Mohr asks, sounding serious.

"You might want to keep them around to put the roof back on when I leave."