Tracy Morgan On His Sons & His Sobriety

Tracy Morgan didn’t pop the bubbly to celebrate his recent Emmy nod for his hilarious work on 30 Rock. After two drunk driving arrests and time spent with an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet, the newly sober star stays away from booze these days.

"I've been sober for a year-and-a-half now, and I feel it all," he tells People. "I'm not inebriated anymore. I want to feel the good, the bad and the ugly. I want to remember it all. I couldn't do that when I wasn't sober. What I have learned over the years is to try to stay in the moment. I want to feel it all because I've realized nothing lasts. I'm not perfect but I strive for it.”

The dad-of-three credits his friend and 30 Rock co-star Tina Fey with helping him to get sober.

"She told me to fly right," he revealed in a recent interview with USA Today. "Tina Fey is down like four flat tires. I love her. That's my girl, Tina Fey-Fey. She's the coolest."

Tina may have had a hand in his new lifestyle, but Tracy says in the end he cleaned up his act for his sons Gitrid, 23, Malcolm, 21, and Tracy, Jr, 17, with whom he now shares a "stronger relationship than ever."

After his own less-than-perfect childhood – he grew up in a tough NY neighborhood and lost his father at just 17 years old - Tracy says he tries to always be there for his boys.

"I deal with my sons like young men," Tracy says. "If they have a problem with something, they come to me. I am the type of dad that will drop everything I am doing for them, and always tell them to talk to me about it. I'm not [as] crazy as you'd think. They have grown to be respectable young men that are funnier that I could ever be."

Tracy’s success story is remarkable, but he says he’s not done yet. He dreams of eventually directing, producing and performing on Broadway, but for now his sights are set on that Emmy.

"I hope to win (the Emmy), but you know, as far as I'm concerned, I'm a winner already, because of all the obstacles it took just for me to be here."