Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 192. Leanne Morgan: In The Presence of a Comedy Angel

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

On the heels of her new special “Unspeakable Things,” Leanne Morgan joins the podcast this week to talk Southern beauty shop gossip, getting started in comedy selling jewelry door to door, and in what way Mike is “her Elvis.” Plus, the time Leanne may or may not have been picked up in an SUV by President George W. Bush.Please consider donating to Food Bank For NYC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Do you, is there anything, do people ever, because your accent is strong, strong to their accent, people ever go like, are you playing this? Oh, they do it all the time. And that frustrates me. Yeah. Because I think if I were going to fake one, I don't know this would be it. That is the voice of the great Leanne Morgan. Yes, Leanne Morgan is here. I was thrilled to have her on. I wanted to have her on forever. She's a great stand-up comic and actor.

She's a great new Netflix special. It's like number one on Netflix right now. It's called Unspeakable Things. She co-created in Stars in the sitcom Leanne, which is also on Netflix. She is a Netflix star. She's a fascinating person. Really interesting career path.

We really get into that today. I've got some new shows coming up. If you heard my episode with my wife, The Poet, J. Hope Stein, a couple weeks ago, you'll be excited to know that we're doing our show, which we call Jokes and Poems at Joe's Pub in New York City. It is sold out. It sold out right away, but we created a new texting mailing list so that you will be the first note and it won't go to your spam. You text Burbig's, B-I-R-B-I-G-S, to the phone number 9-17-44-7-1-5-0,

and then you will be texted the next time we do with jokes and poems, which I think we're doing in a couple months. Also, I will be appearing in the brink. Broadway show All Out from January 13th through 18th, alongside Cecily Strong and Wayne Brady and others. All Out is, of course, written by the great Simon Rich, who wrote for S&L, and it was written for The New Yorker, and has written all kinds of great humorous books. It is a follow-up to All In, which is a hit show on Broadway last year, with John Mullaney and Nick Crowell and Lynn Miranda and others. I'm thrilled to be a part of it for a week in January. You can get tickets at alloutbroadway.com. By the way, thanks to everyone who has signed up for working it out,

premium on Apple Podcasts. If you do that, you get no ads. You get some great bonus episodes. We did one that I love or I punch up people's jokes, some listeners' jokes. I'm doing another one with Pete Holmes next week. That'll be fun. That'll be on the premium feed.

This is a great conversation with Leon Morgan. We talk about growing up in the South. She's from Tennessee. We talk about her first time on stage at Zanis in Nashville. Great comedy club. She's just had a really unconventional career. She used to sell jewelry. Door to Door? We talk about that and how she found her way to stand-up comedy.

Very inspiring chat today. Very funny. Enjoy my conversation with the great Leanne Morgan. Thank you, thank you, my angel for having me. Are you kidding me? Thank you. Your special's so good. Mike. I care about what you think. I really do. I love it. I called everyone I knew this morning to tell them how much I liked it. I called Sarah at Netflix, who's the publicist there. I was like, this special, so good. I called Greg Warren, our mutual friend and said it's so good. He goes, I was on tour with Leanne when she was working on that hour. Well, you know, my first one was a shock that even Netflix let me have one. And then when it did so well, now I feel pressure. I mean,

I didn't expect that one to do that well. And then now I feel even more pressure. But every time something comes out, I'm freaked out. Do you feel that way? Yeah. No, for sure. I get freaked out the last second. What if there's something I'm not thinking of that people are going to hate?

Do you ever have that? Uh-huh. I do. There's a thing that I missed it, and it's terrible, and I didn't notice. Like, I feel like that's my record. recurring nightmare about the about the specials yeah i have that and i have a million other things that i sit and toll over i do yeah i didn't think of myself as a perfectionist in any other part of my life yeah but this and then i get freaked out yeah no it's so good i was surprised at how much

you evoke um satan well i am a grandmother yeah yeah satan god you're like you're like well you You're in Atlanta shooting a movie with Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, and then someone asked you to go to a strip club, which is at the, I think, the Claremont. Yes. And you were concerned that it was going to feel, have the presence of Satan? The presence of Satan, Mike. Doesn't Satan hang out in strip clubs, I would think. Very possibly.

I mean, if Satan exists, if Satan exists, that's definitely a hang. And I'm already, you know, a prude. I mean, when I say that, people ask me all the time, they go, do you mind people cussing and you're clean? Do you mind people cussing or doing it? I love Dave Chappelle. I love, I don't mind all that. I really don't.

It doesn't offend me. But I'm a mother. You know, I'm a grandmama and a mother. How many grandkids do you have? Two. Wow. Wow. So you, okay, so your take on cursory.

is you don't do it, but you don't mind it. I don't mind it. No, oh no. And I think people are so funny and, yeah, I don't mind it one bit. I just don't do it. I think because when I started this 25 years ago, I had little bitty children, and I didn't want to say anything I didn't want my little children to say.

That makes sense. I still don't want them to say it, but my baby says Cus words. She's here with us, Tess. Mm-hmm. She's here. Because she's your makeup artist. She's my makeup artist, and now she says she's my caregiver, and she did not ask for that. I've become kind of sissy.

I hope I don't get like Moran Carey, and I can't even walk across the floor. You know, she's got men. Do you notice that? She's got men on each side carrying her. I thought, am I going to be like Moran Carey? I can't even open up a bag of pretzels. I'm weak. I think that happens in menopause.

So when you started, you started in Knoxville, Tennessee. I started, really, in Austin, Texas at the Cap City Comedy Club. Oh, did you really? Uh-huh. I was peddling. I'd like to say I was peddling before that. Yeah. But there wasn't a comedy club around.

Like, I went to the University of Tennessee, and there was a comedy club. I had no idea. I was not, I was too scared to even try something like that at that point when I was in college, and I was lost, and I was an idiot. I never knew there was a comedy club. I didn't go to a comedy club. Nothing. But all of my life from the time I was little, I thought I'm going into show business.

Oh, interesting. And I love comedy. I love stand-up. And I watched Johnny Carson, and I watched all the comedians. And I loved Richard Lewis and Jay Leno and David Letterman and, you know, anybody. But I don't know. I was just flailing around, not knowing, you know, didn't have the confidence to try something like that. You know, to get in a car and go to L.A. at 18 with $60 in your pocket, like people's saying.

It never crossed my mind. Right. But I married their daddy, Chuck Morgan, and then I... You always say that as special. Why do you say his full name? My little mama is always called my daddy, Jimmy Fletcher. Okay. And so I just always said Chuck Morgan.

But I also have a boy, Charlie, my oldest child, and I have a grandbaby that all named. So I just, you know, differentiate all the Chucks in my life. Chuck Lurie. See, I got Chuck Lori. He's the producer of your sitcom. So I go Chuck Morgan. But I also mean it, and he frustrates me. Right.

But it gives me a lot of material. Yeah, he does. He does. You guys have been together 30-something years. Uh-huh, yes. And so he moved me to Bean Station, Tennessee, and the foothills of that, Blachian Mountains. I had my first baby, and I tell everybody,

I really feel like I got starting comedy. I started selling jewelry like Mary Kay. I had a degree. I had a college degree. but I wanted to breastfeed and be at home, but I needed a little money, my own side hustle. So I started selling jewelry like women sell Mary Kaye in people's homes. And honest to goodness, it was like my own little comedy club.

But I had all these women that I could talk to. And some of the first material I had came out of those jewelry parties. But then we moved to San Antonio, and I worked that river center. Did you ever work in the mall? River Center, it wasn't fun. No. And then I would drive back and forth and do Cap City Comedy Club.

But that's where I, then I, you know, said I'm a comedian. Yeah. And they were three, five, and seven. Oh, so you were like... When I started working clubs. And Brian Dorfman, he was one of my best friends in this business. He was a concert promoter at Outback Concert.

He took me into his office and said, Lee, and I think you got something. He said that to me. But he said, this is going to be hard with a mama with three little children to do clubs. Wow. Uh-huh. And he was right.

He's right. He's right. I was mad, but he was right. It is hard, right? Yeah. Must have been, like, nearly impossible. And I... Think about how busy you are.

Oh. And Chuck Morgan has always climbed the corporate ladder and is executive for a company, and so he was gone. It was up to me to raise these children, and I wanted to raise them. Right. So I just had to carve out a different pan.

than most, you know, boys that'll do clubs. I wanted to do clubs, and I did them, but, you know, like five or six a year that would maybe book me twice a year. Yeah. And then I would fill in with, I did breast cancer fundraisers. Sure.

I did corporate, private little corporate things or what anybody would let me do. Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to quit ever? In my early 50s, I just turned 60. Wow. This month.

Happy birthday. Thank you, my darling. I feel good. I'm glad to be alive. and had my health. At first I thought it was going to kill me. I thought, 60. When did this happen?

But I'm good. I'm okay. 60's new 50. 60's the new 50, 30, something. You don't look a day over 50. You don't look at a day over 40. What is this? I don't know about that.

Thank you. I thought I would have hit it bigger when I was younger and thinner, but that's okay. Right back at you. Over here. Still waiting? Oh, my. darling. I said you're my Elvis. My girlfriend's boyfriend. Yeah. Loved it. Thanks.

Loved it. Did you have a definitive moment in your career where you thought I'm on the outside and then I feel like I'm on the inside? Honey, just recently. You let me be on here and sweet Neil Brennan. Let me be on hands. I love him and Mark Merrin had me on. Oh. I know. Sweet. I felt completely out of the loop and felt like the uncoolest goober until recently. And Nate Bargesi and I talk about this, and he'll go, I've never been one of the cool kids. I go, well, then you need a therapist because we think you're a cool kid. But I think being a mama in Knoxville, really, I was isolated because it wasn't a comedy scene there.

There were side splitters. Side splitters. There was one in Tampa and one in Knoxville. They shut it down. Wow. But I used to work that, and then I do the Bejou and the Tennessee Theater there. But what was I saying? I just lost my turn around.

Being on the outside versus being on the inside. Oh, yes, honey. I'm showing that I turned 60. Okay. I would, in Austin, Texas, they loved me. They were good to me and believed in me. Margie Cole and Rich Miller that owned it, Dennis Miller's brother. Yeah, yeah.

And they would get me to audition for JFL and Aspen and Comedy Central would come through there all the time. And I never got anything. And I would think, but I'm unique. I've got on a Capri with birds on it and a kitten hill, and I'm talking about my stomach. Yeah, yeah. And Weight Watchers. Nobody else says everybody's home marijuana. Yeah, I thought I'm so, what, I don't know if they want me, but they never did.

I think one of the things when I watch your stand-up is it's so unique, it's so definitively you. Is there someone in your life who encourage you to be yourself? My mom, Lucille. And just always, and this is so southern women, but everything is also about beauty.

And, you know, and she didn't put us in pageants or anything, but I've got a beautiful sister who's older than me. And we, it was always like, were you the prettiest one there? I would get back from somewhere, were you, you were y'all the prettiest? And then, but she would say,

you're so funny, and you can be, she also told me this, you're going to be a movie star because you've got blonde hair all over your body like Marilyn Monroe, and that makes people photograph well. And in my mind, in my little country mind, I thought, oh, well, of course I'm going to make it.

I've got blonde hair on my body. That's ridiculous. I took it very seriously. But she always, yeah, you can do anything. You're going to, you can do anything. You're the smartest one. That's great. Oh, no.

This is not one of the questions, but it just occurred to me. When you, have you ever seen Steel Magnolias? Yes. Did you, when you saw that, were you like, that feels familiar? Yes. Or does that feel fake? No, if it, that one, that one felt very familiar. A lot of Hollywood depictions of the South feel fake probably.

Yeah. And that one felt right to me. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's always a beauty shop. I was raised in a beauty shop where everybody, you know, when they talk about people. Right, they talk about people.

Uh-huh. A lot of gossip. A lot of gossip. And Southern women are eccentric. What's the best piece of gossip you heard when you were younger? You don't have to name names, obviously. You look like you're full of gossip right now. Like your face, you don't know which way to go.

I know. There's so much. There's a lot of gossip. But I remember when they told me that my aunt, my aunt and uncle, I won't say their names, they are no longer with us. But they said, oh, yeah, they had an affair. They were, yeah, they were married to other people, but I had only known a bit of a man. And they were like, oh, yeah, they had an affair.

And then. They were married additionally to other people? Yeah. Like at the same time? No, not that. But they were like, oh, yeah. And I was little. And my grandmother's like, oh, yeah, they had an affair, and then they got married.

But then my uncle had an accident with another woman. Oh, yeah. And got the money from that accident. And they live. They both live. Wait, what's the accident? Somebody ran over them, like with a tractor trailer, ran into them while they're on a day. I thought you meant a different type of accident.

And then... Oh, like somebody wee-weed or something? No, no. I thought you meant they had a baby. There was an extra baby. Oh, there's probably babies. Like it was an accident. There's probably a lot of babies.

Yeah, yeah, a lot of babies. But that's what I thought you meant. He said, no, he ran over him with the traction trailer and he got a lot of money from it. Okay. Wow. And I'd rather, I wish she hadn't told that. But, oh, yeah, there was always like, you know, so-and-so. Right.

But in a sweet way. You know, like, well, she can't help it. Her ankles are. swollen. Look at her feet. She's retaining fluid. You know. Do you still gossip? Yeah. Who doesn't? It's a sin, Mike. Is it a sin? It is. But I enjoy it. No, I know. Well, I do what I, now what I do, which is terrible, but I, with other comedians, like, what do you think about so-and-so? How do you think they're doing? What do you think? And that's jealousy. No, of course. Well, it's, first of all, it. And gossip.

It's gossip initiation. It's like step one gossip is what do you think of this person? And then it's like seeing how much the person will engage with the gossip. But you feel... It's funny, going back to the being inside versus outside, you probably felt like for years you were outside of the gossip. Yes. And now you're on the inside of the gossip.

I am kind of only inside of gossip. I have to ask you a question because you started in Tennessee, in Texas, in places that don't necessarily have. huge comedy scenes and and I feel like people who listen to this podcast sometimes are going I live in a small town there's not a comedy scene I want to be a comedian how do I start what would you say to that person well now I would say um I still did open mic you know like in Texas you got to go to a horrible horrifying open mind and do that they're everywhere uh huh And they are.

And even in Knoxville, like, I'm not in that anymore because we don't have a club there, but it's all, like, you can go to Facebook and, you know, find a little group. And Greg Warren and I were talking about that, that in any little town, they've, like, in Birmingham, Alabama, somebody was asking us about Birmingham. Oh, are you kidding me? Of course. That there's always these little one-nighters and these things you could go to. And I think that, I think that's the best training. To me, I would tell, just because you don't have a big club or something,

I don't think that matters. I think it's stage time. Did you, what was your first joke that hit with people? Do you remember? Or your first, like, a couple of jokes? Where it was like, where you're like, oh, this is working. I think when I said that Chuck, if I can remember it, Chuck Morgan bought a used mobile home business

and wanted to be in sales, and I did that day. Until I saw a family drive up and a gremlin with the wind out in the night. nine-year-old smoking a cigarette, who said, can I get a light off of you, me, mall? And I quit that night and went home and got pregnant. That was a good one. That's a good run. Yeah, that was a good little run. But we were in a used mobile home business and all that.

I saw a nine-year-old smoking a cigarette and lit it off for a me-mo. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and so there was a sense of like, yeah, I think I want to have a family. I think that I was trying to cope. Yeah. And I tell stuff I probably shouldn't tell.

Oh, yeah, so do I. I just said on the Today Show yesterday, or the day before yesterday, then I got my breast implants because I didn't want my little grandchildren to see me in a coffin and think, did Grandma do nasty? I mean, like exotic dancing or something because those breasts had gotten so fine at through menopause and People magazine picked it up. Oh, my God.

They've never done anything on me. Right. And then all of a sudden, that's the story. Yeah, yeah, you got to give them the real juice. You got to give them the tea. That's what People magazine runs with. Oh, Lord. I regret that.

Yeah, but who cares, right? It doesn't. I did get them done. Yeah, who cares? Yeah. But it seems like your thing is just like, well, why keep this stuff a secret? I tell everything.

Yeah, so do I. What's the point? I know. I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I like to be honest. Do you ever have to run stuff by your family because you're like, oh, this is maybe too far? Yeah, I do.

They do see it. They know what I talk about, and they say, you know, nobody's ever said no. Right. But one time Chuck Morgan early on said something, And like, I don't want you saying that. And it was when, here we are back with my breast, but I had nursed three children.

I needed my breast done. And I sat on stage early on, and he's in the mobile home business. I said, I'd like to get my breast done, but it's been a bad mobile home year. And he's saying... That's bad for business. And he said, well, he just said, it's been a bad mobile home year. That goes up and down that business like real estate. And I said, he said to me, Lynn, I've always been able to provide for you.

and I can write a check for your breast right now. So he said, I don't, I don't want people to think that I'm not a good provider. Yeah. He values himself as a provider. Right. So I never said that again until now. And now I say it on all kinds of places. Do you, is there anything, do people ever, because your accent is strong, strong to their accent,

people ever go like, are you playing this up? Oh, they do it all the time. And that frustrates me. Because I think if I were going to fake one, I don't know this would be it. This is the slow round. What are people's favorite and least favorite thing about you? Oh, goodness, Mike. Least favorite?

Maybe this baby ought to answer that. Do you think I can't open a pickle jar anymore? What do you think? I'm pitiful. Is this in general? Yeah. You're getting pretty weak, mentally and physically. We're like, she can't drive anymore.

I can. I'm just kind of, you know, a big deal. Like, your daughter's pointing out. I got a lot on me, and I've got to think. Yeah, your daughter's pointing out in the room here that you don't drive anymore? I can drive, and I do drive. It's just she drives me on the road in between cities. That feels fair, though.

That feels fair. Because I've got to work. Okay. She said she drives me to my doctor's appointments, but I can't drive. Okay. What are the people's take? I do worry. I think I worry a lot, and I make my kids.

I'll say, call me when you get there, as I get older, and I think I get that for my dad, I worry and make everybody else worry, and I hate I put that on them. No, I get it. I think they love about me, or like about me, that I'm loving. Clearly. And I'm very affectionate, and these children are the best thing that were happened to me, and I sit and kiss and hug all the time. And these grandbabies were very kissy-huggy.

That's sweet. Well, I think so. Oh. Were your parents like that? Yes. Oh, that's sweet. Uh-huh. Very loving.

What is something you believed 10 years ago that you don't believe now? You smart thing. I know you went to a smart school. These questions, normally people ask me about nail polish and stuff. Okay, what do I believe, what is it I don't, that I don't believe in? now that I did back then? I thought I'm, now that I

know a little bit about fame I don't I thought it was going to be different than this. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but it's not everything it's cracked up to be. Can you say more about that? I don't know. I thought that it would feel I mean I had dreamed about this all my life and I'm so thankful and so grateful and I'm having a ball.

But it's like your time is not your own, and you work all the time, and you, you know, it's a lot, a lot of pressure, a lot of things. I don't know what I was thinking, that it was just this glamorous, this is a lot of work and a lot of mind, you know, a lot of mentally to take on. Yeah, I think one of the things that people don't realize when their goals have to do with sort of fame and sense. success is that they don't realize what they valued in the first place. Like, they don't realize that, like, actually what brings them joy is walking down the street and getting a cup of coffee on the corner, like, that's enjoyable. And, like, I went to the Emmys, and it was great. Yeah.

I presented at the Emmys. And I'm way more than everybody out there. I realize that. Everybody's tiny. Everyone is tiny. Tiny, except... Big heads, tiny bodies. Big heads, tiny bodies.

When you say, this is in your special. Yes, and Christian Johnson said that to me. She goes, Land, they want men to look like that. It looks better on TV. Big head, tiny legs. Yeah. Liam Hemsworth was at Jimmy Fallon last night. Oh, my Lord, what a specimen.

That child is. And I could have birthed him. But, I mean, huge man. Yeah. And pretty, and sweet. teeth, but I just didn't realize how I thought all that would, that glam and all that would be. I would just dream of that as a child, you know. Yeah. But, you know, it's downsides. I feel like it's possible that you don't realize also, like, if you're able to,

some day be in those scenarios, how much you feel like you're letting people down all the time. I feel like I'm letting people down all the time. It's the worst feeling. And I feel responsible for everybody at the same time. Yeah. And Reese Wetherpoon said that to me. She goes, have you started feeling responsible for everybody? I was like, what? I get what she says now.

And I think Nick Burgancy feels responsible for everybody. That doll, he wants to see people do well. Well, he also employs tons of people. Tons of people. And your show employs tons of people. So the fate of your show and Nate's empire, like it all, it's hinging on you. Yeah. I didn't know all.

that was going to happen. Who knew? They gave me that big list of all that crew and their darling and I thought, oh no. And in Crafty, I would, you know,

these darling men that work in lighting and camera and all that would work so hard and their darling, they would go to eat lunch at Crafty and they would want me

to get in front of them and that was so hard for me, especially as a Southern one, we like to see men eat. Sure. And I just said, y'all go eat and they go, no.

And it was hard for me. I just said, no, y'all eat. And anyway, we went around and around about that. But also, this has been weird, when they've got somebody with a thing going, she is walking to the set. She is walking to the set. And then somebody else goes,

she is walking to the set. And I thought if Chuck Morgan was here, he would say, what are he doing here? Yeah, he's efficient. And he would say, this is crazy. But anyway, that's Hollywood. What's the time you were caught in a lie? I told my kindergarten class and my teacher that I was Native American.

Why? I wanted to be Native American, and my grandmother was married to a man that was half Arapaho and half Mexican. Oh. And he was the only grandfather I knew. My biological granddad had died before I was born, who looked like Dean Martin. And then she married that little darling man. Granddaddy Frank, and he told me, yes, you were Native American, and he, like, said, you're a fourth because I'm a half.

And then, you know, and so I went into kindergarten, I told them all. And then she called my mom and said, Leah's telling lies. She's telling everybody she's Native American, and Mama said she is. Because my mom lies, too. Lucille, honey, can tell some. What's the biggest life she's ever told? She told people at the senior citizens recently, where she goes and plays cards twice a week,

that when I worked a show in Midland, Texas, that President George Bush picked me up in a black SUV and took me to my... Because I got Bob that she placed cards with... Yes. And that's outrageous. Bob said to me, I heard... She said that the former president picked you up

when you showed up in Texas? and drove you to your show? Yes. Okay. She can be a comedian. Is it based on anything? Have you met George Bush? No, just Jenna on Today Show.

Oh, just Jenna on the Today Show. Yeah, I never met Little George Bush. I did today to Jenna one time. Tell you, Mom and Daddy, I said, hey. But Lucille told this to Bob, who plays Canasta with her, and he said, I heard, Lynn. I go, what, Bob? He goes, I heard, you know, Lynn. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

I go, I don't, what? And he goes, that George, done me a bunch. I went, what? Picked you up at the airport and took you to your gig. I mean, this is crazy. And then I look at Lucille, my mama. And she just laughs her head off. So she thinks it's funny.

She thinks it's funny. It's like one of her moves. It's lying. Yeah. Oh, she's something. My mom is where I get this from. Right. But my dad's a good storyteller.

But my mom could dazzle. Oh, interesting. And she's, all right, my little mama, you and I talked about this, she had a stroke. Oh. And she's in a wheelchair, and her speech is slurred, and she can't walk anymore.

So hard. And double vision. She loved to read. She can't read. But it's got such a good sense of humor, and it's so positive through this whole thing, and it's precious. And she goes and plays a car.

She wants to be with people, and she can still, sharp as a tack, can still play anything, do anything. But anyway, yeah, she lies. Dumb, do, dum, do, dum. That's crazy. So I was trying to think today, so I was trying to think today, well, first of all, my producers were asking, do I have any memories from Nashville or Tennessee? I didn't have any from Knoxville,

although I liked Knoxville a lot, and I'm going to go back. What did you do in Tennessee Theater in Bejou? Yep. I loved it. Uh-huh. Loved it. One of the prettiest theaters I've ever seen. I know.

They both are beautiful theaters. But I said, but I wrote, I wrote this one time I was in Nashville, Tennessee in my 20s, and I went to a strip club, and I got carded at the door, and the guy looked at my life, and he goes, oh, my God, it's Mike Barbiglia.

That's what I realized I'm never going to go to a strip club again. it was like I really was like oh this is I guess this period of my life is over and you can't go to nasty places

I don't think so I really don't think I don't think I can because it's because think about the implications of it it's like it's not like a secret

from my wife or something but it's like I don't know and then I've been talking about this lately which is that when I fell in love with Jen

I was seeing somebody else and I had to go back to that person. I mean, that's the murkiness of life. This is the gossip of it all, right? Which is I had to go back to that person and be like, hey, remember I said like I wasn't going to be in love with anyone? Well, there's good news and bad news on that front. I did fall in love. So if you're rooting for my journey.

this is a big day for the team but it's good that we met because if I didn't meet you I wouldn't know I was in love with her I have to go now I don't know if I could make this any worse but I do I feel like I've never seen that

cracked into on stage this idea of like that people tell love stories and it's always like we met and blah blah blah and we fell in love blah and I'm always like but were there other people because I feel like the overlap is never I don't think I've ever had a relationship at my life that didn't have a little bit of overlap.

I've never heard anybody do a bit on land. You've got to do that. It feels like that should be something. I know. Were you a player? I think you must be a player. I wasn't a player. I wasn't a player, but I wasn't without interest in dating many people.

Fair question, fair question. But I also, I definitively didn't want to fall in love. Because honestly, like, I had, I had fallen love in college, my college sweetheart, and we lived together, and we were going to get married, and then we didn't kind of called it off. And it was killed me. It just wrecked me. I mean, I talk about, it was in my sleepwalk with me special, and my movement. movie, but it just killed me. And then I was like, oh, I'm not doing that again. Are you

kidding me? I'm never doing that again. And then you end up, I don't know. And that's, therein relies the complicated overlap because I fell in love with Jenny, and I was in the middle of telling essentially someone else, not going to do that. Yeah. Yeah. I think you were a player. Well, hard to say. Look how pretty you are in that sweater. and funny. This is an outrage. Really turning it on me.

What do you, so your next hour, it's just stuff in the notebook right now. Yeah. It's just like collections of you jot down. A collections. Yeah, you just jot down what you're thinking of. Yes. Uh-huh.

But then I think, Mike, do I need to do, like, I've always loved Jim Gaffigan. Yeah. And I love my Nate. He's a good friend of mine. And I, you know, like there might be a theme. Yeah. You know, like now people do like a theme.

And I would think that that would be easier to write for it. I guess my question would be like, what's the thing you obsess about? Like, what's the thing that you think about all the time, but it's not necessarily in your bits? Like, it seems like the worrying thing is significant to you. I have the, I do, I worry about these children, and I think about these children all the time and grandbabies. because I got my degree in Child Family Studies, Crisis Intervention Counseling. So if I was not going to be a comedian, I wanted to be a family therapist. So I always look through that lens, you know, of behavior and all that.

But I've thought about what if I wrote about the things I did right and the things I did wrong? Yeah, that's fine. Because I feel like I did. Well, you have perspective. I was good at parenting, but I made some mistakes. Sure. And I see these young girls, and, you know, they come to my shows, and, you know, when I say, you know, 30s, 40s, they'll come with their mom and their grandmother or whatever. And I think, I do have some wisdom about some things.

And it was funny. I mean, there's funny things. What's the best thing you did as a parent? What's the worst thing you did as a parent? The best thing I think, looking back now, I had fun with my kids. And we went, we had a ball. And I probably should have pushed them more in school and I always say if Chuck Morgan had been at home,

he would have pushed them and they'd end up in Harvard but with a nervous tick. I made them, I mean, they went to a little, I wanted them to go to a good school, they went to a private school, and I did not, I wanted them to do well, I did. But I would say, hey, do you all to go to zoo? Yeah.

I mean, Dollywood was near. Yeah. We didn't go all the time, but like if there was parent-teacher conference and I went to their conferences. I was like, we're going to Hollywood. I got season passes. But I, and I would lay in the band with them

and watch a television show, and they want to be with me now. Aw. As adults, you know, I think they think I'm a fun mom. I love that. They want to be with me now. I get to be with them. I love that.

So then what's the thing that you think you didn't do right? If somebody did something to them, if they were born, or any of that, which any mama would get torn up and be upset, but I would really get torn up and be upset. And instead of saying to my children, turn the other cheek, forgive, which is what my parents said to me in that Methodist house, I would be like, can you take her in the bank and twist her arm when nobody's looking?

Like, I wish that I had had more integrity. Right. Like, I wouldn't mean the child that did something to mine, but I would harbor a grudge. I would harbor, and I shouldn't have done that in front of my children. I should have, because they would forgive. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, and I'd still hold on to stuff I shouldn't have held on to.

Yeah. But when you're in parenting, I think, you know, it is your baby, and you want to whip somebody if they hurt your baby. Yeah. But you're also having to teach these lessons to these children, and I wish I was a better example. I could see a special called Right and Wrong. where you talk about what's right and what's wrong

these kids because that's I think unique and funny and you know totally different from the way I look at things but all but raising kids thing I think that's a really good idea I think that's a good thing to free write on just to be like what are what are examples of what are stories where I did the right thing

what are the things stories where I did the wrong thing and I thought about maybe that is a little book it could be a book yeah maybe I could do a little book But I've, I just, at my age now as a grandmother, I just feel like I've got wisdom that I wish somebody had told me. Yeah. You know it's funny, but I've said this on the podcast before, but there was a nun at my school.

And she ran the school, Sister Margaret. And she said, I've never forgotten this. She always used to say, you do what's right because it is right. I'm like, it always stuck with me. Like, right. It's so redundant. But it's true. It's like, you know, basic.

Mm-hmm. But I don't know. I would continue down that road. I think there's a lot there. Oh, Mike. I don't know. Honey, you would know, you smart thing. The last thing we do is working out for a cause.

Is there a nonprofit that you like to contribute to? you said that your daughter works for a food bank. For the food bank of New York. And she loves it. That would be wonderful, the food bank of New York. We will contribute to the food bank of New York City. She just moved here and she loves it. And she tells me, Mom, there are elderly people that will start lining up at 6 a.m.

to get food and then little children are with their parents. And she loves it and thinks they're doing a wonderful job. Yeah, I think that's great. And I think, yeah, we always try to contribute. to food banks because they I've said this in the podcast before the way they stretch a dollar is unbelievable because I get all the letters

explaining sort of how they spend money and it's like it's the way that food banks stretch a dollar is unbelievable so we'll contribute to them we will link to them in the show notes and encourage people to contribute as well and Leon Morgan such a joy having you here thank you so much

being with you makes me wish that I'd paid attention in school Oh, God. I did not pay attention to school. Working it out because it's not done. Working it out because there's no one. That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out. You can follow Leanne Morgan on Instagram at Leanne Morgan Comedy. You can watch her special unspeakable things on Netflix as well as her series on Netflix.

You can watch the full video of this episode on our YouTube channel at Mike Barbiglia. Make sure you subscribe. We are posting more. and more videos. Our producers of working it out are myself along with Peter Salomon, Joseph Ribiglia, Mabel Lewis, and Gary Simons. Sound mixed by Ben Cruz,

supervising engineer Kate Balinski. Special thanks to Jack Antonoff and bleachers for their music. They just released a fantastic recording of the show that I saw them do at Madison Square Garden. Special thanks, as always, to my wife, the poet, J. Hope Stein,

and our daughter, Una, who built the original radio fort made of pillows. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy this show, please rate it and review it on Apple Podcast while you're signing up for our premium feed. It really helps us out. We've recorded almost 200 episodes.

All free, no paywall. Thanks most of all to you are listening. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. If someone's gossiping at your local beauty shop, you can say, hey, that's not a productive way to communicate about this other person who's our friend. Here's what you can do. You can listen to Mike Rubiglius working at our podcasts

and find out gossip about people who we don't know. And thus, it won't break apart our friendship with a person who we love. Thanks, everybody. We're working it out. We'll see you next time.