In 2021, Sam began to write about his grief as a coping mechanism – to share Jonathan with others and to make fun of a society that didn’t know how to deal with him as a young widow. A few stories anchor the show and help Sam find meaning and connect to Jonathan in dark, silly, and practical ways.  

Last year Sam was mugged. The mugger said, “Give me your phone, I have a gun.”  But Sam said, “No. My boyfriend passed away and I have his photos on my phone.” He didn’t care… But Sam held his ground and said no enough times that the assailant gave in, and Sam ran off! …weeks later the wallet was found on the ground and returned to Sam by a Jehovah’s Witness. 

If Sam didn’t have enough to deal with, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Despite the trauma of the diagnosis, it snapped him out of my grief by forcing him to take care of himself. Ever since the doctor said the diagnosis was potentially triggered by the grief from losing Jonathan, Sam began to think of Jonathan as the glucose monitor on my arm (hence the name, Sugar Daddy). 

These storylines and a few others interweave throughout the nonlinear hour of the exploration of grief and love as Sam shares his experiences in grief groups, quarantining, grief fog, shame, sex drive, spiritual journey, and evolution of grief comedy, all colliding at the end in a frenzied sardonic sermon where he preaches to spread the Jehovah’s Witness gospel, and join in prayer – a call and response Jonathan and Sam developed in quarantine. 

Sam Morrison is originally from Sarasota, Florida but currently lives in Greenpoint where he is a staple of the Brooklyn comedy scene and plays ultimate frisbee with his least athletic friends. He is anxious gay diabetic Jew who finds humour in the sad, awkward, and shameful.