At last year’s Emmys, Jimmy Kimmel sent a message to Tracy Morgan, who had been hospitalized in a coma following a traffic accident that killed one of Morgan’s friends and fellow comedians. “Shout out to Tracy Morgan, we’ll see you next year, Tracy,” Kimmel told the audience at the time. Almost one year later, Morgan made good on Kimmel’s promise and surprised the Emmys crowd as he arrived on stage to present the final award of the night for Best Drama Series to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Morgan fought back tears as he remembered waking up from a coma and his struggles to walk with his own two legs following the crash. In the audience, Morgan’s fellow 30 Rock stars Tina Fey and Jane Krakowski both teared up and cheered for Morgan as he promised the emotional return wouldn’t effect his usual sense of humor, promising to get everyone pregnant at the afterparty.

Morgan presented the Best Drama Series Emmy to Game of Thrones, which won the most Emmys in a single year by any series.

A June 2014 crash on the New Jersey Turnpike left Morgan critically injured following a performance at a casino in Delaware. Morgan was in a coma for two weeks and spent the following month in a rehabilitation facility in New Jersey. The comedian was still undergoing treatment for traumatic brain injury, including daily speech, cognitive, vocational and physical therapies earlier this year. He settled with Walmart, the employer of the truck driver who crashed into Morgan’s limosuine, for an undisclosed amount.

Morgan will return to host SNL on October 17.

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