Here's Where It Gets Interesting - What in the World with Leanne Morgan

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

How did Leanne Morgan go from a small-town mom to one of the biggest comedians in the country? Sharon McMahon chats with the hilarious Leanne Morgan about doing comedy in a parking lot, her love of Costco (because, of course), how she survived a 200 city comedy tour, and never giving up on your dreams. It took more than 20 years, but Leanne now has her own Netflix special, a sitcom in the works, a movie alongside Reese Witherspoon, and a NYT best-selling book. If you want to laugh while also being inspired, don’t miss this episode. Credits: Host and Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks Audio Producer: Craig Thompson To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Y'all, you are going to want to stick around for this conversation because the one and only Leanne Morgan is here. If you don't know who Leanne Morgan is, I am sorry to say that you have been living under a rock because she is one of the top stand-up comedians in the country. Her Netflix special is one of the top things on Netflix. She's in the middle of filming her own sitcom. She is in a movie on Amazon with Reese Witherspoon, and she has a best-selling book. I love her so much. You're going to find this conversation delightful.

So let's dive in. I'm Sharon McMahon and here's where it gets interesting. The amount of stuff that you're doing, Leanne, I think I do a lot of things. Where is the stamina coming from? I don't know, Sharon, and I'm worried it's going to dry up. You are in front of books and have read a bunch of books because you're so smart. I wallow in the bed. So if you notice, I'm in a hotel room.

I do. I see that. With two queens because my baby child travels with me as my makeup artist. I just have to take to the bed is all I know. I sleep when I can. Yeah. I take a lot of magnesium. Oh.

Same. The magnesium makes all the difference. People are lot of magnesium. Oh. Same. The magnesium makes all the difference. People are sleeping on magnesium. And it helps digestion. And the muscle cramps. And leg. Yes. Restless leg.

I'm with you. But yeah, I take a lot of supplements and I try to prioritize sleep. And I should eat better. I just ate two chocolate chip cookies that you would have loved. I'm sure. Oh, that was as big as my head, but I just did it and I shouldn't have done. I was hungry and it sounded good to me. How are you doing all this with an election and inauguration

and all that honey, holding up the United States of America? Sometimes it feels that way. And certainly it's not real, but it feels like that's how some people think that I'm supposed to fix everything. It doesn't matter what it is. There's something that needs fixing and it's my job to fix it. I bet they do. And they shouldn't put that burden on you.

It's a little bit like I would imagine people when they find out that you're a comedian, they're like, do something funny. Do people ever do that with like, make me laugh? As though it's just a thing that you can just be like Turn that on same kind of deal I've had people saying to me say something funny and I've been standing in front of a casket It's somebody's funeral Lighten the mood Leanne. It's your job. It's your job to make us all feel better in our hour of grief. That's your job

I know but I can tell you that I have asked for people to look at my moles like at a party, a doctor. I have done that. I've crossed that boundary too. I get it. I feel you. Listen, I'm going to tell everybody a little quick story that I've already told you, but I have not told the general public this, which is that a number of years ago, my dad passed away and my mom met a very nice man in a grief group for seniors who had lost their spouses. So they had both been in a situation where they had taken care of a spouse who had a long illness. Their spouses passed away and they were part of this group that has all become friends. And eventually after a number of years, my mom remarried, married

this man that she had met and he's wonderful and he's very nice. And he had seen clips of your comedy on, I don't know, TV, Netflix, the internet, I'm not even sure. And he brought it up to my mom. And my mom initially, first of all, my mom loves comedians. My mom loves standup comedians, but she's very picky. She is not somebody who just wants to watch any old comedian. It needs to be the person who tickles her personal funny bone, right? So her husband turned her on to watching some of your clips. And before she knew it, she was watching your Netflix special

and buying tickets to your comedy show and driving multiple hours and spending the night in a hotel. And you know, like so excited, we're going to go see Leanne Market because we live three hours from a big city. And she's asked me multiple times, have you ever watched Leanne Market? I'm like, of course, who hasn't watched Leanne Morgan? So coincidentally, my mom booked a room in the same hotel that you were staying in. And as she was getting on the elevator, who would be coming off the elevator but Leanne

Morgan herself? The person that she was there to see. You were getting off the elevator wearing a robe and you asked my mom where the breakfast room was because you clearly wanted some coffee or something to eat. And my mom was like, I'm here to see you. And I told you this story and my mom did go see you and loved it. And you immediately were like, well, what is your mom's address? Because I'm sending her a package. And you did.

Most people would not actually follow through. Most people would say they were going to send the package and then forget about it. That's probably honestly what I would do, Leanne. I'd probably forget about it. I honestly would. I would have good intentions and then I would forget. Nope. She actually got a

package, took pictures, sent everybody she knew the pictures that she got. The package from Leanne Morgan. Her life that day was infinitely better because of the package that you mailed her. So I just had to tell everybody the story of how my mom saw you in a robe at the hotel as she was there to see you perform at your comedy show. And remind me Sharon, where was that? It was in St. Paul. St. Paul. I remember that little hotel.

Yeah, it's Boutique Hotel. It used to be a convent. So that was adorable. But the reason I'm telling you this story again, even though I've told it to you before, I think it illustrates who you are because who you are when nobody is watching is who you really are. Right? But secondly, I just wanted you to know that what you do matters. That's who you are because who you are when nobody is watching is who you really are, right? But secondly, I just wanted you to know that what you do matters.

That making people laugh actually is super important. It's not just for fun. It is fun, but it also is like an important thing that you're bringing to the world. So I just wanted to tell you that because I want you to know that what you do makes a difference Thank you Sharon and I receive that and it's hard for me because I think oh gosh, I've got to do better I've got to do better for these precious women But it keeps me going and it encourages me and that is what has happened during this whole thing because I try to tell people in interviews and

Somehow it's gotten messed up in my PR that people think that I just like all of a sudden this kooky mom started doing comedy in her fifties out in the parking lot. I have done comedy in a parking lot. Don't get me wrong. But I started when my baby child was 18 months old. She just turned 27 last week. So I've been doing this a long time and nobody cared, Sharon for 20 years. Nobody cared. I mean, it was

all right. I made money, but it just means the world to me to think that your little mama was so tickled to see me. And that encourages me because it's been a long, hard road, honey, where nobody cared. Yes. This narrative of like, one day Leanne Morgan just stepped foot out of her home and she became a famous comedian and she's in movies and doing a sitcom and she wrote a New York Times bestselling book just one day out of the blue. And you're like, excuse me, I have been doing this for more than 25 years. Okay?

Yes, I understand that recently the trajectory has accelerated rapidly, but it took you decades to get to this point. It did. It did. But I think it's the best plan. God had a plan and it's the best plan because now that I'm in Hollywood and shooting a sitcom, if I were 20, as insecure as I was and worried about my thighs, which I still kind of worried about my thighs, but I could not have handled this. This is the best time for me. My children are grown. They don't need me like they used to. And I think I'm, one, I'm tired, too tired to start honky tonking and get messed up on

dough. And also I just am secure enough in myself like this is it. You'll either like me or you don't. Take it or leave it. Take it or leave it. But I think that's what your little mama's attracted to. I'm just who I am. And I got to raise a bunch of kids in the middle of the United States. And I tell everybody this all the time, little Reese Witherspoon, that angel from heaven,

is like my little angel on my shoulder, wanted to see me do well, got me in a movie, playing her big sister. But every day she would look at me and say, Lynn, you got to raise your own children. And I think, because I stayed in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I have washed a bunch of dishes, and ironed a bunch of clothes,

and been to a bunch of Weight Watchers meetings. People can relate to me. And worked for what you have, right? You have legitimately worked for what you have. This is not like, oh my gosh, I saw this really hot girl walking down the street and I'm gonna turn her into a star. Like you have been at the sandwich shop.

You've been at Mike's sandwich shop for decades. And trying to do comedy for men that make carpet fiber. God love them. We need them, but they're not fun. So yeah, all these gigs on the state in a motel where I had to wear my heels in the shower. Oh, in the shower. And on the carpet. Uh-huh. Because I couldn't let my feet touch that carpet. Yeah. All those kind of, you know, road comedy things that made it what it is today. And thank goodness, I mean, it's been so fun. What has happened is crazy. Sharing, crazy. But, and I'm not supposed to interview you, but I'd like to know all about how this is, I know you're

smart and you've read every book in the United States of America, but like all of a sudden, it was like sharing, sharing, sharing, and everybody's asking you and like you say everybody wants you to fix it. But this is a big deal. Like all of a sudden it's you having to tend all of us. That's very kind of you. But yes, I really do feel, and I bet you can relate to this, that everything you have done throughout your life, even if it's unrelated, even if it's just staying home with your kids and doing the carpool and working hard doing the jewelry parties or whatever it is, all of those things are going to be used in the future. You may not know how, you may not be able to see the writing on the wall because that's just how

humanity works, but I bet you feel similarly to me in that all the stuff that I was doing before this, all the naughty children that I was teaching in the high schools, the boys who were like, "'I'm not gonna sit down, you ugly. Like they literally said that to me on my first day as a teacher.'

And I was like, "'Oh Sharon!' Ugly. How dare you, sir. He later came back and we apologized for having said such a thing. But all of those experiences, much like all of yours, are used now as material or fuel for the fire

or life experience or fill in the blank. Yes. I feel the same way. And when I went to the University of Tennessee and graduated from there, and they would ask me to come and speak to these juniors who were about to take their first internship, and they were in tourism, hospitality and all that. So a lot of these kids went to work for Disney, Blackberry Farms,

Heights, you know, all that. But they were little children and they were scared to death. And they said, Lynn, can you come and tell them your story? What you got your degree in, you did not use it. What all has happened for them not to worry because they all have it in their head. Their first job they're gonna get out of school is gonna be the only job they ever have.

They're all hystericalical so I would go every semester and make it fun but I would tell these little children that every job you have it doesn't matter if you're washing dishes that's gonna connect you to the next job down the road you will come back and know that person that got you that job and it all means something and it may feel like you're in a hole but you're not. Everything is connected to something else and there's all a reason for it. And yes I feel that way Sharon and I've waited tables, I've sold jewelry, I've worked behind a clinic counter, I had a bunch of babies, I tried

to work with their daddy, we could not do that. But all of these things, all these little gigs that nobody else wanted that I would do, all led me to here. And they weren't glamorous, they barely paid, but it got me ready for what's going on now. And also I love the idea too that what looks like success to you maybe when you were 25 or even you talk about in your book too when you're a child you imagined someday when I'm successful Clorox is gonna need me to be able to demonstrate how to use this on television so your definition of success changes over time and I do think that you appreciate it with some of the life experiences that, bless her heart, Ariana Grande does not have. And we love you, Ariana Grande.

This is no shame. But you know what I'm saying? If you're just like superstar, beautiful, uber-talented 21-year-old, like you said, you're going to get involved in some honky-tonking that maybe you wouldn't if you were not that age. Right. And I look back on it and I think, oh, God's protection over me because I would have been out honky tonking.

And I think after you birth babies and you look at your breasts, that's God keeping you from getting out and doing something terrible. Now all that means something. Somebody's gotta stay here with these kids. Somebody's gotta stay here with these kids. I didn't keep washing and cooking.

And it's obviously you. And here's the external sign that it's going to be you. What has it been like for you? When I read that you were on a 100 city comedy tour, which I know you've already done and you're getting ready to do more touring this summer and all these things. Clearly, I'm in your target demographic because your ads team is following me around the internet being like, buy Leigh-Ad Morgan tickets. I had just released a book and I did a 14 city book tour. And that's a big book tour, by the way. In the world of books,

it's a big book tour. That is a big one. Not a big comedy tour, but it's a big book tour. It's a big book tour. That is a big one. Not a big comedy tour, but it's a big book tour. And the level of exhaustion that I had after flying around the country for five weeks only, for five weeks only on a 14 city book tour, I needed weeks and weeks and weeks to decompress and like reenter normal life.

What in the world, Leanne, what in the world are you doing on a 100 city comedy tour? Like how are you upright and functional and not taking drugs? I know, I don't know. For real. I don't know, Sharon, because the first one was the big panty tour and that was 100 cities and it almost killed me. It was fun and I had a ball and every night Women were blowing kisses at me and had sons and big panties holding up big panties and it was precious But it was very grassroot I mean, you know I sit back in coach on an airplane and then get off an airplane barely get a connection because I was back in coach

But I didn't want to spend the money because I thought this is all gonna go away I would barely get a connection because I was back in coach, but I didn't want to spend the money because I thought this is all going to go away. And so I would barely get a connection and then run to the next plane and then get in a rental car in some little town. Karen Mills opens for me most of the time on my tour and we've been on and off doing comedy and helping each other together for 20 years. She's 65, I'm 59. I tell her all the time, I've almost killed you and I'm sorry.

But we'd get in a rental car, drive to the next state, or, you know, four or five hours away, do a show. I got to where Sharon, I was drinking a little wine, just a dab, just to calm my nerves thinking I've got imposter syndrome. I don't even need to be here. What is happening? And I realized that was making me feel so bad. And it was making my blood vessels expand at night.

And then I would break out in a sweat and wallow in the bed all night. And then would have to get up and get on another plane. But all that just about killed me, but it was so wonderful too. Adrenaline kept me going, I guess. This is an ad from BetterHelp Online Therapy. We always hear about the red flags to avoid in relationships, I guess. offers therapy 100% online and sign up only takes a few minutes. Visit betterhelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com. Have you heard the Disgraceland podcast? Do you know about Jerry Lee Lewis wanting to murder Elvis?

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Ted Bundy. Follow and listen to Disgrace Land on the Free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Then I got a second 200 city tour. Dear God, dear God, Leanne, dear God. I know, and then they got a movie. Took out two months to do a movie, but I got to sleep in the same bed every night. And then started touring again, and then now I'm shooting a television series, but then I'll start another...

I don't know. I don't even know how to tell you. And then write a book. Oh, just let's throw in, write a New York Times bestselling book in the mix. And then you did some, like, specific book events. Just throw that in there as well. Plus all the press for the book. Let's go do the Today Show and let's let the New York Times interview me. Let me find time to meet with Sharon while I'm in the hotel room on that one Friday afternoon. Like the amount of work that it takes to promote the projects that you're doing. It's not just shooting the movie. It's promoting the movie and promoting the book and promoting the tour and 200 cities. What in the world? I know that's why I named that book What in the World. Yes. Because every day I got what in the world and I knew in my heart Sharon this was

going to happen and I know you've read my book because you read. I knew as a child, I feel like God put it in my imagination. I'm not kidding. I heard Steve Harvey say that one time and I thought that makes sense to me because why would a little girl seven to nine years old think I'm going to Hollywood? And then I went through a spell in high school where I wouldn't tell people what I wanted to do

because I thought they're gonna think I'm crazy. Nobody else is talking about Hollywood. Then I went on to college because I was scared and I thought, well, that's their traditional route and I didn't know what else to do. Flailed, did not do well. Then married and then got divorced at 23. Then go back to school, meet Chuck Morgan who I've been married to for over 30 years. I've got my three children behind two grandbabies. But I can I continue this because I used to have a podcast called Sweaty and Pissed, Menopause and More,

with my nurse practitioner who was brilliant. And I think, honest to goodness, after I started getting up in the plane where at least I didn't have to run from back in the toilet and coach, I started taking care of myself better. And I thought, I've gotta make sure my vitamin D levels are high enough.

I take that magnesium. I prioritize sleep because now, Sharon, after all of this, now I'm doing a sitcom where I have to learn a script every week. I know. What in the world? What in the world? What in the world? And it is hard.

Now I'm up in my fish oil, but if I think, oh, I've got to go to bed at eight o'clock, I've got to get that sleep and there's an app playing in the room that's got white noise in it that's supposed to help my neuro transmit or something, I'm doing everything I can, honey. But somehow I'm doing it. I'm 59 years old. And I think it's just, honest to goodness that I don't mean to sound sappy, but it's just my fans are so precious. And like your little mama saying that kind of stuff,

it just keeps me going. It just keeps me going. And then of course their daddy, Chuck Morgan is saying, you've got to make money for these kids and these grandchildren. And I want to, I've got two grandsons that I have got to buy dinosaurs for. That's right.

If you're not going to spoil them, who is? I know. And there's a lot of dinosaur merch out there. They grabs a grandmama when she's shopping. Do you enjoy shopping recreationally? I do. And I tell you, Sharon, what I enjoy, because I've been on a budget for 30-something years with Chuck Morgan. Chuck Morgan is a very, very smart type A anal retentive overachiever very academic smart Chuck

Morgan has kept me on a budget and so it has been almost like a hobby to be able to clothe three children and do it on a budget so like I still love a good Nordstrom rag TJ Maxx I still love a good hunt I can't go out and spend full price on something. I'm a mama. And if this all gets bigger than it is, the movie's about to come out and I get recognized a lot everywhere I go. But in California, since I've been living out here, I don't get recognized as I usually

do in the Midwest and in the South. And I hope I can still go to a Costco. That is my joy. If I can do anything, it's knowing that I can go and look at the sheets and the little clothes that have got Paw Patrol on them and then find out what the new spice is or what kind of cans of tuna they got. That I'm not kidding, sets me on fire. I'd rather go to a Costco than I would a Saks Fifth Avenue.

We walked through a Saks Fifth Avenue lately, me and my daughter, cause it was her birthday and we were both like, we're not playing land. I mean, we love a deal. Yes. And it's just like I'm on a hunt. I love it. You like to buy in bulk. I do like to buy in bulk. I do like to know I got enough paper towels and toilet paper that does set me on fire. It's just a feeling that you can't replicate. Like I remember when I was growing up, my mom would wait for there to be a sale on toilet paper and then she would buy enough and she would stash it under the beds because there wasn't enough room in the cabinet where we

would normally keep it. You would keep the extra rolls under the beds because that's unused space. Why wouldn't you put it under there? And there's just like a singular joy of having enough toilet paper for any set of circumstances. I know. Yeah, I've got to have enough toilet paper. And I do love a Dawn dishwasher and that new squirt bottle they've got. The power wash. And to know that you've got two extra. I love stuff like that, Sharon.

Have you reached the point though, where you can go to Costco, put anything you want in your cart and not have to worry about how much it costs? Because of course you can pay for it, but there's a difference between being able to pay for it and like mentally feeling like it's fine if I pay for all of this. Do you know what I mean? Have you reached the point where you're like, yeah, I'll get whatever I want at Costco. I have.

Good. That has been my thing since I'm working like a mule. Get whatever I want at Costco. I do. I do. And I tell you what I do with it. I go and take to my elderly mom and daddy. I love to get a big cooler and get what they need because they live two and a half

hours for me. I go and get theirs. I get for my grandbabies what I know they're applesauce, they know what it looks like, they won't eat anything else. So I tell all my kids, I send out a thread, who needs what at Costco?

And I just go nuts. And that's just your fun is the Costco run. It is, it is. I don't think I'll ever, because I think this happened to me so late in life, because I drive around in LA, my baby has to drive me because I can't see. And there was a Bentley. I'd never seen one. And I thought it looked like something maybe mafia people drove. And it just does not mean anything to me. I don't think I'd

ever do that kind of stuff. It'll always be a big Costco run or in like a Northland rack a home goods. A pumpkin towel. And Sharon, now that I'm a grandmama, when I had my babies, I really wasn't into themes. Like I made sure they had a, you know, Halloween sweatshirt or something, but I didn't go nuts. Okay. Now I'm pretty nuts and home goods has the best little plates that are made like a reindeer's head. That's right. Seasonally appropriate. Oh. Seasonally appropriate.

Oh, that you cannot beat it. And I love that kind of stuff. And I know that my grandbabies will love it, to eat off of a reindeer head. When you are a young mom and Chuck Morgan is like, you're driving us to financial ruin. And you're like, I'm driving you to financial ruin with a pumpkin towel. Excuse me.

It's hard to justify the reindeer head plates. But after a 300 city tour, now you can finally be like, put it in the cart. The reindeer plates are coming home. Yeah. And don't even look at me, Chuck. Don't even ask me what's happening. He doesn't, Nail. He really doesn't because he knows that I would rip him a new butthole. Because I have sacrificed, and by darn it,

I'm gonna have a good time. That's my favorite thing. I'm away from my family, and that kills me. But when we go home, every day's a party. And these grandbabies come over, and it's like, because I want them to think I'm the funnest and the cutest. And I also put on makeup and curl my hair for these boys. They're 19 months old and four.

I want them to think grandma was the prettiest and the sweetest and the funnest. And why not? Why shouldn't they think that frankly, right? What's the harm? What's the harm in remembering you that way? And this sweater, I know, and look, C and J for their initials in my sweater.

Thank you. Smocking, smocked items, are you into smocking, Leigh Ann? My sister married Hoop to do and she had everything smocked. I do like that sweet for church and a christening, but I don't monogram because I don't want anybody to grab these kids. I'm from the age where CNN starts showing

everybody's children getting grabbed. And my children have said to me, the three things you've tormented us about mom, is it one, somebody's going to snatch us out of the yard, two, we're all going to get sun damage and possibly go into a melanoma. And because I'm from farming people, they all have said that I act like we're going to run out of food. And I think that comes from, I carry a lot of stuff in my purse, but I think that comes from my mama,

never wasted anything, saves everything. You make sure we killed our own beef, grew our own food. So I've got this thing, Sharon, where I do carry a lot of food. You just never know when you're gonna need a snack. You never know. And being hungry is terrible. That's the worst.

That's the worst. Right, it is terrible. So those are the three things I've tormented my children about. I like to tease my mom because when I was growing up, I grew up in the generation of like, come home when the street lights come on. Go out and ride your bike and like, come home eventually. And we also grew up a couple blocks from a river. And my sister and I would go swimming in the river unattended all the time. And it was the kind of river with like waterfalls and fast moving current.

And we were jumping off the cliffs. And my mom was never like, don't get a traumatic brain injury, don't drown. She was always like, be nice to each other. That was the instruction. It was not don't die. It was be nice to each other. That was the instruction. It was not don't die. It was be nice to your sister. So now that my mom has grandchildren,

her second oldest grandchild is my son, who is six foot seven. Okay, he's six, seven. And my mom will not allow him to kick a soccer ball in her yard unattended as a six foot seven man unless she is with him. As though he was going to get kidnapped. Oh, but you know what? His grandma's with him.

So never mind. As though that's the difference maker is grandma. When you talk about that you were swimming in a river with a current, you know what we did in Adam's Tennessee, we would go play on the railroad tracks. Oh, sure. And there would be trains coming. Yes. Absolutely.

And they'd say, oh, let's put quarters and pennies on the rail. And nobody was watching. Nobody. You know, what we used to do is there was a railroad bridge over this river and we would sometimes jump off the railroad bridge into the river. We tied up a rope and we would swing from the rock cliff into the swimming hole from the railroad bridge. The police would regularly come and cut down that rope because it was too dangerous.

They're like, you guys should not be doing this and we just put up a new rope all the time. Zero people were watching. Did you think, Sharon, because you're so smart, and I know you know, do you think that generation, I'm so glad you didn't get a head injury, but do you think that that was helpful to be able to do all those crazy things

and nobody helicoptering over you and letting you make decisions and solve problems. Cause look what you've been able to do. There's a happy medium, right? Of like, maybe we shouldn't jump off the railroad bridge without any adult supervision, but I do think we have now gone too far where kids cannot go anywhere or do anything without constant adult supervision. And that actually, I think there's a lot of research that shows that stunts the growth of children.

Like that's how you develop independence. That's how you grow up to be somebody who doesn't live in their mom's basement, is you develop the independence over time by being allowed to make decisions for yourself. I know. And then as a grandmama, I see them, they'll give those babies chores and they do them.

And I know that builds confidence and I'm tickled over that. But then they'll let them walk out in the yard. And I've still got that. I mean, I get real weird and I don't want to stifle them. But my son and his wife are letting them be more independent than helicoptering like my generation helicoptered these little children. And maybe it's okay if you, the grandma, helicopters them when they're around you, and then they can do what they want when they're at home with mom and dad.

Maybe that's okay. What advice would you give your younger self, Leanne? If you could go back and meet 25-year-old Leanne or 15-year-old Leanne, what advice would you give her? I would say you are a doll. Don't worry, you got this. I would also say don't worry about a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter.

And I could say that to a young mama. You know what I thought about writing a book on is all the things I think I did right parenting and all the things I did wrong. And I look back and I think, oh my gosh, I worried about a bunch of mess that didn't mean a hell of things. Like what? What do you feel like doesn't matter now?

Well, I got a lot of flaws, but I feel like one of my strengths has been I'm never caring what other people think. And I don't know where I got that from. I think Lucille, my mama, and I agree for people who go through that all the time, you know, that worry about what other people think. Because to be an artist and to be a comedian, I mean, I've had to just lay it all out there and I can't worry about what anybody else thinks. But I do look back on as a woman, not a comedian, but I think, oh my gosh, I just sat and worried about my body and I've got a healthy body. I could have had 15 children, Sharon just sat and worried about my body and I've got a healthy body.

I could have had 15 children, Sharon. I could have breastfed all of them. I'm from farming people. I am not taking care of my body like I should have. And I would think I was fat, my thighs, and I don't like my stomach, and I don't like my... And I should have enjoyed every stage because every stage was beautiful. You know, even after having a baby, I just wish

I had enjoyed that and not sit and fretted about now because who cares? Now who cares about that? And I did worry about boys. I went through spails where I dated people you wouldn't wipe your feet on Sharon. And I wish that I could say to that little girl, you're so much better than this. You know, you deserve somebody to be kind to you and you are not here to cater to boys. You know, I don't know if that was my generation and my sweet little precious mom and daddy, but I remember my daddy saying, you need to find somebody that's going to make you live and you need to find somebody that you'll have health insurance. You know, like I couldn't do it myself and I got to think and I can't do it myself. And of course I wanted to have babies,

so I wanted to be married and have babies, but I just did not realize, you know, I'm pretty smart. I mean, I've got to have something that I've built this. And I just didn't realize how savvy, and I'm happy with the way my life has turned out, and I got to be with these children and raise them. But I wish I could tell little girls, oh my gosh, you got so much to look forward to and you got so much going for you.

Stop underestimating yourself. That's a good way of putting it, Smart Sharon. You know, they say that one of the ways you can tell that somebody's smart is that they're funny. That in order to be funny, you have to be smart. I would imagine that most people who are really successful comedians are actually quite intelligent. You have to have a high degree of emotional intelligence, to be able to read the room and tell what people are going

to laugh at and like have a turn of phrase that cranks the funny level up a notch. And there's a tremendous amount of intelligence that goes hand in hand with being able to make people laugh. Well, thank you my darling I do feel like I've got that It's a different kind of smart then say my husband who made straight A's and MBA's go while he was stalking me And I remember us on a date coming out to California to visit my sister She lived in Huntington Beach and worked for a company Because they were asking me about this when I did Jimmy Kimmel the other night and it brought back this memory. When we came out here and Chuck said, what do you want to do?

He was wooing me. Well, what do you want to do? And I said, I want to go to the Comedy Store because I've never been to a comedy club before. And I want to go on that Hearst tour where you ride around in a hearse and see where people are murdered in Hollywood. And we did. And Chuck saying, this is the most morbid thing I've ever seen in my life. And I would say, that's where Sal Mineo was stabbed in the alley, or that's where Bugsy Siegel was shot, or that's where Fetty Arbuckle fell on that woman and burst her bladder. And he goes,

who's Fetty Arbuckle? You know, who's from the 30s or 20s. And he said, you have got so much of these things rolling around in your head. Random facts, yes. That mean nothing, LeAnn. But it was my thing to know old Hollywood and to know I just loved it. And I went to the comedy store and my heart beat out of my body and I had a physical reaction

and thought this is what I'm supposed to be doing. But yeah, I know that I'm smart. It's a different kind of smart. When I look at Nate Berganzi, who's a good friend of mine, and he talks about all the time about how he's not smart and can't say words and he, you know, he can't, he's so smart though. He's so smart.

Yeah, that's part of the act. He's every man, his whole like big dumb eyes thing where he acts like he doesn't get what's happening in the world, but he really does. He really does. You know, he talks about all the time that he didn't happening in the world, but he really does. He really does. You know, he talks about all the time that he didn't go on to college, but he's smart. And I could not do math, Sharon. I did love history.

And I wanted to tell you, when I was at the University of Tennessee, I had a history class and that man retired and he was so wonderful. He would tell us the part of history that you wanted to know, like the twisted part. Like when they came over on the Mayflower, how many percentage of teenage pregnancy unwedded mothers were on there because they were on that boat so long and so people were doing it. So he told us that kind of nifty stuff that set me on fire. But I probably didn't go to class like I should have and I probably tried to flirt with boys that did and said, can I have your notes? And they probably want to slap my teeth out.

Do you also know that a very large percentage of stand-up comedians are youngest children? I have heard that. Theoretically, there's something about the birth order that the youngest children are the funniest children. Do you agree with that? I do. I do.

And I'd say that in all my children are funny, but my baby child's the funniest. And people say all the time she needs to get on stage. Can she open for you? People love her. But yes, I think that, and I'm very much into ornal positioning. And I can look at my first child,

and he has been a people pleaser, and is precious, and from heaven, and an old soul. And then I look at my middle child, and she has tended to all of us. She's my most sensitive. She takes care of the baby and the oldest and calls me every day to make sure I'm alive. And then this baby child's smart aleck rolls her eyes at me, but funny, very funny. You know, well-behaved women rarely make history,

Leanne. Women who just shut up and do what they're told don't go down in the history books as people that we remember. It's usually the women who have the audacity to try, who do something that's memorable or that changes the course of history. And I would love to hear from you. Where does your audacity come from, Leanne? I have a precious mama, Lucille, who who told me you can do it. You're gonna be a star. But I'm from a lot of farming people but they all believed in me. I feel like it's a spiritual supernatural thing. I just feel like from the time I was little it was like I'm going, I'm doing. I feel like God put that in my heart. But I don't know because my sister, if she was sitting here, she'd have her feet crossed

at the ankles and she never smoked a cigarette and never talked too loud. I always talked too loud. She did everything exactly like she was supposed to. And I don't know, Sharon, you're the smartest person on earth. Where do you think I got it? I don't know, but I just felt like in my heart, it was always gonna happen and I had to do it. But I mean, I was in the middle of nowhere in the foothills of the Appalachia Mountains

when I had three babies and I knew I had to keep going. And there would be many a time where they would say, you know, Comedy Central, the trends, like we're trying to get to boys 18 to 35 that are high on marijuana. And they did not want me. I had on a kitten hill with a Capri with a bird on it, talking about somebody doodooed on a T-ball field, but I feel like God never shut that door.

You never felt discouraged? I did in my early fifties. I thought after all that time, 20 something years in comedy, lots of nos, lots of people shutting me down, couldn't get booked, but I would always get something from Hollywood saying, we want to do a television show. Then it wouldn't make it, but it would give me enough to keep going. And then in my early 50s, I really got discouraged for the first time, and I knew Charlie was going to have my first grandbaby, and I went out to eat with Chuck,

and I started crying, and I said, I don't think anything's going to gonna happen But I always like to work. I always like to make my own money I always like to have something going and I said I can help Charlie with the baby because that's what country grandmamas do or I said I could open a hardware store Because my people were farmers but had businesses and I always had that in me You know I know I could dazzle and I could have canning goods and I could sell all that stuff And of course and kill, you know and have a cheese well and sell car hurt and Chuck said you have lost your mind That's crazy land. You've got to keep going. You'll be fine. You'll be fine. And that's when I

Hired these two little boys. I say little boys. They're grown They've got children these two guys that had been schooled, that had been raised in a Christian home, and they said, yeah, we'll help you with your social media. It was $2,000 a month. I had $6,000 and I thought I'm gonna just see if something does not happen because I was watching Nate blow up. I knew Jim Gaffigan. I'm a big fan of his and I was watching what he was doing and I thought they've got social media people. And that the new newspaper that's the new TV you know nobody's watching anything like they used to I've got a pivot and I thought I'm gonna give it three months and if something doesn't happen that'll be a sign from God that's

okay I'll figure something out and the first thing they put out was a video of me talking about taking Chuck Morgan to go see Def Leppard and Journey and how everybody looks sick and the man that sings for Def Leppard I think had a hernia and everybody had little legs and thin hair and anyway that went viral. And then that was my early 50s and I three months before that nobody would book me. I had been to clubs. I had always worked clubs throughout the years, but they were like, she can't sell tickets. We're not having her back.

We love her. She doesn't get drunk and fight in the parking lot, but we're not gonna have her back. And within two days, that went so viral. People started watching everything else I had done. And women, little darling women all over the United States started calling their comedy clubs saying, Winsley and Morgan coming.

And I started selling out overnight. And I would have checks floating around. Didn't have time to cash them. And Chuck said, you're almost like a drug dealer with all these checks in your back here. But it was just like, it was just, it went from nothing to boom. And then it has not stopped, Sharon.

It has not stopped. It sure has not. Okay, tell me more about the movie and the TV show. Okay. So you're cordially invited. The movie is coming out January the 30th on Amazon Prime. I'm very excited. It is a wacky nutty movie of two families, Will Ferrell's family and Reese Witherspoon's family, that have double booked a venue in the South and we fight over this venue and I play Reese Witherspoon's big sister

Gwyneth who is from Buckhead Atlanta and gets her hair shampooed and set three times a week and it was a ball we had a ball and it's directed by Nick Stoller who did Forgetting Sarah Marshall and you know all those unbelievable movies and he was precious and every day we laughed until we were weak. And so that comes out January the 30th. And then I'm shooting a sitcom for Netflix with Chuck Lorre that did Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Mike and Molly, Young Sheldon, all that. And he flew to my house in Knoxville, Tennessee,

and held my grandbaby and said, I want to do a television show with you. So we have just finished six episodes. There's 16 in all. I'm shooting that right now in Los Angeles with Warner Brothers. And that will come out on Netflix. I'm not sure when, but they'll drop 16 episodes.

And then I have two more specials with Netflix in the works. So I'll shoot another special Wilmington, North Carolina this June. And that'll be my second Netflix special. And then I have another one that'll be due in 2027. And then yes, I wrote this book, Honey, Through the Skin of My Teeth. I'd be in a hotel room on the big panty tour, and just getting started tour, trying to edit. Every vacation I went on I'd scream at these kids and say I've got a deadline and I'm not good with a deadline honey and I ruined everybody's vacation but I'm proud of it. I got through but let me tell you I wrote in this my literary agent who is so funny I wanted to tell

every scene and every horrible thing I'd ever done, Sharon, and he said, honey you're not John Crawford yet. He goes, let's save that, let's make this just a fun, get to know Leanne, and then let's do a cookbook maybe, because he knows I like to cook and I love a good casserole and a jello salad. And then he said, your third book can be your scene, so get ready for that Sharon, because there was a lot of it in the eighties, honey. I did everything I was big enough to. My kids say, don't say that, mama. You were not on heroin.

I go, I wasn't on heroin, but I made out with people that were stupid and smoked cigarettes. But anyway, there's a lot going on. I hope I get to do a lot more movies, because I loved it. I had a ball and I'm enjoying this television show. The cast is unbelievable. Kristen Johnson plays my sister. Celia Weston plays my mother who is my mother in

the movie too and is award-winning actress, Broadway star. And so I'm having a ball because it's people like your precious mama. I know. And they would tell me when I start selling out these comedy clubs and I got a tour, I look out in the audience and it'll be a grandmama, a mama and her daughter. And it'll be three generations enjoying that together. And that, I just never even dreamed that. And that has been the sweetest part of it because people can relate to it.

But you know, I'm real, I'm a mama, I'm a grandmama. I've been through all this, it's all true. Everything I talk about is true. I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy for you. I'm sharing, I'm a mama. I'm a grandmama. I've been through all this. It's all true. Everything I talk about is true. I'm so happy for you. I'm sharing. I wish you okay, can we talk another hour about how are we going to be all right? Is the United States of America going to be okay? Or is Jesus coming back? That I can't answer. I can't answer any about Jesus's intentions, but I can tell you that America has been through challenges before.

And people have asked me this many times, is this the worst it has ever been? The perception of like- The fighting and all that. Yes, you open social media and you're like, this is the worst it's ever been. And I can tell you that in fact, no, this is not the worst it has ever been.

America has been worse than this before, and we have made progress. So I have confidence in our ability to fight through the difficult times and make progress in the future. And the division and all that, that we're going to be OK. It's going to require us to work at it. You know, Martin Luther King talked about the arc of the moral universe is is long but it bends toward justice, right? Like that's a very common thing that's attributed to him and that is true. But what a lot of people forget is that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice

because people reach up and pull it down, right? It doesn't just bend towards justice on its own. So it's going to require, it's not going to be okay because that's just how everything works, it's always okay. It's going to require us to make it okay, but it can be okay if we are willing to do the work. Oh my darling Sharon. Well honey thank you for paying attention in school. So that you can teach all of us. I read comments in what people say to you and people look to you and I know that's a heavy burden on you but here you are in this time in your life. This has come together and did you ever believe this?

No, of course not. I know, crazy. Well, Leanne, it was truly a delight. Truly. And thank you so much for making time to do this from your hotel in Los Angeles in between shooting your sitcoms and your 42,000 comedy dates and your bestselling books and your movies and the Will Ferrells and the Reese Witherspoons and like, thank you for finding time to do this from your hotel. I truly appreciate it. Thank you, sweet Sharon for honey and you have accommodated me.

Thank you for doing that, you doll. And I think your lip color is beautiful. Thank you. I'm into beauty. I'm into you know I like all that and you are very pretty in that earring. Thank you. Someday we will have to get together and do some shopping. We can go to the Costco or the beauty counter together. Yes and your little mama can go to Tell her I said hello. All right, you doll from heaven. Thank you, you angel. You can finally add Morgan's book, What in the World? Wherever you buy your books. If you want to support independent bookstores, head to yours or go to bookshop.org.

And you can also watch Your Cordially Invited on Amazon Prime Video. Thank you so much for listening to Here's Where It Gets Interesting. If you enjoyed today's episode, would you consider sharing or subscribing to this show? That helps podcasters out so much. I'm your host and executive producer, Sharon McMahon.

Our supervising producer is Melanie Buck-Parks and our audio producer is Craig Thompson. We'll see you soon.