The Oprah Podcast - Oprah & Comedian Leanne Morgan: It's Never Too Late to Make Your Dreams Come True

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

BUY THE BOOK! https://www.leannemorgan.com/ https://books.apple.com/us/book/what-in-the-world/id6474949003 Comedian, actress and author Leanne Morgan is having an extraordinary moment in her career at 59. She’s joining this episode of The Oprah Podcast to share her sometimes challenging but always funny life story and her against-the-odds dream of making it big in Hollywood. Laugh along with Leanne and Oprah as she discusses growing up in a small town in rural Tennessee. Leanne Morgan tells Oprah she knew from the age of 5 years old she would become a star. From raising three kids, to selling jewelry in living rooms to getting her first stand up gig at a local sandwich shop, Leanne reveals to Oprah she’s worked for decades for this moment. Leanne’s comedy about everything from breastfeeding and parenting to menopause and marriage and becoming a grandmother has struck a nerve with audiences everywhere. Leanne Morgan is now starring in the brand-new, hilarious sitcom “Leanne” on Netflix produced by the legendary producer Chuck Lorre. Her stand-up special “Leanne Morgan: I’m Every Woman” is one of the most watched comedy specials in Netflix history, she starred opposite Reese Witherspoon and Will Farrell in the Amazon Prime hit movie You’re Cordially Invited and she is the author of What in the World: A Southern Woman’s Guide to Laughing at Life’s Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings. Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/oprah/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, y'all. Everybody. Thank you for being with me here on the Oprah Podcast. I'm already talking with a Southern accent because my guest is a true blue Southern woman. She's having a breakthrough moment right now. It's one she's been working toward her entire life. And if you're listening in your car, on your headphones, or watching on YouTube, get ready to LOL for real out loud because joining me in my teahouse is the oh so funny, hilarious comedian, actress, author, wife, mother and grandmama, Lee Ann Morgan. So let me explain how Lee Ann and I met.

So many people were telling me, you have to watch this comedy special on Netflix. It's called I'm Every Woman. Now, I'm Every Woman for many years. Those of you who watched the show know that was the theme song to the Oprah show because I thought I'm every woman. So I was alone in my house laughing out loud and I'm thinking, who is this woman?

And why am I just now finding out about her? It comes in the middle of the night like a ghost and it's called perimenopause and nobody talks about it and they should because it lasts 10 years. So you talk a lot about menopause and the women are crying and laughing. And then I told my producers, let's see if she will be a part of the menopause revolution. And you said yes to that special that we did on ABC. Can you believe your life right now? No.

What in the world? What in the world? What in the world? Every day I go, what in the world? Because this is the craziest and wonderful things happen one right after another for me. Well, for anybody listening, that special is still streaming on Hulu, on Menopause, where we actually get serious with some funny things from Leanne about Menopause on Hulu.

But you know, I didn't know at the time that I met you that there was a book and then the producer says, you know She has a book I go. Oh my god. She has a book too She has a book and I started reading this book and it is really truly laugh out loud funny And it's just you telling your your your stories. It's just you and your life So let's talk about one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on this podcast is because you are having a moment right now and you have the book and you have the Netflix special and you're going to leave here and film the finale of your new sitcom premiering on Netflix. After 33 years of complete and utter devotion, you find out he's run off with a younger woman.

How do you know she's younger? She has to be. Otherwise, I'm driving off a bridge. Any idea how long this has been going on? I'm no Sherlock Holmes. But I'd say right around the time Amazon delivered that nose hair trimmer. This year, you're on the Forbes 50 for 50.

You're, I mean, you're just soaring in your life right now. And you always knew and felt this inside yourself. And you never gave up. And that's why I thought you would be so inspirational to anybody listening or watching us right now, because you just never gave up. Well, thank you. That means the world to me.

Well, I've got to tell you, I've got a literary agent, and he said to me, when I started the book, I wanted to tell every horrible thing that ever happened to me, all my sin in the 80s. Ever horrible. And I've done some stuff. All my sins. And he, all my sin. And he goes, hey, honey, you're not Joan Crawford yet.

He goes, let's do a book that introduces you to the world, and it may be a cookbook, and then you can tell your sin. So someday I want to tell on my sin, but I did tell a little bit of it. You did. And most sinning happens with men. Yes. Dumb men. Yeah. Well, you were very, very, very, I thought your candor

about your early days and dealing with men and the mistakes you made are so helpful to other women who are going through it. Because, you know, once we get to a certain age, you can see things that other people cannot see. And if anybody had told you at the time, you wouldn't have been able to see it, right? No. I didn't listen to anybody. But I remember watching your talk show.

And you saying one day, and I laughed until I cried, you said, I dated some man that couldn't read. They didn't know who the president was. Yes, absolutely. And I did too. But I look back on it, and they probably know who I am, or remember me, and think she was a ding-dong But anyway, yes, I do and I do think we all have made, you know mistakes and it's okay to you

You know what? I think I think about all of those bad Men that we had in our lives or bad relationships I remember one day being in my closet looking at the looking through some old love letters that I had written To some of them and And I, like, wept for the woman I was. Like, what an idiot. How foolish. How not standing inside myself. How not owning my own self.

And so I don't blame any of them, because all of them were teachers, don't you think? Well, yes, you're right about that, Oprah. You look at the positive side. Yes, but I do too. I went writing that. I would grieve for that little girl, 20, 21, flailing, making horrible decisions.

And I wish I could go back and say to her, it's going to be all right. Everything's going to be all right. But I'd say from like 17 to 24, I was a loose cannon. I mean, it was a bugger. Yeah. That time. Well, you know, I got married. I got married really young. Yeah. I don't know if his real name was William or you changed the name in the book. I changed the name. Okay. Yeah. And he was beautiful, charismatic, but mean as a snake. And it was a bad time.

And then you married, you're not married, but then you dated this other guy, Evan. I'm sure that wasn't his name either. Right, right. Well, that's the one I married. The honey, there were so many men. You know, I've always loved men. Yeah. Oh, I still love them. Short, big, I don't care. I've always been fascinated by them. But Evan was the one, and I married at 21. And I want to say this, that this is one thing that I pride myself on.

I remember him saying to me, he was very verbally abusive, and he said, and he was probably, I don't know, if insecure and intimidated and wanted to bring me down, but he said, people are making fun of you the way you talk and you need diction lessons And I remember thinking there was a lot of things that I took to heart that he said and that damaged me But that was the one thing that I thought he's wrong This is who I am and I'm gonna be who I am and I'm not gonna change that and I'm glad I didn't I think That has helped me through my life but anyway, yes being able to because

When I first met you I said is this your real voice or is this this is this is you this is me from Adams, Tennessee 500 people on the Kentucky-Tennessee border that grew dark-fire tobacco And my people came and settled in that area and people didn't leave and And so we've got this very unusual accent that's in middle Tennessee, and around Dixon. Do you remember? Yeah, I remember Dixon. Yes, absolutely. I was in Robertson County, Dixon, Aaron, all down in there. Can you share the moment when you were with Evan and he stormed out of the restaurant?

He walked out and you didn't have enough money to pay for the meal. Yes, and I don't even remember what he got so mad at me for, but I walked on eggshells for the three years I was married to him and it was so volatile. I just didn't know from day to day what was gonna happen. And it was Christmas time and he got mad over something and walked off and left me in a restaurant, no cell phone, I had no money.

Yeah, it was a time when there were no cell phones, right? And the waitress came up to me and I said, I don't have any money to pay for this. And she said, honey, it's okay, I know or I get it or what, something. Yeah. Something in her face. I knew she had been through something bad. And I feel like that was one of those God moments where he sent her to me.

And it was a sign like, okay, you need to get out. I'm shutting this door. And this part of your life, we're getting out. We're moving on. I love that too, since we're talking about men. There was another, I don't remember his name in the book, but there was another guy you were dating and there was a moment where he said, I just want to stay home. When we get married, I want to stay home and take care of the kids and

you make the living. And you said, get out of my car right now. That was an artist honey with long hair. I tell everybody look like my sister, but he had a bicycle that had a sticker on it that said burn fat not oil He didn't have a car. I had the car. He was beautiful and he could dance and he was emotional But yeah, and he could make his own mayonnaise from scratch. I thought that was pretty nifty And um, and yeah, he said that to me and I thought oh goodness. I don't have any earning potential I want to be the mama and I like a hunter and a gatherer. Yeah, I said't have any earning potential. I want to be the mama. And I like a hunter and a gatherer.

Yeah, I said, it's over. I like a hunter and a gatherer. I like a man that wants to protect and provide. I do. Oprah. So I love this moment that you tell in the book, when the man is coming to sell insurance at the house, and what are you, five, six, eight years old?

I don't even know. Yes, a little bitty child. A little bitty thing. And tell that story. Man comes to sell insurance. There was a time, y'all, when people went door to door selling insurance. And my mama would always say, tell them I'm not here.

And I'd say, my mama says she's not here. Yeah. But the insurance man came in and. And I thought, I have an audience. I need to tap. And I had no tap have an audience, I need to tap. And I had no tap shoes or anything like that. We lived so far out, so rural,

that I never got to take any dance classes or anything. And then I projected that onto my children later and made them take every lesson that I could get a man. But I put on a little shoe and started to do a dance routine. I had a whole dance routine made up. I had a whole thing and I danced for that poor man. In your living room.

In my living room. And I remember him... Stomping, because you just didn't have tap shoes. Yes. But you were doing that because you instinctively felt that you needed to perform, and you wanted an audience. And this showed up over and over and over again in your life. Yes. And I went, when did you know? Or how did, what does that feel

like? Because people always, you know, I speak at conferences and go around and have conversations with people and people are always like, how do you know your purpose? I say it's a feeling inside that won't let go of you. It's something that you, it's almost like the voice of God, but it's not like Moses in the burning bush. Right. But it is an instinct, an intuition, a feeling, a knowingness that my life is not meant to be this, that there's something else. Mm-hmm. And I always felt that. And I heard Steve Harvey say one time that God put that in his

imagination when he was 10. The teacher wanted them to get up and say, what do you want to be when you grow up? And he said, I'm going to be on television. And she made fun of him. And he said, I was so devastated because I knew this was... He said, I know God must have put this in my imagination. What 10-year-old would... Says, I'm going to be on TV. Yeah. And I know I was nine or 10 and I would tell everybody, I'm going to Hollywood. I'm going to be on TV. And I don't know where it came from before that, but I always felt it in my

heart. And you're right. It would not let go of me. And it was a knowingness. And I remember, my high school friends remember me talking about it. Oh, I'm going to Hollywood. And I'm going to be in this magazine, and I'm going to do this. And then there were times when I would think, am I crazy? Nobody else is talking about this.

Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm like one of those little children on American Idol that thinks they can sing. You know? But then I was this little bitty country girl that... That was cute. That was cute. I was cute. And I could dazzle. And we owned the grocery store in the little town.

And my mama... And y'all had a coke machine. We had a coke machine, which was a big deal. And everybody loved that coke machine. And my little mama, Lucille, is fun and positive. And everybody wants to be around her. And she'd always have on a Richard Bordeaux hairpiece. And she knows how to skin a deer with a tennis ball,

which I couldn't figure out how you even do that. Even the description in the book, to skin a deer with a tennis ball. Yes. So we had the grocery store. And then my little daddy, everybody kept saying to my little daddy, he had worked at Kroger cutting up meat.

Yeah. When they first got married, and they had my sister in Bowling Green, Kentucky. And then they moved back to Adams to run the grocery store for my grandparents. And everybody, you couldn't make any money on a little grocery store. That was back then when you could, the farmers, when their crop money came in, they could pay off their bills so they could charge all year. That's right. And so you just couldn't make any money, but...

Because everybody's on credit. Everybody's on credit. Yeah. And everybody asked my dad to cut up their meat for them there at livestock, their beef and hogs and everything. And so he decided to open up a meat processing plant, and that's when Lucille could skin a deer with a golf ball. You put a golf ball on a string to hang the deer up. I mean, I can't even talk about it,

because I'm not, I'm sissy. But she would, you take that golf ball on that string, go around it, it skins a deer in two minutes. Well, she could. That's your mama? My little, very feminine, glamorous, darling mama, Lucille. But worked like a mule for me and my sister,

both of them did, for us to go to college. And that's what they did. They worked hard manual labor in freezers. Like there were freezers. But Lucille would take everybody's orders. She did all the counting. I've got a very smart mama. So you knew though that something,

you certainly felt inside yourself that something bigger was coming, but college, not so much. I really didn't, but everybody was going. And my little daddy said, it's either that or the military. I was raised near 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. I was like, I can't go in the military. I don't even know how to mow.

He wouldn't let us mow. I was afraid our feet would get cut off. So I said, okay, I'll go to college. And I was dating a William. How you talk about it. That was my high school boyfriend and his family were farming people. And he was going to the University of Tennessee

and he was like, of course you gotta go to college. He was so smart. And so I followed him. I hate to even tell you that, Oprah, but I did. I followed him and I thought, I'm not going to stay here long. But in the back of my mind thinking Hollywood, but I'm not going to stay here at UT. I mean, I'm probably not going to even finish because we're going to race to back and I'm going to can our food and I'm going to have six babies.

And, you know, I don't know. I was just learning. Yes, yeah. But I went to, I never, it never dawned on me to pack up everything I own and go to LA to go to Hollywood. Like, I see here people do that. It never, I just didn't have the wherewithal or the confidence or go to Second City in Chicago because I love Saturday Night Live.

I just didn't know what you would do to get to Hollywood. You're waiting on the insurance man to come through so you can tap dance. Okay. So, you, you, I was very moved by your story, your decision to return to school and finish college after divorcing so young, because you were a divorcee. At 23. At 23, because Evan turned out to be. And I was so embarrassed and ashamed. Evan turned out to be a butthole.

Right. Yes. And for those of you who are listening, when you say in the book that when the times were good they were very, very good, intensely good, and then that thing starts to happen. It wants to separate you from your family and doesn't want other people calling you. And before long the goods aren't as good as they used to be. Right. And the bads are more frequent.

And that's what happened with him. That's what happened. It was an abusive. It was physical. Not as much as verbal. It was more verbal. But just chaotic. And I look back on it now and I think mental illness. You know, back then you just think somebody's mean. But I think that's probably what it was.

But didn't you run into him like 30-something years later? Yes. Yeah. And he was still dredging up all the, I mean, just still an unrestful soul, just still disturbed. And it made me grieve for him because I thought... Did he apologize? He did. And he married and had a beautiful wife and little children. And I hope that he was better to her.

You know, made me learn. I don't know. But I did see him later. And I had forgiven. I mean, it's like it never even happened to me. I had forgiven and let that go. I really did. But you, after divorcing, you went back to school. It seemed like a defining moment for you.

Where did you find the courage to do that? Well, I was working behind a makeup counter in the mall. And when I was married to him, and I remember them saying, we want to promote you and we want to give you your own counter. And my heart was beating out of my body. And I was so tickled. And she put on a piece of paper the salary. We want to promote you and give you your own counter.

Your own counter. And you would make, you know, a commission and all that. And I was like, what? And she pushed that piece of paper with a total on it of my salary, and it was below poverty level. And I remember what the number was. Twelve thousand dollars. OK. And that was going to be your promotion.

And that was going to be promotion. Plus, you get you get a you get a commission, but it wasn't one of the big lines. It wasn't Lane come. Yeah, you know, yeah So I just remember thinking I mean I was in a horrible marriage. I was scared out of my mind I would see these people working in in this department store I became friends with these all these people that were working, that were going to college, going back to UT, and they had big futures ahead of them. And I just thought, I cannot, this is not what I want. I cannot do this.

I've got to go back to school. And it was also like, he wanted me to quit. I quit because of him. I had dropped out of college to get married. Because of the, uh-huh. And so the whole thing, I thought, I've got to go back. I want to Evan. Uh-huh. And so the whole thing I thought, I've got to go back. I want to do this for myself. I'm going to do this for myself.

And I said to my little daddy, Jimmy Fletcher, I go, I'm going to be 26 by the time I... because I had to redo all my... And he said, you're going to be 26 anyway. I love that line. You might as well be educated. Yeah. You were like, I'm going to be 26 when I graduate from college.

He goes, well, you're going to be 26 if you don't. So you might as well be educated. Yeah. You were like, I'm going to be 26 when I graduate from college. He goes, well, you're going to be 26 if you don't. So you might as well go. I know. And my little mom and daddy made sure that I paid all my bills and all that to live, but they paid for my school. They go, we'll pay for you to go back. And I went back.

And you know, and that's been one of the best things I ever did that gave me so much confidence after being through in something and beat down. It meant so much to me to finish something I had started. Absolutely. And then the University of Tennessee, you won't believe what all they do for me, and they award me, uh-oh, Alumni of the Year, and they've just now awarded something that I will, Professional Achievement Award. There's five of us in 2026. And my little mom and and daddy will go and cry and then it'll make me feel bad because

Chuck Morgan made straight A's and everything he did. Chuck Morgan your husband. But anyway they and that and it means a lot to me and I love my school and then I went back and finished. Well I love that. Hello dear listeners. I hope you're enjoying my conversation with comedian, actress, and author, the hilarious Leanne Morgan. From small-town Tennessee where she raised three children to selling jewelry in living rooms, then her first stand-up gig at a local sandwich shop, to a meteoric rise at Netflix in her mid-50s, Leanne Morgan is proof that your dreams can come true when the time is right. And I promise you, as God is my witness, he spoke to me and it wasn't an audible, it was

in my soul. He said, there's a reason. Hold on. There's a reason, LeAnn. My hope is her story inspires you to keep pursuing whatever dream you may have for yourself. Stay with us. More of Leanne's incredible story is next. Welcome back. This episode of the Oprah Podcast is brought to you in part by HelloFresh. You may have heard of HelloFresh. They send chef-crafted recipes and fresh ingredients to your home. But this summer they made their biggest menu upgrade yet. It's bigger. HelloFresh has doubled its menu. Now you

can choose from 100 options each week, including new seasonal recipes from around the world. It's healthier. Feel great and eat greener with a menu filled with high protein and new veggie packed recipes. Plus new seasonal produce. From snap peas to stone fruit, they've got options. I tried the seared salmon and lemony couscous and loved it. If you're looking for healthy, delicious meals that are quick and easy to prepare, you've got to try HelloFresh. The best way to cook just got better. Go to HelloFresh.com slash Oprah Podcast 10 FM now to get 10 free meals and a free item for life.

One per box with active subscription, free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com slash Oprah Podcast 10 FM to get 10 free meals and a free item for life. On this episode of the Oprah podcast, I'm joined by an extraordinary force of a woman who is the definition of manifesting your own dreams. Since she was five years old, comedian, actress, and author Leanne Morgan

just knew she was going to Hollywood. But when? It took her five decades and never giving up to make that dream come true. comedian, actress, and author Leanne Morgan just knew she was going to Hollywood. But when? It took her five decades and never giving up to make that dream come true. This is Leanne's time, I'm telling y'all. She has a brand new sitcom based on her life on Netflix called Leanne, produced by TV genius Chuck Lorre. She's the author of her bestselling memoir, What in the World?

That's what it's called, and has one of the most watched stand-up specials in Netflix history. Leigh-Anne has been married to her husband Chuck Morgan for 33 years. Together they raised three children and now they are grandparents. Let's get back to our conversation where I found it hard to stop laughing and talking like Leigh-Anne. So let's talk about Chuck Morgan. Let's talk about, you went through that range of bad men and bad decisions and after divorcing Evan, you'd made a decision that you are just not going to engage with another guy because you've got business to attend to, you're going to be your own woman, and you've learned from that mistake. And along comes Chuck Morgan.

Okay, Chuck Morgan, and I had shaved, not shaved my head, but I cut my hair off. I just, I was in therapy. I always believed in therapy, loved therapy, and I got my degree in Child and Family Studies Crisis Intervention Counsel. So I thought, I don't need anything from anybody. I don't want a date. I don't want any of that. And we were working at the same restaurant while I was trying to finish my degree, and he'd come back to get a master's in business.

And very quiet, would not even hardly speak to me, I thought, who is this tall man that looks like a praying man is? And I say that because he lost some weight and was on a, he watches his weight and he was so thin, he's 6'4", he looked like the rifleman. Remember the rifleman? I remember the rifleman, Chuck Connors.

Chuck Connors. Okay. And he just stand there and I'd be like, and I would be talking to people, waiting for my tables to be set. And he would, he fell in love with me. And started, if I said to my girlfriends that I was waiting tables with, I love your Dooney and Burke purse, cute.

There'd be a Dooney and Burke purse there with a big ribbon on it. If I said, I've got a test and I can somebody pick up my shift, he would pick up my shift and give me the money for it. It would say, I'm not taking this money. I want you to have this money. No, this is when I knew he was, he is the,

he's the man is that part of your shift duty was to go in and clean up the ladies' bathroom, right? Yes, which is like the shining. A woman's restaurant bathroom is like the shining. Awful. The men's was not a big deal. You could clean the men all day long.

Oh, horrible. Women just spray and do and awful. And he would do all my side work every shift. When he would surprise you, you'd go into the bathroom and thinking you had to clean it and it would be done. I mean, what else do you want? I know and he pursued me like old timey man would pursue and said, I'll take care of you and I'll never hurt you.

Because I was like, no, I don't want anybody taking care of me you know I had been through something in college I got my degree I can take care of myself yeah I don't need I don't need so I want to take just a quick look at my favorite moment from the Netflix special this is my favorite I have lots of favorite moments in this Netflix special but this this one I love but my husband and I met and I was so cute. And I was little, I had little britches. And my thyroid was functioning.

And I felt good. And he was so enthralled with me and so in love with me and pursued me and bought me presents and vacuumed out my car. And did all kinds of things for me. And we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary this year. Thank y'all. Thank y'all.

And now I truly believe he would not pull me out of a burning vehicle. I have to say. My concert promoter said, Leigh Ann, that's the ticket. That line is the ticket. That is the ticket. That is the ticket. Because so many men, you know, you get in a relationship,

you've been married 30 years, and I wonder if something was on fire, would he come and get me? I know, but I love that he cleaned out your car, the vacuuming of your car. I mean, I don't think men any... Who does that anymore? I know. Who does that anymore for anybody?

And he wants to take care of me. And he still wants to take care of me. But he's also bossy. But I will say this. There was a moment where he's bossy, protective, and, you know, you say in the book, where would you be had he not been the kind of person that saved and wanted to protect and make sure you had things for the future. But he was doing that saving for retirement when you all were... Twenty-seven years old. Twenty-seven. He is, I guess, an old soul. I guess I would say that honest because he is worried about that and worried about these

girls' weddings when they were little. Like I've got to pay for weddings and I've got to... That is his role. He wants to be our provider and take care of us. But the most, the most, the moment that shows us the most who he is, is you're on the way to the hospital. You're on the way to the hospital. I think this was with Charlie, right? He drives like a maniac normally. Still does. I mean, just an aggressive driver. And he was going, I don't know, 20 miles an hour. I go, what are you doing? I was, my water had broken. Your water had broken.

I was holding on to the dash. I was hurting so bad. And he said, if we can wait until midnight, after midnight, they won't charge us today for the hospital room. We won't go on the insurance or go against, I don't even know how insurance works, because he's always taking care of everything. Yes, that's what he did to me. And then, and I was like...

So I'm driving slow so we can get to the hospital after After midnight, so we don't have to pay for today. Yes. Oh My goodness, I know and he would do it a day. He would do it today if I was gonna Do it go into birth a day. He would do it again. He likes to save money He would if he flew out here today, I bet guarantee and be sitting by the toilet and coach Say we don't need to be spending that money. But yeah, and I got to the hospital and my baby was breached and I didn't know it. And I had to have a C-section and yeah, everything turned out okay.

But I also love the moment that you, it was a friend that called and said, because you were going through challenging times, and they said you could sell jewelry. This is what I want to say to everybody, whatever you're going through in your life, nothing is lost or wasted. Nothing is ever lost or wasted. Everything that's happening is leading to something else

that was meant to happen. And so the moment the friend called and asked you to sell jewelry, you thought you were just going to be selling jewelry. Tell us about the moment you were selling jewelry in your living room and you made the woman pee on herself. Okay. All right. You know, I married Chuck Morgan by now. He had pursued me at the University of Tennessee while he was getting his MBA.

Then he bought a used mobile home business in the foothills of the Appalachia Mountains. When I got up there I thought, what have I done? I'm from rural, but not that rural. I mean there were, you know, that was a whole different can of worms, but anyway I had my first baby. A whole different can of rural that was, yes. I had my first baby, Charlie, and I wanted to stay at home with him and nurse and stay at home. But we didn't have, I mean Chuck was 26 years old, had a business and you know, had employees and payroll and all that. And I had my degree but I wanted to be a stay at home mom. All the time thinking I'm going to Hollywood. Anyway, so she says, why don't you sell this

jewelry? You can stay home with Charlie. Chuck can take care of the baby at night. You can meet friends in the Appalachia Mountains, because I was so isolated. And you can make a little money. And you can wear this cute jewelry, and it'll be fun for you. And I go, OK. I don't care a thing in the world about jewelry.

I don't know. But I thought, OK. You know, like Tupperware Mary Kay and They gave me a spiel that you do You know and you're selling the jewelry and the selling the jewelry and so I started selling 14 karat gold necklace But it I did I well and it wasn't 14 karat gold, but you know, but your rings were around 1999 It was costume. We weren't supposed to call it that. Okay.

Okay, and I schlepped this big case and then put it out there and then you know women in the South, somebody would have a coconut cake, a dip, brownie. And I was supposed to tell this big spiel about, oh you can put a clip earring on the top of your pump and change the look of your shit and do all that. and by then I was pregnant with my second baby Maggie and I was um lowered I had breastfed and had hemorrhoids. Put a clip earring on the top of your shoe. Yeah all that and they told us wear as much jewelry as you can out the grocery store so somebody will ask you about your jewelry and I said but we all look like Mr. T. I mean, we all had on way too much. But anyway, I started doing that, and I developed some of my first material

that I ever worked in a comedy club in those little living rooms with, you think about it, my demographic sitting right there in my own little comedy club. Everybody was young and, well, I mean, they were all ages, but there were school teachers, people at the Methodist church. And they're raising children. They're booking them.

They're raising children. They're raising children. They're pregnant. They're breastfeeding, all that. And they're just coming to your house to get some relief. Yeah. Well, I would go to somebody's house and then they started, people thought I was funny. And so they would say, you need to book a party with her. Because you know, everybody avoids those parties. Everybody's like, Lord, so and so's having a cabbie. We're going to have to go and buy something. But people wanted to go because they thought I was fun. And the company, oh, well, but let

me tell you about her pee peeing. So one night I was telling some big tale and Carmen McDonald, who works at my eye doctor, and I love her with all my heart, I still see her all the time, she laughed so hard that she pee-peed on Janet Williams' couch. First she spit out her tea. Didn't she spit out her tea? She spit, peed. Everybody had to get a towel, blot. But I'm telling y'all, I knew that moment. I thought, I'm killing up here.

I'm going to be, I need to be a stand-up. That's what I need to be doing. I need to be doing stand-up. But are you killing them, but am I selling jewelry? I was selling a buttload of jewelry and I was booking so far in advance that the company noticed and asked me to start speaking at their big things about how I was booking so far in advance. But that was terrible because I really couldn't say well I'm up here doing stand-up, and I'm fun, and I'm really not talking about jewelry I'm talking about my hemorrhoids and Chuck Maureen didn't hear the baby crying tonight

I want to kill him that kind of thing yeah, and um but I remember saying to people Which was so arrogant, but I would say to those women you can book a party with me now Or you can see me in Las Vegas later. Because I knew, I thought I'm going to be big time. And those little women would get a piece of paper and write down they want to have a party. I stayed busy, covered up, doing these parties. So the big breakthrough though,

wasn't the big breakthrough the Mike Sandwich shop? Wasn't that it? Yes. Okay, so this little man in Morristown, Tennessee came to the Kiwanis Capers. Okay, so in my Sunday school class, all these darlings, we had a wonderful Sunday school class. We all had our babies together and we were all crazy about each other and it was so sweet. And one of the husbands, Sandlee, and I'm in the Kiwanis capers, like rotary,

can you come and MC, because you're a ham, can you, and I had been selling this jewelry and they thought I was a cut up in Sunday school. So he said, would you MC this Kiwanis capers? And you know nobody else wanted to do it. And I was like, I'm on fire. I'm putting on a girdle, a heel, I'm there, yes I will do it. Gonna put a clip on your shoe, an earring. Clip, earring on my pumps. On your pumps and you're gonna change the look of your shoe. Yes and then

so little Mike that owned a sandwich shop and an oil change place said afterwards, Lynn I have bands that come to my sandwich shop. Would you ever want to do stand-up? That's first time I'd ever really somebody said stand up Even though before Chuck Morgan I had married we came out here to California To see my sister. She lived in Huntington Beach and I got to go to the Comedy Store I say so where do you want to go and I said I want to ride around in that hurts and See where people got murdered in Hollywood. And then I want an idea, and I had a ball.

And Chuck said, this is the most morbid thing I've ever, and how do you know that Bugsy Siegel got shot through his front door? He said, you've got a lot of knowledge that's not, you know, necessary. But anyway. So we went through that, and then I said, I want to go to the famous comedy store,

and my heart beat out of my body, I had a physical response I mean I thought this is what I was being in the comedy store yeah this is what I'm inside the comedy store yes and this watching them on stage I thought this is what I'm supposed to be there but anyway so um so yeah little Mike saying do you want to do and I go okay and he goes can you do 45? And I went, OK, 45 minutes, which was crazy. And I should have never agreed to that. It was like, people get up and do an open mic for three minutes.

The first time I ever got on stage and called it stand up, I did 45 minutes. And Mike sandwiched up. Yes. And I'm sure it sucked. And I'm worried I still get up at 4 o'clock in the morning thinking, did somebody film that? Is that gonna come out somewhere? But anyway, there was a big window in front of the sandwich shop and he said, I'll give you the door money and

I'll make money off the sandwiches. And Chuck Morgan would drive with three babies, by then I had three, in a minivan back and forth and people would say, Chuck's driving behind you. Because it's a little town, everybody knew us. And I had to go to an ear, nose, and throat doctor that day because I could not move my neck because I was so... I thought something was terrible wrong with me. He looked like Tim McGraw, by the way. And I said, something is bad wrong with me.

Do I have cancer? And he said, I think you are so scared about... Because I said, I'm doing this thing tonight And he said, I think you are so scared about, cause I said, I'm doing this thing tonight. He said, I think you are scared stiff. His nerves, you were literally scared stiff. I was scared stiff. Wow. Once I got on stage, I was fine.

And I had a little- Isn't the moment you stood in front of that microphone, you're right, that the moment you walked in and you got in front of the microphone, the nerves in your neck relaxed and you were fine. And it felt like home. It felt like, okay, girl, I know exactly what that feeling is because I'd been doing news in

Baltimore and had gotten removed from the news and they didn't know what to do with me. And they put me on a talk talk show and the very first day I did that talk show it felt like coming home I felt like ah this is what I'm supposed to be doing this is what I'm supposed to do and you knew that too I knew it I knew it and in the middle of all that was the first time you got paid like physically paid I got paid and he can you do it again? And so I would do it I think once a month. It was kind of like a little one-woman show and people, it would sell out every time. And then, but in the middle of all that, there were, there was upheaval like, you know, Chuck was trying to figure out a young man had this

business, they had all these employees and back and forth where we moved to Myrtle Beach for a little while. His dad took over the business so he thought he wanted to do something else. We came back to Morris Town and we didn't have any money and he bought a, his dad, we always had this business called RefurbCo where you refurbish used mobile homes and his dad had a double wine that had been set on fire. Somebody was going to repo it. It had been set on fire. You could see black marks from smoke.

When somebody's about to lose their home, a lot of times they'll take a hammer and like knock the sinks out and stuff like that. God love them. Okay, so Chuck said, just trust me, Leanne. I want to move us back. I'm going to work for this big mobile home manufacturing company that's now Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett Company.

But he said, just trust me, I'm going to put us in this double wine that's been set on fire out in the middle of this lot, but I'll be able to return it, and we'll make a bunch of money off of it I'm gonna flip it and then we're gonna we'll buy because we had had a beautiful home I was a member of a country club for the first time in my life before all this happened I took my little children up there and they and we had a pool

because I was raised there I had to swim in a pond with Converse high top tissues on because there were turtles in it anyway I had I had a pool. I had this wonderful life. And it was. It was a wonderful life. And then he decided some little upheaval in his career. And what he wanted to do. So you all had moved, and you came back. Moved and came back.

So you lost that house. We sold that house. Sold everything so he could go and do this new venture. Then we got there and realized this is what he needs to be doing. He took the LSAT, was going to go to law school. I found out I was pregnant with my third baby. He said, I can't do that. We got too many babies. So we came back. He put me in this double wide. What did you do when you first saw that double wide? Oh. Nothing against people having to live in manufactured homes, but I had I mean it was I was devastated

I thought and my little mom and dad. It didn't have back stairs right? It didn't have back stairs and he owned a mobile home company where he had Stairs in a field a million of them so I don't know if he was just overwhelmed But I would have to like throw my babies up in it I was big pregnant and had to get my leg up in it and then He put they put indoor carpet in it and that had been out and been weathered you know rained on and stuff so we all had mold and allergies my sister at the same time was getting married to this hooptie-doo man and I

remember it was when Princess Di had passed away because I remember sitting on the couch and watching that Princess Di had passed away and Beth was planning her wedding to this hooptie-doo man. We all remember that, isn't it? And that's when I was in that double whine. But I remember getting locked out of the double whine. It's in the book about it. I got locked out of the double whine. I was big pregnant with Tess, my baby.

I had to walk down the road with two babies and two car seats. And so this little woman could drive me to Morristown to go. I went to church on Wednesday night because there was a meal. And all my friends were there and Miss Betty Cooked and it was social for me and I was so, you know, isolated. So we moved out here in the country. We moved me out there. The Zobelwad was out in the country and I had to ride with this God lover, pitiful woman that said the F word in

front of my children and smoked generic cigarettes It smelled so bad and what she let she gave me a ride God love her and I was in this little bitty car that the floor was rusted out and I could see the highway Under my feet and I had to prop my feet up on this So that my feet wouldn't get torn on the road. And my little children were holding hands in the back. And Charlie said, nice car you got here. He was about three. And I drove up.

I mean, I remember riding down the road and saying, I mean, I just felt so like, how did my life turn to this? How am I in a rusted-out car? How did I get here? And I prayed about it. I said, God, what have I done? I know I did some things in the 80s I shouldn't have. What did I do to get this? And I promise you, as God is my witness, He spoke to me, and it wasn't an audible.

It's in my soul, God saying, just hold on, Land. I got you. This is all going to, this story's going to be told. There's a reason for all of this. Just hold on, Land. I got you. This is all gonna... This story's gonna be told. There's a reason for all of this. Just hold on. This is a feeling you had. You had a feeling. I had a feeling. In that car where you can see the... Yes, I felt like you spoke to me, and like I say, it wasn't like Morgan Freeman speaking to me.

It was in my soul. He said, there's a reason. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. There's a reason, Land. And I was like, okay. Okay. But I've had several of those moments in my life. And now I can look back and I just know, you know, when you think you're good,

whatever you call it, I feel like that's God speaking to me. And He was with me the whole time. You call them God moments. I call them God moments, God winks. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Coming up, listener, LeAnn Morgan shares the clip that went viral, the moment she knew her career was finally taking off. At 54 years old, it happened to be the exact same day she dropped off her youngest child to live on her own. Talk about divine timing.

Within a week, comedy clubs all over the United States, I was selling out one-nighters. I couldn't even cash the checks. From breastfeeding, going through menopause, and even sex after age 50, Leigh Ann explains why she believes her comedy hit a nerve. More with Leigh Ann Morgan right after this break, y'all. This episode is brought to you in part by 365

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Shop in store or order online for pickup or delivery. Explore so many ways to save with back to school specials at Whole Foods Market. Welcome back. Comedian, actress and author Leanne Morgan is almost 60 years old and is finally living the life she dreamed about since she was a little girl. The road to success wasn't always easy. Leanne got married, raised three children, and sold jewelry out of living rooms,

using it as practice for her standup. She didn't hit it big until the exact day she dropped off her youngest child to live on her own. Today, Leigh-Anne has one of the most viewed comedy specials on Netflix. It's called I'm Every Woman, and she has her own sitcom, Leigh-Anne, also on Netflix, plus a must-read memoir

appropriately titled What in the World? She sells out comedy shows all over the country. I'm taking some friends soon to go see her and I can't wait to see her live. She really is living proof of someone who never gave up and manifested her own dreams. Let's get back to our conversation. Wasn't there a moment where you thought,

okay, maybe I'm just gonna throw in the towel? Yes, it was my early 50s and it really was not going well. And I was working a lot, but it wasn't the work I wanted. I just knew in my heart this is not, I mean I wanted to be like Jim Gaffigan, Nate Berganzi, all these people I admired and I thought this is not, these are horrible gigs, I'm staying in a hotel on the side of the interstate, I don't feel safe. I mean I just thought, I just had it. And I broke down, we were at dinner at a restaurant.

Okay, before you tell that story, but when you you were 42 like out of a fairy tale a Hollywood producer Called right. Yes saying he wanted to create a sitcom based on your life. Yes pitching you as the next Roseanne right you flew to Los Angeles for meetings and then what happened? The writer strike hit we sold it to ABC before we got out of the parking lot. And the writer strike hit, that first writer strike hit when like then reality show became such a big deal. Then all the reality shows came, yeah. And they said, it's over.

And one day they go, oh, sorry, Leigh Ann, it's over. And I mean, I was flying back and forth. They were starting to talk about casting. I remember that summer of the writer strike strike and that's when, you know, all the reality shows started because there were no writers, yes. Yes, and here I was in the middle, I was in Knoxville, I started out, Chuck had, we had been moved to San Antonio to be over South Texas for his company. I started really doing stand-up in Austin, Texas and that's how I got that first deal

and then we moved back to Knoxville, and I got the television deal. And then I got a, after that, I went into a, I feel like I went into a deep depression. That was my first rodeo with Hollywood. It did not happen, and I was on this high, and then it was over, and it was just like, nobody cares anymore. I couldn't get booked.

Chuck brought me a little beagle from Ogden, Utah. I'd love a dog. Wanted to make, you know, make me feel better. I just remember thinking, it's over. I mean, nothing's ever going to happen. So all the time I was living out in Knoxville, raising three children, even if I wasn't one of the cool kids, I call them, in LA, in New York, and all the people going and doing, I still, God would send me these things that would keep me going.

Even if they didn't make it, I would think. What do you think now, though, looking back, LeAnn, what was God, the life force, trying to tell you or teach you? Because when things don't work out, sometimes they don't work out for the best reason for you for the future. Because if it had worked out, then you would have to leave your children or move your children. They tell me, they go, your husband cannot quit his job. He needs to stay there with the children.

You need to live away from your children to see if this is going to make it. Most likely we'll get canceled. So he doesn't need to quit his job. I mean, it was just like a crap shoot. And I was so caught up in it that I was willing. I thought, okay, well, we'll figure it out. And now I look back on it and I think, oh my gosh, that was God's protection over me. I could not have lived away from my children. Chuck was an executive working, traveling all over the

United States. There's no way it could have happened. But you know, I was caught up in it. And I was caught up in the, you know, the, could I be famous? Could this, you know, I was caught up in it and I was caught up in the, you know, the could I be famous? Could this, you know, be, I could finally be a sitcom star. This is going to be da-da-da. Because I was a working comedian and that was, you know, a dream of a lot of comedians. But I look back on it and that God wanted me to stay in Knoxville, Tennessee, raise these children, have relatable material for when I was in

my 50s and this blew up. And that's why all these women in the United States of America can relate to me. And I started talking about perimenopo. Don't get us special in until I'm in my mid-late 50s. So when you were 54, actually, was about five years ago, you had no website and you had decided to spend some money and hire two young men, right? Two young social media guys.

See if they could, on social media, boost, you know, your clips or whatever. So I could sell a ticket somewhere. So you could sell a ticket somewhere. And they posted a clip of your stand-up call. I saw this. When you go to concerts with old people, I love this. It went viral. Let's watch this short clip Okay, let me tell you have y'all been to concerts lately with old people

Or older than I am so we go to Def Leppard and journey and everybody there is our age And and everybody's worried about the snack bar First of all, and I was too and every once in a while somebody'd stand up and and then they sat back down I thought isn't it funny how things have changed since I went to concerts when I was 20 Everybody was walking out like this because everybody had inflammation in their feet Trying to get to their car

It was like 10 o'clock. I thought, what are we doing out here? What are we doing? We gotta get home. We gotta get in the van. That was the first time I'd ever told that story somebody got it on film. Wow. I'd just taken Chuck Morgan to go see Death, Leviton Journey. And some little guy filmed it for me

and I gave it to those boys, those social media guys. And I thought, I'm gonna give this three months because it was expensive. I thought, I'm gonna give this three months. If nothing happens, then that's God telling me that I need to open a hardware store. In Knoxville, and I'll dazzle there. Or I'll be a grandmama.

I knew I was gonna have grandbabies. And I thought, I had a child married. And I'll dazzle there or and I'll be a grandmama and you I was gonna have grandbabies Yeah, and I thought I had a child at the hardware store. I'll dazzle. I'll get a cheese wheel Cuz my people, you know, that's my past is a girl. I love a grocery store I don't have a liquor sense over a grocery store cheese wheel slice my own bacon and have canning goods You know, yeah, I thought I'll just in the rocking thought, I'll just, and the rocking chairs, and I'll dazzle, and he said, you have lost your mind, chunks. I was telling, I told him all this,

I go, I'm just, I'm gonna start. He went, Lincoln, you've lost your mind. But anyway, I gave these three, these boys that's money, and I thought, it lasts each effort, and then I'll let it go. I'll be able to let it go and let this let go. And that was the day they released that, the day that my baby child, we moved her into an apartment in Brooklyn to go to school for makeup for television and

film, who now is my makeup artist and is on my show and all that. But we moved her in, she'd gone to college and then she said she wanted to do that. We moved her in, and I looked on my phone, and well, I think one of those boys called me and said, Leanne, something's happening. Like, I don't know if you're seeing this, and you could just see thousands and thousands and thousands of views. People start, they watch that, could relate to that,

because who doesn't go to a concert and see Fall Cat, and are worried out of their mind. And then, you know, everybody's got plantar fasciitis and then they started looking to see what else I had done. So then all the views on my other things had gone up and I had not done anything on my social media. I had babies, you know, children. I put up pictures of my dogs and stuff and it started blowing up and I mean within I don't even I wish I had

journaled at all I think within a week people were calling trying to get me in comedy clubs all over the United States and it had been like four months before that I could not sell a ticket the improvs I've done a couple of improvs in Florida and they were like we love her she doesn't get drunk and fight in the parking lot but we're not having her back, she can't sell a ticket. And I was just devastated. Okay, within a week, comedy clubs all over the United States, I was selling out one-nighters,

I couldn't even cash the checks. Chuck said, you're like a drug dealer in your backpack, you got all this money floating around. I was going from town to town to sold out shows all over the United States. Oh my goodness. It was crazy. It was just like somebody turned the light on.

But I tell you what happened. I found my audience. All those years when I would be talking about my every hour, new hour I would come up with was what I was going through in my life. So birth and breastfeeding and all that. Then elementary school, middle school, sports, kids, whatever. Because you just take your comedy from whatever is happening in life.

Yeah, and I'm a storyteller. That's right. And then, and I would think the whole, all that 20 years where nothing was happening, I would think, I know there's mamas out here and women that are going to Weight Watchers and are fighting their weight and they're feeling the same way. How do I get to them? I didn't know how to get to them. And then through social media,

through those, when I hired those, it was the best thing. The manager I had at the time said, you can't afford it, you don't need to be doing it. And I thought, I'm gonna do it anyway. I know what I'm talking about because I would see Jim Gavkin and all these people I admired, they had them.

And I thought, that's the new TV, radio, all that. And I took a gamble on myself. And I invested in myself, which was crazy that I waited that long to invest in myself, but that's what I did. If I made money in gigs through the years, I'd buy these children uniforms and get their hair cut. And so this was finally... You were always spending money on everybody.

I was spending money. I had my friend did my website for me out of the goodness of her heart. It was, you know, pitiful. But I mean, she just did the best she could. And I begged her to do it. I never I hadn't maybe two headshots in 20 years, which was stupid. So yeah. So and then it just took off coming up why the legendary TV producer Chuck Lorre traveled all the way to Leanne's front porch in Tennessee to picture the chance to make her own sitcom based on her life. We'll talk about her new Netflix show. You gotta watch that show. Stay with us.

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I am back with the hilarious, hilarious Leanne Morgan, who joined me in the tea house for the Oprah Podcast to talk about this epic moment she's having in her career. Let's get back to our conversation that had me laughing out loud for real. Tell me about Chuck Lorre coming to your house. Okay, so I had, I got big tours. Once they saw me selling out all in clubs, I got the first big theater tour, the big panty the first big theater tour the big panty tour I called it the big panty tour because I found I realized I was talking about my panties a lot And I and I like a good comfortable panty. I've done a hundred cities. This is winding it down

Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you all. And people ask me all the time, why'd you name this Big Panty Tour? And I tell people, I like big panties. Big panties say to me, freedom. Chuck Lorre flies to my home. He comes to see me at Pantages. Chuck Lorre, the most famous producer of sitcoms and television. Yes. He sat and held my new grandbaby on the back porch. We had lunch. I still

worry that that bread was too hard. You know southern women, we want people to eat and enjoy their food. Anyway, he came with my manager and they, he sat there and said the sweetest things to me, Oprah. Like, and I know you've read this book, you've read every book in the United States of America, but that book about 10,000 hours, he said, Len, I can tell you've put in, you've done that 10,000 hours. He said, you have mastered this and you are, I wish that we had recorded it. The things he said to me, and for me to be, you know. Validated, you were validated in that moment. Because in Comedy Central had never wanted me,

you know, they were the big thing. Yes, yeah. Never wanted me, I got so many nos, I didn't get to go to festivals, very rarely would they let me go to Montreal. And I'm sure a lot of people were put off by your accent, right? They were like, who's going to relate to you?

And women have it tougher anyway. Tougher anyway. And then I was talking. I'm clean. I was talking about having babies in my stomach and weight watchers. You're not cursing. You're not, yes.

And they wanted edgy. There was times, you know, it goes through trends. They wanted edgy. They said they wanted edgy. Yeah. And I was a little mama with a kidney alone. They don't know weight is always, weight is always. One of my funniest lines that you write about in the book is going on Weight Watchers 9, 9 separate times and losing 7 pounds. I've done Weight Watchers nine times and

I've lost seven pounds and all. It's because I don't follow it and I know it works. I really do. I know it works. When you first start, you're so hungry that you could eat the wallpaper off the wall. But I, so I try to stay within my points. Alright, my sister will go on and every time I will, and she lives in Clarksville, Tennessee, and she'll call me and she'll say, it's noon and I've eaten all my points. I've just, I've got the app. I've got the app right now and every once in a while I'll go back and I'll stop the mail. I was on the board. I was on the board. Oh, I know.

I thought, I know. We all know. And you were the one we all wanted to do it for and make it happen for. But I would get my friends, we would go have a ball first week, lose water weight. It was our fault. It wasn't Weight Watchers.

Weight Watchers works, but you gotta do it. You gotta do it. And fault. It wasn't Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers works, but you got to do it. You got to do it. And then my mama's done Weight Watchers. We've all, my sister will say, she said to me recently, are you doing something and you're not wanting to tell me? Is it Weight Watchers? I go, if I was doing Weight Watchers, I'd tell you. Why would I keep that from you? No, I'm shooting a sitcom and I'm scared to dance. Yeah. And I've lost a little bit of weight. But, oh, but yeah, Weight Watchers meetings to me were so fun. And you would hear them talk about, you know, what's your travel snack? And you know, somebody said string mozzarella.

And then somebody said a little pack of nuts. And then a little woman behind me said, somebody said boiled eggs. Take two boiled eggs in a Ziploc bag. And she said, you don't want to get in a car with me after I, take two bold eggs in a zip-lock bag, and she said, you don't wanna get in a car with me after I've eaten two bold eggs. I mean, I just thought it was comedy gold. I thought, it's like being at your own comedy club, because everybody's, all these women are like,

there's fat-free chocolate chip mint ice cream at Walmart off a Harriman exit, you know, and everybody's like, trying to get out so they can go buy it. But I loved it, and I still, I have the amp and I'll do it. And the fact that you did it nine times, nine times. I've never been able to stick with things. My mama loves a diet.

My sister can do a diet. And I would try, but I've never stuck to anything. And I'm sitting up here. Now you all see my fanny on TV. This is the thing. I started watching your new series, Leanne on Netflix. They sent it to me.

And you are so good. You were born for this. You were born for this, Leanne. You were born for this. Listen, you're going to be with the greats because your comedic timing and your ability to tell stories. I just love the fact that it is based on your family and it doesn't even feel

like you're acting. It feels like you're the Leanne that's in front of me right now. Well, thank you. I hope that I do think that these wonderful writers have gotten my voice, and that's hard. I am a southern Christian woman, you know, from Tennessee. It'd be like if I went to write for a Russian family in New Jersey. You know, I would know that, but they have really, I feel like they've gotten my voice. I'm a writer and executive producer on it, too.

I said you must be, because as I was watching it, I said to my producer, LeAnn must be writing this herself. Oh, honey, no. But I tweak. Okay. They give me all the room to tweak, and this is how I would say it and this is I don't like this way It's this is going can we do it? I think your mom and daddy. I love all the scenes with your mom and daddy so it's your mom and daddy and Yeah, a husband that has walked off and left me after 34 years

So Chuck Morgan are still together my daddy, somebody told him on Facebook that we were getting a divorce. And I said, no daddy, it's like Beverly Hillbillies. You know, it's not true. So it is not based on my real family, but I do think it has my essence. Because I do think it would be weird to be based on my real family.

I think I would be too protective of my children. But yes, Ronstadt's placement. Some of the stories are taken out of your life situation. Yes. So what do you want to say about it? I mean, the fact that now, I mean, what in the world? What in the world? And to get a sitcom on today in television.

When everybody says nobody's doing sitcoms. Nobody's doing and and and we I we went in there to sell that Little Chuck Laurie and me and I say Little Chuck Laurie. Way more than everybody else in the room and and they they said we'll do it if whatever will because they want him so badly and then they put these unbelievable writers with me that have had this wonderful track record and then this cast around me. And what I want to say about it...

You have kissing scenes with Tim Daly. I have kissing scenes. Oh my Lord. Oh, Pro... You talking about somebody that has kept his weight down. And on the weeks he's there, I lose weight because we have to kiss and I don't want to burp in his mouth And I eat altoids and I get weak as water But anyway precious precious guy Sweet and a pro and made me feel comfortable when I have to kiss and do all that rigmarole. What are you doing? I'm getting undressed. It usually happens at the end of the date. I

Can't go This was a mistake. Carol, you're going to have to call him and tell him I'm sick. We'll just try again in a few years. He's an FBI agent. He's going to know I'm lying. You're right he is, because he's so good at his job and he's so good looking. You are too.

Wait till he tries your meatloaf. I got that recipe from Southern Living. It's not even mine. I'm a fraud! But I hope people think it... I hope they like it, and I think it's got wonderful jokes. I think it's got heart. I think it has a lot of heart,

and I think we need to laugh now, laugh about ourselves and laugh about our situations I think it has a lot of heart, and I think we need to laugh now, laugh about ourselves and laugh about our situations and our families, and I think it is so heartwarming. I always think comedians doing stand-up for so many years have seen a lot of life, all of the different cities and, as you were saying, hotels by the freeway, and that brings you kind of a world experience. Don't you think?

I think so. I think all of that, plus I got to have both. I got to raise my children. And when I did the movie with Little Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, she said to me every day on that set, Leanne, you got to raise your own children. You really got to do both. And this happened to me in my 50s. Yes, did I want to be younger and thinner. Yes, did I think, you know, I had a lot of heartache, a lot of no's and rejection. But how, what a blessing that this happened to me.

I got my children grown. They don't need me like they did. And I'm able to do this. I could not have gone out on the road and do a tour like I'm doing with little children I couldn't have no I mean I do a hundred cities in a tour the sewer I'm on now is called the just getting started tour and it's 200 cities Wow, and the just getting started on this Chuck Morgan come with you because I don't see each other a lot because he's still working A big job. He's over a division for that Berkshire Hathaway company

and they need him. They kid and say, are you a flight risk? Are you leaving, Chuck? But he wants to see that through because he's a loyal. He loves his company and will see that division through, make sure it's all right before he leaves. And also, I don't want him to come on the road with me because I'll be in a hotel room and I'll have to do it.

And then, you know, and then he's eating nuts and chomping and watching a basketball game. And that's my time to like get right in my head, get my girdle on, my eyelashes on. I can't be tending to him. And he needs to be tended to. Cause he sees a hotel room and goes nuts. You know, when he's in a hotel room,

it's on like Donkey Kong. And I don't need that. I'm trying to do shows. So I do, my daughter travels with me, and that's been a blessing. And she can still lift luggage and open up pickle jars. I think my grip's gone. But anyway, we do, we get out and we do. And I'm in front of thousands

every night that are women. I look out in that, there's a lot of men now too, but I look out in that and I think I'd be best friends with every one of them. I'm not kidding. All over the United States, I think these are my girls. Leigh Ann, we are so excited for you. We have seen you three times and we can't wait to see you again. We love you. And they know exactly what I'm talking about. I think that's so wonderful. That is why the Oprah show worked all those years,

because I love the audience. I thought of myself as a surrogate for the audience. And everybody who came from all over the country, I just loved them. I just so appreciated them, right? I know that. Yes. I know exactly what you're saying.

I think that's so beautiful that you so relate to them and they so relate to you. That's exactly what I felt, too, every day. And it's got to be so, you know, don't you think it's so much more fun now, because you are mature enough to know what to do with the money, to not to go crazy, to understand what it means to fail and try again and get up and keep moving and

be disappointed. And you have done that again and again. And so that's why this moment is so glorious. Thank you. I do think I can handle it better if I'd have been that 20 something year old. Yes. Oh. Or even at 42 when you were like star-struck by the idea of coming to

Hollywood. Now you've had the, it may not work out and so you are a lot more stable in moving forward. Oh I am. I say I might need somebody to drive me around because I can't see at night. But other than that, I mean I'm pretty down to earth. I feel like, you know, I've lived a lot of life. And I do like a nice pair of shoes now that I was on a budget so long with Chuck Morgan. But even that, I mean, I'm just tickled that I can help my children. And I'm a tickled.

What have you allowed yourself to splurge on? Oh, well, let me say this. And this is, I don't mean to come across sappy, but this really made me feel good to be able to do this. My little high school, I graduated with 42 people, and it's a lot of future farmers of America. Now farms, people are not farming, so it's not the most booming area, but the little

children, the vice principal got through me from somebody to me and said, we need calculators from sixth grade to senior for all these children. Thousand, I mean. Six to twelve. Yeah, six to twelve. And then they need them for the advanced classes, the bad mama jamma calculators. Okay. And they said, would you be willing to donate any money toward these calculators?

And I said, Chuck, I want to do this. So we did the whole thing. And that means the world to me for these little rural children that don't have the money to get a calculator and that I'm able to do that. And I want them to know because people kind of forget about the rural kids. And I remember going to the University of Tennessee and I was not prepared. And there wasn't a lot of college prep classes in my school at all. I forget about the rural kids. And I remember going to the University of Tennessee and I was not prepared. And there wasn't a lot of college prep classes

in my school at all. I took home ec, I learned how to make an omelet because they knew that a lot of us weren't going to school. And I remember people making fun of me at UT and somebody would read a paper of mine and say, what are you even doing here? How'd you get in here? And I would carry that, you know?

And for me to be able to do that for those little children, you know, that people kind of forget about, means the world to me. I was just going to say, what in the world? What in the world? And I think that Choke Morgan is very generous and charitable, and then my middle child is in nonprofit and raises money for Children's Hospital.

And those two have taught me, I really think that's where joy comes from. When you can help somebody else. Now, I have splurged on an outdoor playground that does not splinter for my grandchildren. It was pretty nifty. That was one of the first big purchases I made. I go, I'm doing it. And they're going to have the best playground. An outdoor playground that has no-

An outdoor playground that does not splinter. OK. And that's got nifty things on it. And you can change it out, slides and what- Well, what have you done for you, Leanne? I have, OK. I did, I raised these children in the same house all these years, 20-something years in this house.

It's been a beautiful home. It's where Chuck Lorre came. I did buy another home that I'm renovating that's got a tiny elevator in it and so my mom's had a debilitating stroke, is in a wheelchair, so I can take her up and down and I made her, they've decorated for her the wallpaper she wanted and all that and a walk-in shower and everything's ADA wheelchair for her and my mother-in-law is going to be on the other side, she's on a walker. So everybody's going to be able to go up and down. And I would have never thought I'd had a house with an elevator in it.

But it's got a beautiful view of the Smoky Mountains and the lake water. And it's a beautiful home. And I'll have privacy and all that kind of stuff. Because you could walk up into my house right now. People send me stuff all the time. lot of cookies people send me a lot of But I did I bought a home. I've moved in yet. I'll get to move in in the summer What so that's been my biggest thing? Okay, and even then I don't know if you even realize this those of you were listening And watching us know that even then when I say what have you done for yourself?

It was all about what you did for your mother and your mother-in-law, because that's the kind of woman you are. I am so proud and happy for your success. And the fact that, you know, we often talk on this podcast about what is the meaning of a well-lived life? I think you are living it right now. Thank you. You are living it right now.

Thank you. And I love that the book is called What in the World? Because every time something exciting or something challenging would happen in your life, you say, what in the world? What in the world? What in the world? What in the world?

A valley or a mountain top, we've all got them. We got them. It's available anywhere you buy your books. And I have to say, you will be laughing out loud. And her Netflix stand-up special, I'm Every Woman, it's a must watch. Every time somebody new comes that hasn't seen it, I watch it again. And her sitcom, Leanne, is the breath of fresh air we've all been waiting for. We all need right now. It's streaming on Netflix and I do hope you watch it. Thank you, my darling. Thank you, dear listener, for joining us today.

Talk to y'all next week. Go well. You can subscribe to the Oprah Podcast on YouTube and follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. I'll see you next week. Thanks, everybody.