Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Leanne Morgan on Stand-Up, Stardom and Second Acts

Episode Date: March 15, 2026

Comedian Leanne Morgan spent more than 25 years building a loyal stand-up audience before breaking through with viral clips, Netflix comedy specials I’m Every Woman and Unspeakable Things, and her hit sitcom Leanne. In this conversation from November 2025, Morgan sits down with Willie Geist to discuss her long road in stand-up, the family stories and Southern humor that shape her comedy, and the whirlwind of starring in a Netflix sitcom after decades on the road. Plus, she reflects on the breakthrough that changed her career, balancing newfound success with motherhood and grandmotherhood, and why the timing of her rise makes it even more meaningful. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. I am extraordinarily excited to bring in my conversation this week with my guest, Leanne Morgan. I'm always excited to bring you these conversations because I have so much fun talking to my guests. But Leanne Morgan is one of the funniest and most charming people I've ever had the opportunity to sit down with. Leanne, you may recognize from her stand-up specials on Netflix. one of them is number one on Netflix right now. It's called Unspeakable Things.

You might recognize her from her star turn in the Reese Witherspoon Will Ferrell movie. You're cordially invited earlier this year. She is, I don't know, she's a force of nature. She's just so naturally funny. She's got the thick southern accent. She grew up on a farm in rural Tennessee right near the Kentucky border. She's been at this stand-up comedy thing for 25 years, maybe even a little bit more. She'll talk about it.

It all started because she's naturally funny. She was selling jewelry, like home to home at house parties. And she was so funny as she would sit and talk to the women. This is going back 25, 30 years, that they said, you should be a stand-up comedian. She had three young children at home. She didn't think that was possible. But then at night, after she'd get the kids in bed, she'd go do open mics and gigs around where she lived. Turns out there was an audience for it.

But the climb has been long because she's been a mother. She's been a wife, as she talks about. She's a grandmother. She's had priorities in life, but she's stayed at this comedy thing. She's come to the brink of what she thought was going to be her big moment, and then it hasn't happened for her. But just in these last few years, she has blown up. She also has the hit show Leanne on Netflix,

which was like the number two show of this year on Netflix, wildly popular just behind the hunting wives, as she talks about hilariously. She just got a great story to tell, great observations about being a mother, being a woman, being from the South, all of these things, all through that syrupy, thick Southern accent, but really leading with her charm and genuine, honest to goodness, natural sense of humor. I love her.

She's so funny. I think you're going to enjoy these next several minutes spent with Leanne Morgan right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Leanne, I'm so happy to see you. Oh, Willie. Honey, I'm so tickled to be here. Thank you for having me. And to catch you in the middle of this ride, you've just done the Tonight Show last night. You've got a second season of your show coming up.

You just wrapped this tour that last two and a half years. You've got so much going on. What is the feeling right now? What's it like to be in the middle of it? It's like a whirlwind, my darling. It's a whirlwind, but I'm trying to be present. And every day, you know, and I'm so grateful. I'm grateful.

And you know what people say to me all the time they go, how are you doing this? Because I'm 60, you know, I just turned 60. And so women comment on social media and go, I'm so tired. I just went to Atlanta for the weekend and I can barely go. How are you doing a tour? But I think the energy and the adrenaline, because it is so special. I mean, it's fun and wonderful. And we were talking about how the road for you has been long to get to this place. You've been at this for 25 years or something like that. 25 years. Yeah. So does that make it all the sweeter to know the road that got you here? Yes, because let me tell you, Willie, for a long time, I thought, am I crazy? Am I like one of those little kids on American Idol that thinks they can sing?

You know, when, remember they would have them? Oh, yeah. I thought, there were times when I'd think, maybe I'm crazy. Am I just, this is not what I'm supposed to be. But then I would get one little, you know, something to keep me going all those years while I was raising my children. And I just stuck with it. You stayed with it, yeah. And you've got this new special.

special, unspeakable things. I will not ask you to describe what the unspeakable things are. People have to watch to figure that out, Chuck Morgan. There's so much in there that your fans are going to love, whether it's Claremont Lounge, where I have been myself in Atlanta. You have, Willie. I've been. Did you think that was, what did you think, Willie? Even as a young man, I thought, wow, this is a lot. This might be too much. And I'd Take it, you felt the same way. Oh, just bizarre. I felt like I wanted to rock those little women in my lap.

I don't know. But, you know, people say everybody's gone. And it's like Lady Gaga, I've heard her talk about it. She went. People, it's a destination in Atlanta. But you as a young boy, that's almost like going and seeing somebody give birth before you had your own children. Well, we should explain. It's a Claremont Lounge is a gentleman's club, but it's almost like a drag club.

Also, it's more performance than people might think of a gentleman's club. And as I say in my special, it's sweet that they let everybody participate. It's not what you see in the movies as a strip club. No. It's not J-Lo. No, it's not J-Lo. Or whatever that thing was. It's not that.

Did you see a performer named Goldie by any chance? I haven't. I didn't that night. And I don't know if Little Goldie, she's still with us. Because more people say, what about Goldie? You've heard. And what she does on stage. She's got a trick up her sleeve.

She was not there. Another little girl, young girl, who was beautiful, had another trick. We cannot talk about it. Okay. Let's save this for the special, okay? This is the little tease. and everybody has to go watch. It's so, so good.

Your fans are going to love it. You think so willing. Without question. Oh, good. And a lot of those are new fans who come around to you just in the last few years and can't get enough of you on Instagram or wherever they see you.

So when you're putting this act together, what is the process for you? I love talking to stand-up comedians about that. Where do you pull the material? Is it just things you come across? I mean, because a lot of these are just stories you're telling of things that have happened in your life. For this special, the first one, I'm Every Woman, was, oh gosh, that was 100 cities.

I did before I'd shot that thing. And I feel like some of my best is before anybody ever knew who I was, because I feel like, and I would have television deals for sitcoms. A lot of people don't know that. I had like four before this sitcom made it when my children were little. But I would lay out Chuck Morgan and then my oldest Charlie and then, Maggie and then Tess, and showrunners would say, you've already laid out this sitcom for us

because you've developed these characters. But they're all so funny and so different. And so when this one, and through the years, you know, I'm doing what is happening to me in my life. So little children in elementary, tee ball, somebody pooped on a tee ball field, you know, and I had to flick it into the woods. That and then, you know, birthing before that,

birth in was a prolific time for me. Then middle school, shut your mouth, don't say our name out of your mouth, so I didn't, and that was a dry time. High school, they were like, we don't care what you do because they, you know, don't care what you do in high school and they're tired of you. And then this didn't happen for me really blow up big until my early 50s. So then I was going through menopause. So I had to talk about that, which evidently nobody talks about that on Netflix or

movie stores don't want to talk about it because it's gross, I guess. And then this one, I said, like my family, all my kids were like, Mom, you never told this story. What about this story? But what I do now is I get my phone, everybody's got an iPhone, you know, and I take notes about something that I'll remember that I think is funny. And then I can get it out in a club or whatever. I'll work it out on stage, get it out of my mouth, see if there's anything to do it. When I was raising these children before an iPhone, oh, Willie, there's probably, four hours of material that's lost somewhere that went to a landfill because I would write on the

back of my checkbook and drive Chuck Morgan crazy because I never balanced my check. And then I would write on the back of like a Walgreens receipt and like little ideas that I think come from heaven. And I'd be washing clothes, put my head in, you know, and washing all these kids clothes and something would dawn on me. I'd go write a piece of paper. I don't know where it went. But this is how I did this one. I had, I had thoughts of what I wanted to talk about, and it's just random. It's because I'm a mama and a grandmama, you know. I like to talk about my kids and their daddy. He gives me a lot of material. Yes, he does. He does. He's really the headliner in this, in this special. And he's getting a big head over it. Is he really? Yeah, he does.

And people ask me, is Chuck here? I go, no, he needs to keep working. He needs staying home. So you've sort of answered the question, but do any of your three children or Chuck, do they have any veto power over the material? Yes. Please don't tell that on stage. Yes. They do. And I run everything through everybody, and everybody's okay with everything. There was one time that Chuck Morgan said, do not say that about me.

And, okay, Willie, I had nursed three babies for a long time, which I'm so proud of. I mean, it was a good time, and I should have been a mama gorilla. You know, I raised them in the bed with me back then, sleeping in the bed, all that. Very cumboy, y'all. But then, I'm very vain. And I, he was young and still had life left in me, so I wanted to get my breast on. Okay. And I sat on stage early on, and Chuck Morgan sells mobile homes.

He works for a big Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett Company, Clayton Homes. and he has for 30 years. And I said on stage, I want to get my breast done, but it's been a bad mobile home year. And I didn't think a thing in the world of it. And he goes, he said, I'm so hurt my life. He goes, I have always provided for you.

And I could write a check for your breast today. And he said, don't tell people that I'm not providing for you, because that's how Chuck Morgan feels value, is that he is a working mule, honey. And he is an overachiemer. I told you that. And he studied in school and paid attention. I didn't.

I didn't know where Slovenia was. And so I've never seen anything like that. Now he says, you know, I can say it in interviews. Well, I love, it's doubly funny knowing everything you say about him in this special, that that's the thing, that upset him. Not all this other stuff you're saying about him. Now that's fine. Go ahead. Tell the world. Tell the world. He's the one that said in this special, tell him about the time I got arrested.

Oh, really? Uh-huh. So he cleared that one. He cleared that one. Uh-huh. But he said, but explain it, Leanne, that he wasn't something bad. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Leanne Morgan right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Leanne Morgan. You mentioned that this all came to you later in life. And I think there's part of what the appeal has been to a lot of women I know in my house and a lot of her friends and all that is that you're talking about things they can relate to that they don't hear other comedians talk about.

So in some ways, the fact that your material has matured into this stage of your life gives women all over the place someone to point to and relate to and say, Yes. I know, is that a blessing? Yeah. Because I wanted to make it when I was young and thin. Really? I was dreaming big, you know, through this whole thing since I was 9, 10 years old. But when I would get these television deals, I was probably in my 40s, you know, and still had my bloom.

And I wanted to, you know, I would be devastated when something wouldn't make it. And I, and the Comedy Central did not, you know, care for me. I was not the hip, edgy, you know, comedians. so there was a lot of nose, a lot of heartbreak. But I look back on it and I think, all of it, I think it was wonderful timing, wonderful timing, because, one, I got to raise these children. I have led a full life as a mama, a grandmama.

My parents are still with me. I, you know, tend to them when I can. I've got this full life I can talk about. And that's what people are relating to. And I just, and I really feel, I'm not feel sorry. There are these young girls who've got pretty legs and they're doing big things. But I think, oh my gosh, do they have to sustain this for that long? I mean, I'm 60 years old, I think, I'm having a bowl.

And then someday I would like to, if I'm not touring, not able, I would like to do movies like Big Chloris Leachman, Betty White kind of, I think that would be fun, you know? I know, wouldn't that be fine? Yeah, I can see it. Don't you feel like that's all coming? I mean, you've got this hit Netflix series. We were just talking about, which is so funny, but you never know how these things are going to land or how they're going to do.

And then it comes out, and it's like the most streamed comedy they've ever had, and they wanted another season of it. Was that experience, because it's so different from what you've done, was that a little scary to step in there? Willie, I was scared out of my mind. And my baby child is my makeup artist on that, and she, on that series. And she lived with me out there in L.A.

It was just me and her, away from our family. And every day for the first four episodes, I would say, pack your bags. We were getting out of here. I'm not doing that. I mean, I was scared out of my mind. Because it is a whole different thing. Yeah.

And my name's on it. Leanne, and then, you know, all these people are looking at me. So at what point did you start to get comfortable? I cannot imagine, having never done it before, how nerve-wracking it was. When did you start to feel like, oh, I can pull this off? Okay. And episode three, I thought, okay, I don't think I'm going to get the shingles. Episode six, I had Andy Ackerman direct me, who did a bunch of curb and Jerry Seinfeld.

And there's something clicked then where I certainly didn't think I was, you know, a pro, but I thought, okay, maybe I can do this. You don't have to pack your bags. And, of course, Chuck Lort, none of them knew I felt this way. They will know now. But I was, I mean, it's a lot to learn, camera blocking. But let me tell you, and that script every week, that was daunting. But they said, you'll build this muscle land.

There'll be a memory muscle that you, and I was like, no, I will. And I did. They were right. And I got better at that through the time. but we filmed in front of a live audience, and if something doesn't land, they start walking toward you and tell you another line, you know, to see what else works.

And then you've got to relearn that all over on the spot. And so that was frightening, but you get used to that too. It's just so different than anything you've done, right? So different. And I went to a theater kid. I mean, I was in one play in my little bitty country, Sweet High School, where everybody raised, dark fire tobacco. but I did have a, I had some kids in that class that were very talented.

One went on to Juilliard and became an actor and has been in a bunch of stuff. But they did a lot of musicals because we had all these musical kids, and I couldn't do anything. So I tried out for Stupefine Jones in Little Abner. She was the Sex symbol. And I put my own, it was a bathing seat with panty hose underneath it. And I just had to gyrite. I didn't have a line.

And I really, honest to goodness, in my 17-year-old mind, I thought, This is the beginning. Stapifying Jones in this tiny theater with 100 people. And my little daddy said, you didn't have a love. Like, you just gyrated in front of people that we go to church with. But in your mind, a star is born. I thought a star is born. This is it.

I did. I den. The phone's going to start ringing. But when, so when Leanne becomes a hit. And it's clear, and you're seeing the streaming numbers and all that. I mean, are you surprised by that? Oh, I was so surprised. So you're thrilled, but I mean, your first time out to get that reaction is unheard of. I don't know why I didn't get the shingles while we were waiting on, you know,

because Netflix will tell you in about 30 days. Yeah. And because they look at all those numbers. You know, it's a numbers thing. And I thought, and sometimes things do wonderful, and they may not pick it up because it's too expensive to make or whatever. So I was hysterical. Also, it came out the same time as hunting wives. Right.

So I had to compete against those women shooting boars in their panties. And I thought, but then they go, it's not a comedy land. You're in a different thing. But I wanted to get to number one. I kind of can get competitive. Yeah, I bet. But I was, you know, I stayed in the top 10 for weeks. Yes. And so I thought, surely, the goodness, but you just ring your hands.

hands until they tell you. But I was thrilled. I think I would have been devastated because I put everything I had into that. And I wanted people to love it. And it meant a lot to me. And I want to be successful. And so I think I would have been devastated if it had been picked up. And Jerry Seinfeld called me the day it came out and said, who has been precious to me through this whole thing. And he said, Leanne, even if it doesn't get picked up, you have a sitcom with your name on it, which is unheard of, and you think, he goes, you're in there with Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, Lucille Ball. Wasn't that sweet?

Yes. And he said, I know you're a Christian lady, right, Leanne? He goes, everything happens for a reason. It will be, you've already had a year, a success, I mean, a season come out, multicams are not even coming out. I mean, so that made me feel good. And then so it was icing on the cake when I got, oh. And then you think about those people that are with me, who they put those pros around me.

And what a blessing they've all been. And we love each other. And I think you can tell it on that screen. Absolutely. Oh, Kristen Johnson. It's amazing. And has wonderful things to say about you. You taught her an accent, first of all.

She's like, I need Leanne's help with that. She got it, I think, right? Yeah. She tried to do like my daughters because they were raised in the city. Right. I was raised country. So mine's thicker than my children. And then Chuck Morgan was somewhere where there was a country club.

So he was in East Tennessee, which that's a whole different thing. He got to play golf and tennis. Oh, wow. So that's, you know, we didn't even know what it was where I grew up. Didn't have that in Adams. We saw it on TV. Yeah, right. You know, we saw people playing.

So shows about it. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned Seinfeld. We were talking earlier about Nate Bargetzi. that part of this ride for you where people I'm sure you've looked up to

you now consider friends and mentors in many ways. What does that meant to you? It means a lot to me, Willie, because me being a mama in Knoxville, and I started professionally, I called myself a professional comedian. When I opened for the first time

at a comedy club, I was 32. That baby child that does my makeup was 18 months old, open for Billy Gardell. at Zanis in Nashville. But I had to take a different path from everybody because Brian Doorman, who owns that club and is now my concert promoter, said to me,

I think you've got something, but you've got three babies, Lynn, and club work, I mean, you can do a little bit, but you want to raise your own children. Because these women that are out here doing clubs all the time, you can't raise your own children. I mean, it's hard. So I had to cut out a different path.

I did a lot of corporate, private things. I did. Anywhere somebody let me on stage, I did it. But I always felt like I was on the outside, because Comedy Central, I would audition for Just for Laughs, all those things, and I wouldn't get it. And I would, I just felt like I was never one of the cool kids. And Nate Margensi says to me, I've never been one of the cool kids. I go, then you need a therapist because you're the cool kid. But now I feel like a cool kid, because they've all been wonderful to me. Mark Marion had me on his podcast, Neil Brennan, Richard Lewis reached out to me on social media right before he passed away and said,

I am a huge fan. And I loved everything he ever did. I got to meet David Letterman. John Mullaney has been so good to me. I mean, it's been wonderful how these, Jim Gaffigan has been darling. And that's meant a lot to me. It was fun to see, I was saying earlier, you and Amy Polar on that podcast, too. I know I have loved her.

This might be a hard question. to answer because you're talking about yourself. But are you able to identify why just even in these last couple of years, things have taken off for you the way they have? Because you're doing a lot of what you've been doing. The material is a little different, as you said, but this has been your style. You've been you this whole time. I know. Why is it connecting right now when you think about it? Okay. And let me tell you, Norville Blackstock, who manages Blake Shelton, and all these hoops to do people in Nashville, said to me, Reba's ex-husband,

said to me, came to a show, and he was backstage, and he said, Leon, it's just a phenomenon that you do this same thing. And one day, it's like somebody turns a light on in a dark room. And I feel that way. I feel like, you know,

I'm a believer, and I feel like God, you know, has done this for me. Put this in my imagination when I was a baby. I was in the middle of nowhere, wanting to be a comedic, you know, actress. And I feel like it's God's timing, but I also think it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's just his timing. Because I think I started talking about menopause,

nobody was talking about it. I just talked about regular everyday life, and it was just a time after COVID. Well, I kind of was starting to go up before COVID, but then after COVID, everybody wanted to laugh and get out and do, and it just went crazy. And I named that first tour of the Big Panny Tour because who doesn't love a big penny?

A big comfortable panty. A big comfortable panty. And maybe I'm the only one that's a fool enough to talk about it. I don't know. I don't know why. I wish I could answer that. I just feel like I got my children raised.

All right, let me tell you this, Willie. This baby went to school in Manhattan for television and film for makeup. And she had gone through thyroid cancer and been treated for that. Yeah, she had been treated for that. And then we moved her, we were worried death about her. I moved her in to her apartment.

The day I moved her in, a video, my social media people, that I had barely, you know, had saved the money to, I'd bought too many, I'd get my hair done and stuff instead of invest in myself. I had like two head shots in 25 years, or 20 years. And I had hired these boys to do my social media. They put out a video about me, and Chuck Morgan to go see Deaf Lebron and Journey

and how everybody looked sick and had plantar fasciitis. And that video was going viral. It was turning. I could see thousands of, like every time I opened up my phone and we were moving that baby in, she was happy. She wanted to go to school for that. She had been in

traditional college and came to us and said, that's what I want to do. Can y'all please take that money and let me do this? We felt good. She was, you know, gotten through cancer. Was in that, apartment. And then it was almost, to me, it was like God said, okay, buckle up, girl, you got that baby tended to. Everybody's okay. Let's roll. That's what it feels like. I feel like I got my

children raised. And every day on that set, when I was, did that, I had that little bitty part in that movie with Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, and Reese Willis Willispoon got me that part, that doll. And she said to me every day, Lynn, you got to raise your own children. And she said, Not everybody does in this business. And so I feel like that was that blessing. You know, I got to have a normal. I am, and people go, how do you stay grounded? Grounded, I'm in a Mitsubishi rental car.

I'm still doing all the laundry, you know. Sharing a bed on the road. I love a grocery store. We test and I share a bed on the road because Chuck doesn't want us to spend money on two October. On this next tour for next year, can we get two beds or two rooms? or something or no. We try to get two queens when we can.

They're not always available. But maybe if I go to big arenas, big, big arenas like Nate Burgessi. Yes. I think we can get too big. Like a connecting room, right? A connecting room would be fun. A nice connecting room. Yeah.

Everyone gets little privacy in the bathroom and all that. Yeah. Yeah, you deserve it. Thank you. And when I was at the wind, Los Vegas, because Chuck Morgan likes to go to the wind and play golf. He played golf with Usher. I know, I didn't even tell us. Somebody else told us.

What do you mean? But coincidentally, or he knew a. They set him up for a golf game, and Usher, he met Usher on the golf course, and then somebody later that night said, isn't that something? Chuck played golf with Usher. He wasn't even going to tell us because Chuck doesn't talk. But when I first went to the win and they put us in a suite that you could ride a bicycle through, I got a Diet Coke out of the thing, mini bar, and Chuck looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

And I was like, I think it's okay, Chuck, even if it is $6. I think it's okay. And I go, let's get a hamburger and get it brought to the room. Because Chuck Morgan's been living with the break zone, honey. Right, right. He's a saver, which, thank the Lord. I'm not. I don't do crazy mess, Willie.

Right. But I'm money away. Do you think that'll change a little bit now with all your success, a little more license to get out there? I don't think so. Let the purse strings open up a little bit. No. I think because I'm a grandmama,

I just, like, some things are nifty, yeah, but I think I'm pretty, I think I'm going to stay about the same. I think, because, you know, now I'm, I mean, I do love to go to the grocery store and get, when I get off that plane commercial, I go and neighbor gets, goes, when are you going to get on a private plane? I don't know if that's ever. Chuck's not going to allow that. I don't think so. No chance. But I think I like, the first thing I do is, like, let's go to the grocery store and then have all these babies over and what they like to eat. and all that. That's what I enjoy doing. So you're just pushing your cart through the Kroger and getting everything you need? I am buying grass fed.

Oh, you are? And I do like organic meat. I want to know where my meat's coming from. That's your splurge. That's a splurge, you know. Because I, you know, my people are meat people. You knew that. Yes.

We had a meat processing plant. So it was kind of organic back then. I mean, that's why I think they were ahead of it. You were ahead of it. You were ahead of it. But, yeah, that kind of stuff is what I like to splurge on. That, playgrounds for little babies that don't splinter. That kind of stuff.

You're taking care of your people. Yeah. Yeah. But I do love a Costco. I still love a good Costco trip. Will you go in there with things in mind or just go in just whatever I see? That's full abandon. That's full abandon.

That would be my splurge. That's what I need to tell people. That's what I, yeah, I kind of go nuts in a Costco. Yeah. I don't really need a list. or anything. I'll just go in there and get that big cart going. If you were somebody else, a second cart, and just pulling things off the shelf, right? Yeah. Baby pajamas, printers.

Lord. A nifty kind of food you hadn't seen before. Terriockey chicken over a sticky rice. I bought so much sticky rice it would cover this table. I love stuff like that. You know, I like things in bulk. It makes me feel safe. You know, you've got enough paper tails. Right. Yeah, that kind of stuff. I go nuts over that and chucklego. The samples, you'll do the samples.

I love the samples. Yeah. I even, when we were shooting in L.A., because we didn't know anybody, this baby and I would go to Costco in Burbank on Saturday night and eat a piece of piece and a hot dog. From the samples? From the, we do the samples.

Then you go to the restaurant part and get an actual hot dog and a piece of pizza. That's what we would do on Saturday night. Yeah, nobody knew I want. was. I mean, maybe one little woman might know who I was. But I had a ball. Yeah, I love that. I hope I get to continue to do stuff like that. Yeah, it might be getting harder these days. People know you a little bit. They go, what's you doing in here? I can maybe put on a wig. Sure. Like a real movie star. Like a real movie star. You know? Put a base UT hat on or something like

that, right? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Stick around for more of my conversation with Leanne Morgan right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Leanne Morgan. You mentioned the movie with Reese and Will. I was telling you earlier that for people who didn't know you yet, that little scene, how long was that 30 seconds about the bird bath? And even if you didn't see the movie, it was everywhere on Instagram. I can't tell how many people said, who is that hilarious woman? And they went looking for more, and then they kind of, you know, they became fans off that.

And that's a real story, you said. Yes, Chuck. Chuck Morgan knows I love a bird. I love bird feeders, hummingbirds. He will plant flowers for me. He's like Martha Stewart in that way. And he knows what will bring hummingbirds. And I also had in the back yard, he says, C, Cardinals, and I love all that.

So he made me, you know, he puts up bird feeders for me. And I said, I really would like a bird bath. He got a ceramic bird bath. put metal around it. I would have preferred something more organic like wood, you know, a frame. But anyway, Chunk put

metal around it, the same color as the Burr Bath, and dirt piled up. And the children, that was from Mother's Day, and we all looked out all that porridge, and I said, don't tell him. But it looks like a grain. It looked like somebody was buried out there. It did. But sweet Nick Stoller, let me riff. And there were stories

before that that I told about all kinds. I mean, and I didn't know, you know, it's kind of worrisome because you think, what is going to come out of this thing? Because I was trying to, you know, be as funny as I could, which was hard for me because I'm used to in stand-up getting a reaction, and

they all have to be quiet, and I'd think, is that not funny? So I gave it everything I had. And my little mama Lucille has always said, weak as water. She was weak as water. You couldn't make a fist. That. So, yeah, all that just came out of my head.

And I had a wig topper on. I want you to know, Willie, because I think you're cute in your pants. I want you to know that that was a little topper they put on my hand. Oh, okay. Okay, that's important. Yeah, because I want to be pretty. You are, you are, most certainly. Yeah.

Thank you. Well, you know, I'm 60 now, which could be pretty. Of course. I think it's because I've always loved Hollywood, and I thought I would be younger and thinner when this happened. But that's okay. That's okay. God had a plan. That's right.

You're doing great. And now I don't have that pressure. Even though when I saw myself on that sitcom for the first time I thought, where is my chin? Oh. I thought I had a chin. Didn't show up. Also, you know, you start thinking about all kinds of stuff. And Christian Johnson said to me, Lynn, think a Lucille Ball, think a Carol Burnett.

It's about being funny. It's not being about pretty. And that helped me because I do. I'd rather be funny. And I'd rather have expression. Well, you've got them both. Funny and pretty. You've got them both.

Oh, my willy. My willy. You don't. Before I let you go, I want to talk about there's, so we know you were a young girl who thought she was going to be a star, had performance in her somewhere. But then there's a long way between there. You go to Tennessee. You marry Chuck.

And then you're back home and you start selling jewelry. And even though you didn't realize it, kind of the seeds were being planted for your comedy career, weren't they in those living rooms? Yes. Okay, he moved me. We were 27 and 26 years old. He bought a business and had never walked into a mobile home, played golf with a little man named Fran, bought this business from him. He was retiring, moved me to Bean Station, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and I didn't know a soul, and Chuck doesn't talk. I had gotten pregnant with my first baby, Charlie, who's now 32, and I wanted to stay home and nurse.

I shouldn't be holding my breast while I say that. I can't help it. Okay, I wanted to stay home with him. And so one of my friends in Nashville said, I'm selling this jewelry, like women sell tubber wearing Mary Kay, you can make a little money, stay home with Charlie, meet people, because you're out doing these parties for women. And I don't even care about jewelry.

I don't even care. And this company was precious, and they would tell us, they would say, wear all your jewelry to the grocery store so somebody will ask you about having a party. And we all looked like Mr. T. It was terrible. It made no sense. But anyway, I gave a party. That's how you start out. You buy the kit. I bought this big kit full of jewelry, and I schlepped that thing around. I did it for two or three. Well, yeah, until I got pregnant with my third baby, and I thought, I'm too tired. I can't be doing all this.

but I would get in people's living rooms, and I was supposed to be, you know, put all this jewelry out, somebody would make a coconut cake, a dip, we'd eat, we'd laugh, and I would do a presentation. I was supposed to be talking about the jewelry and how you can put a clip earring on a pump to change the look of your shoe, that kind of thing. And I was saying, talking about hemorrhoids,

having hemorrhoids, breastfeeding, Chuck Morgan out hearing the baby crying the night, and, you know, plotting his death, all that kind of stuff, and that was my first material. But I looked back on it, and I had these little women, you know, and girls my age, and they were all going through the same thing I was going through, listening to me, and I built that first 45 minutes doing those jewelry parties. And the company saw that I was booking like a year in advance. Wow.

And because people thought I was fun. And they asked me to start speaking at their big things. and people would say you need to be a stand-up. There was a Christian comedian because it was a Christian company out of Dallas. There was a Christian comedian that was their entertainment that year at Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

And he came up to me afterwards and said, you could do stand-up, you've got it, you could do stand-up. And I had been feeling that and Chuck, before we married, he brought me out to L.A. and took me to the comedy store, and my heart was beating out of my body, and I thought I could do this, I know I could do it. But I was in the middle of nowhere,

you know, it didn't have a comedy club or anything. And, but that, when that man said that to me, it was Dennis Swanberg. And he's written me letters, you know, he's heard me say that and how much that means to him. But he did. He encouraged me, and I thought, if he thinks I can do it, then I can do it. And then Chuck sold that business and went to work for this big company that he still works for and moved us to San Antonio. And I had a Capp City Comedy Club in Austin, Texas, which was one of the best clubs,

Rich Miller's, his brother is Dennis Miller on S&L. Jimmy Miller was their brother, had Will Ferrell and all these people. He sent my CD to Jimmy. That's how it got my first television deal with Warner Brothers and ABC. So, I mean, it all just worked out the way it could and that with three little children. Not amazing that you could pull that off and giving your kids all the attention they deserved and needed and still going to do this? I think most people would say, how on earth can you do that? But you were that committed to it, and you believed in it that much, that you just kept going.

I kept going, and then I just, opportunities came to me that were unusual, and they weren't the traditional route. But Chuck could tend to the babies on the weekends or at night, and wherever I went, I never had to hire anybody. And it all just worked out. Isn't it crazy? Was there ever a time along the way? Because, like we said, the climb has been long, where you said, gave it my best shot. These sitcoms don't seem to be working out, all the things you just told me a little while ago. Did you ever think, that was fun? I'm going to put that away.

I went out to dinner with Chuck Morgan, and I cried and said, I don't think anything's going to happen. I was in my early 50s, and right before all this blew up, I said, I just don't think it's going to happen, and I want to open a hardware store because my family had the grocery store and the meat processing plant, and I do feel like I could put out a cheese wheel, sell canning goods, and dazzle. And Chuck Morgan loves a hardware store. So I said, let's do that. And he went, you lost your mind.

Okay, I had gotten a little bit of money off a little special that went online that was, we thought nobody would ever see. 50 million people watched it. That gave me a little bit of money, not a lot, but enough that I said, okay, I'm going to do one last ditch effort. And if this does not happen, then I'll know that. God's way, and I'll be glad to bow out, and I'll go to work at Target. Or somewhere I've always thought Target put up the bedding in the back would be fun,

you know, and coordinate on that. But any, or pop the popcorn, if they even do that anymore, I don't even know if they had that. I'm good. That would be fun. I like working in food. But I got these social media guys who were young, who knew how to do all that voodoo. I didn't.

I was putting up pictures of my dockson, and I said, I said, I'm going to give y'all three months. That's all I can afford. And they're the ones that put that deaf leopard and journey out. They're both very funny and creative, and they put that out, and it went like gangbusters. People saw that and can relate to that. Who hadn't been to a concert where everybody's aging? Don't feel good, and you want to sit down, and eat popcorn, you know, and not smoke dope like people are doing in the United States for Mary. We've talked about that. I feel like I'm 100. But anyway, I did that. People started looking at what else I had. And clubs started calling all over the United States saying,

we need to get Leanne Morgan here. Women were calling those comedy clubs and saying, do you ever have Leanne Morgan? Now, six months before that, I was booked in improvs in Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa, couldn't sell a ticket. And they were like, She's sweet. She doesn't get drunk, fighting the parking lot. But we're not having her back. She cannot sell tickets. And I would be so hurt.

And then I just, that's when I got so where I thought this isn't going to work. And then honey starts selling out all over the United States. All over the everywhere. Everybody was like, I didn't even have an agent. Agents wouldn't take me. Wow. Yeah. I mean, it was crazy.

Somebody had to beg somebody to be my agent. And then I got my first tour, the big panty tour. There's got to be a lesson in that for your fans. And I think there is people who watch you and say, oh, maybe I ought to go chase the thing. I've always wanted to do, right? Yeah. It's not too late in some ways, right?

Yeah. Is there a lesson in all this? I think so because I do think this. It took me 20 years to hone this craft. It's hard. You know, not everybody can get up and do this. and I bombed many a time. It takes a long time.

Like Nate, you know, how many, 20 years. So I think that I'm the best that I've been, and I think it took me that long to get there at this age. And we're all better and wiser and smarter. You know, as we do our job and our craft and what we enjoy doing. So I do think that all this stuff like things end at 40 or something. I don't even know what in the world to say to that.

That's crazy. I feel like I'm the best I've ever been in my job right now, and I understand why this is happening, even though, I mean, it's crazy. But I also think that it's sad when you've got a dream, and you know, life beats you down. People around you don't mean to, but they say, oh, you can't do that, or you don't need to take that leap. Life is short. I know that now, and I've just turned 60.

I think, gosh, where did this go? I tell my children every day, do what y'all want to do that makes you happy, you know, and go for it. Because you don't want to regret that, you know? And so I think if somebody wants to go back to school, go back to school. If they want to start a business, do it. You know, I just think it'd be crazy not to try it. You know, you don't want to regret that. I don't want to, I got enough regrets, honey, from my auntie.

You really regret those siggies, don't you, from the 80s? I do, even though I think my lungs have regenerated themselves. I hope so. Yes. Well, you are living proof that sticking with it is the thing to do and worth it. And just look at everything that's happening. Even right now, I mean, you're going to take a little time off, but not much, well-deserved. Enjoy the holidays. Thank you.

Right back to shoot Season 2 of Leanne. And then you're going out on this tour, this arena tour of yours. I know, 200 cities. Can you believe that? Somebody said to me yesterday, are there 200 cities? And I have to say, I love the video you posted the other day. At the end of the tour, you're in Boston, and it had been two and a half years. And I could just see it was written all over your face what all this has meant to you.

Oh, when I go out on stage, they stand and blow kisses to me and give me a standing ovation before I've ever said a word. And these precious people, husbands and wives, I think about 50% of them. men now in my audience, which is thrilling, because I love men. I've loved men since kindergarten. But they fly. They have their, like, their 12 girls from college came together. Mothers and daughters and grandmothers come together. Like, somebody brings their little 90-year-old daddy and said, he loves you, Lan. He's never been to a comedy show. It's been so sweet. It really has. And they've done this for me. These fans of mine want to see me win. And if somebody says something mean to me on social media, honey,

thousands will go after them, honey. They do. They feel like we're friends. And I feel like I would be friends. I look out in that audience and I think I'd be best friends with every one of them. We'd all go to jazzercise. We would all, you know, do a Bible study. I wouldn't do my homework, but I would cheat off of them.

You know, I feel that way. It is really sweet how people have treated me. And for Boston, for me to sell that many tickets, when the cool kids got to go to Boston and I never got booked there. So that meant the world of me to end it there. They were precious to me. Guess what? You're one of the cool kids.

You are. We love you, Leanne. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you, my darling. We're so happy for you. Thank you, my angel. My goodness, I could talk to her all day. My big thanks to Leanne for a great conversation.

Her new special, Leanne Morgan, Unspeakable Things, streaming now on Netflix and a second season of her hit show Leanne is coming soon. My thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear these conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC to see these very interviews with your own two eyes. I'm Willie Geist.

We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.