An Interview with Leanne Morgan

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I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey.

We were on the office together and we're best friends.

And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you.

Each week, we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes details, and lots of VFF stories.

We're the Office Lady 6.0.

Hi there.

Hello, everyone.

Hello.

We have a hilarious lady joining us today on Office Lady 6.0.

Yes, we love her.

It is comedian Leanne Morgan.

Now, you might know her from her New York Times best-selling book, What in the World?

A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings.

Or you might have seen her live because she has been touring the stand-up circuit for years.

And now you can catch her very successful stand-up show on Netflix called Leanne Morgan, I'm Every Woman.

It is worth a watch.

And now you can see her in her new television comedy show, Leanne.

It is premiering July 31st on Netflix.

And you know, Jenna and I have both loved watching her stand-up.

If you want to laugh at the everyday domestic craziness that we all struggle with, you need to follow her Instagram.

Oh, it's so true.

So like many of you, Angela and I share comedy clips back and forth with each other.

And I would say, like two-thirds of them are Leanne.

Yeah.

You know what?

I actually want to play one to kick us off that cracked me up.

It's Leanne doing stand-up, and she's talking about her sister who was going to marry a country club man.

Let's hear it.

There was never alcohol in our house until

my sister is a little bit older than me, and she was going to marry late in life.

And she was going to marry this hoop-de-doo man,

country club man.

I had to explain to women in North Dakota what that was.

Hoop-de-doo, you know, country club.

Because I'm from a town of 500 people, farming people.

We didn't know what, we never seen anybody play tennis.

I'd seen somebody on TV and I'd think, oh, that's the queen and her people.

So we didn't know anything about a country club.

So she was going to marry this country club man.

And you know, some country club people like to drink.

So to get her married off, we all started drinking.

My little mom and daddy had never drank alcohol.

My mom drank a glass and a half of wine and got out of my car and said, I can't feel my arms.

Just cracked me up.

I love her so much.

You know, we have to share.

Angela, one day you just like slid into her DMs.

I did.

And you started messaging back and forth.

You're just like, I am a fan of you.

Yeah.

And it turns out she is a fan of the office.

And here on Office Ladies, we are fans of highlighting funny women.

So we said, do you want to come on Office Ladies and just talk about your career in comedy?

Talk about your new Netflix show.

And we had such a ball talking with her.

And I'm so glad we did.

Me too.

And, you know, we hear about her journey.

Her, quote, overnight success is about 25 years.

She just has been out there putting her comedy up on stage year after year, and we're so happy for her.

So why don't we take a break and then when we come back, here is our interview with Leanne Morgan.

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Oh, my darling girls, I love y'all both so much.

Y'all don't know how much joy y'all have given me.

And I tell you, I'm on planes all the time.

And I go to my office, honey.

I go to the office and watch it on planes.

It's just my comfort.

Oh, it makes me so happy.

Well, Leanne, I feel like we should share a little bit how we got here, which is, I don't know if you know this.

We've been trading messages, years ago, my niece and my sisters went to see you in Wichita Falls, Texas, because that's the big town near my small hometown.

You know, when people say, are you going to town, you drive 26 miles to Wichita Falls?

And they saw you and they were like, Ange, we know you love comedy.

You're going to love this gal.

She's so funny.

And I started following you on Instagram and I was like, she is the real deal.

So funny, so down to earth, so relatable.

And I have been a fan ever since.

And Jenna, same thing.

Jenna like was like, oh my gosh, we would trade messages.

We trade your videos.

Yes.

Yes.

Y'all.

Yes.

Oh,

I just can't even believe it.

I mean, you're saying like, we keep you company on a plane, but like, I just had the craziest morning with my kids.

It was like.

Just all the insanity, the dog ate the turkey sandwich when my back was turned and we couldn't find the drum key and I'm getting a hot flash.

And,

and of course, it's all happening on the one morning.

I have something to do at a certain time.

And that's what your comedy is about.

When I listen to you,

it's like you help me laugh at all the insanity that was my morning.

I love you.

Thank you, my angel.

I can hear you in my head.

I can hear you talking about my dog eating the sandwich.

You would mind that for gold.

Yes, I would.

I may still do that.

I may still do that.

I've got to come up with a third hour for Netflix by 2027.

Okay, well, if I may have to, yeah,

you might borrow a little.

We'll just DM you all the shenanigans that happen trying to get kids out the door because you did that.

You did that for years, and we'll just be a refresher course.

Yes, yeah.

And then now I have two grandbabies, two boys that are two and four.

Oh,

that are yummy.

I bet.

But my, I feel like my best material was when I was y'all's age doing all that.

That's, I feel like, and I can talk about menopause.

That's good stuff too.

Yes.

That's good stuff.

And I'm so glad menopause is kind of having a moment right now.

Oh, I know.

People are finally talking about it.

Yeah.

Hallelujah over that.

I know.

I think of our poor grandmothers.

You know, no one told them anything.

And mine was in a house dress with a landline, and she would just twirl herself in it, cooking three meals a day, little farm woman, and nobody helped her.

And she looked 100 when she was 50.

You know?

And now everybody's so, Lord,

Hallie Berry, honey, has a lubricant.

And she

has to do it, you know, with people.

It's a whole new world out there.

That's right.

It's a whole new new world.

Leanne, now you are a household name, but I don't know anything about you.

I know your comedy.

I'm a fan, but could you share how did you get into comedy?

Like, what was your path?

It's been a long journey.

Isn't that right?

It has.

I've been doing stand-up now for 25 years.

I got started when my baby was 18 months old.

I say that.

when I actually got paid $50 at the Rotary Club to do the luncheon in Morristown, Tennessee.

But I, from the time I was little bitty ill, I wanted to go to Hollywood and I loved television.

And I, my little mama, Lucille, is so funny.

And my dad's a good storyteller.

My grandparents, I was raised in a farming community where my aunts and uncles and everybody was around in and out all day long, every day.

And they were all funny.

kindergarten, my mama, before the state of Tennessee changed it to where you had to be five to go to kindergarten.

I went at four because I was born in October and I needed a big nap still and I probably had some accidents.

And my mama would say, you're just, I shouldn't have sent you, even though you're smarter than everybody there.

She said, which was a lie.

But anyway, she would tell me that.

But I, she said, let's, does your tummy hurt?

And I would go, yeah, it does.

And she'd say, well, let's watch Hollywood Squares.

and match game and not go to kindergarten.

So I loved television, all of that.

And in my little mind at nine or 10 years old, I remember thinking, I'm going to Hollywood.

And then, so I went through life, you know, but scared.

And I, you know, didn't have the guts at 18 to get in a car and go to L.A.

with $60 in my pocket like people do.

It didn't even dawn on me.

I didn't even know that was a thing.

And then I went on to college and did all that traditional stuff, not well, not well, flailed.

What was your major in college?

Would you study?

I ended up going back and because I dropped out and then I went back and I got a degree in crisis intervention counseling under the Child and Family Studies Human Ecology.

And I loved it.

I could see you being really good at that.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I wanted to be a therapist, a family therapist, if I didn't make it in Hollywood.

And I think I've used that in my comedy.

I like studying people.

And I just observe and I get details, you know, and then I can, as a storyteller, I like to have details when I'm telling something.

But I married Chuck Morgan and he moved me to the foothills of the Appalachia Mountains and I started selling jewelry.

I never used my degree.

I got pregnant with my first baby, Charlie, who's 31, who's got my grandbabies.

And I started selling jewelry and I didn't care about jewelry.

Like women sell Mary Kay and Tupperware.

And I was in.

women's living rooms two or three nights a week, schlepping this jewelry around, eating, you know, dip and having a ball.

And I was talking talking about breastfeeding and hemorrhoids and all that stuff.

And people thought I was funny.

And I looked back on it and I had my own little comedy club.

I swear, because I was up in the, it is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

So I didn't have a comedy club, but I was, I knew stand-up was going to be my thing.

Because before Chuck and I married, we went out to LA to visit my sister.

She was living in California.

And he took me to the comedy store.

I wanted to go to the comedy store and I wanted to go in that hearse

on that ghost tour and watch where people have been murdered and home.

and chuck morgan said that's the most morbid twisted thing i've ever heard and how do you know about fatty arabunkel who was a comedian you know who fell on a woman and burst her bladder oh my lord yes you can google that you know who would know that is kate flannery kate flannery who played meredith knows everything about old hollywood She's just like a walking encyclopedia.

And she'll throw something like that out there.

And you're like, what?

The bladder burst, huh?

I love that stuff too.

I'm right there with her.

Bugsy Siegel or Sal Minio got stabbed in an alleyway.

But I went to the comedy store and I came alive and I had this.

I mean, I just thought I can do that.

I know I can do it.

Anyway, I had my first baby and then I'm schlepping this jewelry and the jewelry company noticed and started getting me to ask to not perform.

I was supposed to be doing a speech about how to get booked for an advance because I was booking about a year in advance these jewelry parties.

Because people loved you.

Yeah.

And we'd have a ball you know and they could buy a pair of earrings for 19.99 you know yeah a little gold on change your look

so

that kind of gave me the courage there because i was in front of all these women and they you know and i was talking about breastfeeding again and um that gave me the courage and then my husband sold his business that we had and we moved to san antonio texas for him to work for a big company and i had a comedy club and i started doing

open mic i went from open mic to they let me open and then they put me up at midnight.

I had three little children by then.

And they put me up at midnight when everybody's home marijuana.

No.

And I would be talking about somebody do dude on a t-ball field

or going to Weight Watchers.

How did the marijuana crowd like that?

Some of them liked it.

Some of them didn't.

But I said this the other day, my comedy, I think if you've ever been in a family, if you've had a mama, a grandmama, you know, you kind of relate, you know, to what I'm saying, which is, I'm lucky for that.

But anyway, that, and then I just, from there, I became a stand-up, but I raised my children.

I got to raise my children.

And we moved back to Knoxville for my husband's job at corporate.

And I just tried to do what I could, y'all, to stay on stage.

And there was some bad times.

And there were some good times.

Hollywood would come around.

They'd want a development deal, wouldn't make it.

I'd take to the bed,

overeat.

Then I couldn't get booked.

Then I'd get booked.

I mean, I'd, you know, have consistent work.

And I mean, it was very up and down.

I got a lot of no's,

but,

you know, I just stayed on stage wherever I could.

A lot of those were corporate, private, horrible things.

And fundraisers.

I was your fundraiser girl.

And, but I did clubs throughout when I could, but it was hard with three little children.

And then really and truly, y'all, this did not blow up until I was about to quit and was so discouraged.

I was in my early 50s.

And I said, because I'll be, I can't even say it.

I'll be 60 in October.

I'm really having a hard time.

Come on now.

You're looking awesome.

You're crushing it.

You're seriously, everybody I know is talking about you.

So bring it on, 60.

Come on.

Well, you angel.

Well, I had my premiere the other night for my television series.

It's dropping and my face,

i've never seen myself like that and i thought where did my chin go and then kristen johnson who plays my sister said don't let that get in your hand lean it's about being funny think of carol brunette making faces you know you cannot worry about that but at first the shock was a lot

but i um i saw that premiere the other night and every expression i feel like i'm doing my i'm just twisted up, but I was also so scared I couldn't even.

I mean, I'm sure that was fright and 59 years old but anyway um i don't know how i got off on that tangent this is office ladies we love a tangent here leanne it's what we do we're ladies we're going to talk about a scene between dwight and michael and next thing you know we're talking about the fact that i had one boob that made more milk than the other i don't know how we got there but we get there oh y'all that is my kind of talk i love talking about breast milk

and i love talking about michael and i love all of that oh my gosh

well you know what Jenna and I have talked a lot about just our journey to get here you know we're not from Hollywood you know I'm from a small town my family's from Texas and Louisiana Jenna is a St.

Louis gal you know no one in our families ever did anything like this to the thought of like going across the country to California, are you crazy?

So we know what it takes to just keep at a dream that people around you kind of question.

But do you remember the moment that you were like, oh my gosh, this is like the turning point.

Like I can actually

maybe

have a career in this.

Was there a moment?

In stand up or television or just stand up when I got

my first development deal.

It was with Warner Brothers and ABC.

And it was right before that first writer's strike.

Do y'all remember that first writer's strike?

That was awful.

But I had

a call come in from Mike Clements, the producer, and he worked with Tom Warner that did Roseanne, all those shows.

And he said, we think we can, we know we can build a sitcom around you.

And I had done my first 45 minutes.

I had, you know, back then, it took 10 years to get your first 45 minutes for stand-ups before social media and all that.

And I had done, you know, I had done a few little touring things and

gotten some attention.

But when they called and said, we know we can build a sitcom around you, I thought, okay, I'm not crazy.

I'm not one of those little children on American Idol that thinks they can sing.

You know, it took something like that to validate.

Now, it did not make it that writer's strike hit and it was over in seconds.

And I was devastated.

But then I had them after that.

And it would be times when I just could not get booked and or I could get booked, but it wasn't what I'm doing now or anything like that.

And, but there would be some little something come along that would give me the hope to keep going.

I talk to like aspiring actors a lot.

I go to universities or classes and, and, and it's a hard thing to explain to your family at home because they only see the milestones that actually end up on television or end up on stage.

But there are so many of those moments like a development deal, but that actually doesn't happen, but it is still a turning point.

And it is the thing that keeps you you in it.

I had so many roles I didn't get, but maybe it was like a callback to a level of producers that I hadn't gotten to before.

And that was the validation that I needed to think about.

I had a big audition.

This is before the office.

It was for a movie and I couldn't even believe I had the audition and I didn't get it.

On my way there, they called me and I had prepared and prepared and said, you know what?

The offer went out to Jennifer Aniston and she took it.

So I didn't even audition and I called my mom.

I was so heartbroken because I had worked so hard.

And I was like, mom, they offered it to Jennifer Anniston.

And she said, oh, honey, your disappointments are getting bigger.

That's a good sign.

Like, what?

My, my disappointments.

I was like, okay.

I love it.

I know, I do, too.

Good night, Jennifer Aniston.

I mean, that was a big deal.

I know.

I didn't even know you could offer something to people.

You know, I was so green.

I was like, what?

That just happens?

But yeah, and I was like, okay.

All right, mom.

You're right.

Next.

I don't know how y'all done what y'all done.

I see, I've auditioned just for a few things, and I know I'm not good at that.

My baby child, who's 27, had to do it under a ring light here in the dining room, and she tried not to roll her eyes.

Well, I did it.

But I don't know how y'all done it.

I think y'all have got the hardest job in the world.

I don't, stand-up's hard, but

I don't know.

I think what y'all do is harder.

Really?

I think what you do is harder because somebody else writes all the words for me.

Like I, I don't have to come up with the material.

I just have to deliver it.

That's what's so fascinating to me about stand-up comedy is like, you have to do the whole thing.

Like, how do you do that?

But, Jenna, if you did the turkey sandwich and the baby turned their back, the dog ate the turkey sandwich, you lived it, you saw it, you could write it, and then you could say it and you'd remember it when i got the television series i was you know calling home and crying and saying i cannot learn this crypt what in the world and and people go but you do your act hour and 20 minutes every night i go yeah but i lived it i wrote it i know it and i talk out of my butt sometimes and change it up yeah and they said to me you'll build this muscle and it's a it's a muscle in and i was like no

i won't

And they're right, though.

You do.

You kind of build that memory muscle of learning lines.

By the end of it,

I thought, okay, I know there's a rhythm and a way to do this.

And they did hire a woman who was from heaven to help me.

And we worked like nils.

Yeah, it's so helpful to have someone to run lines with you.

And, you know, I have to say, my husband says that he can tell, like, if I get an audition and now everything, you have to set up a camera at home and, you know, do it.

I'm like, what am I doing?

Now I'm running a casting session.

Are you kidding?

You know, and I think that's, it is sometimes harder to learn lines that are not a natural way to speak or a natural cadence.

And like I always joke, I could never be on ER.

Now that's great writing, but I couldn't say pulmonary,

get the tube, cardiac, code 49.

I don't know.

Like no one would believe that.

I'm never getting cast on that show.

But I hear you.

It is, it is like, it's a challenge sometimes to learn these lines, but it's a lot easier when they're your lines that you already know are funny.

And sweet people on my show are trying to learn how southern people speak.

Oh, but you know, they just don't know.

They just, they can't help it.

They've never lived in the south, but they were sweet about saying, Leanne, would you say it a different way?

Let us know.

You know, and so I would rewrite a little bit.

And these writers, you know, say things in such a flowery way that I'm just so country.

I just don't say that in that way, but they would be very sweet.

And it would help me if I could change a little bit.

You know, but the movie that I, you know, I've only done one movie.

It's a huge movie.

So many big movie stars.

I know.

Can you believe that, y'all?

I know.

On Office Ladies, we love a behind the scenes tidbit.

Do you have a behind the scenes tidbit of working with Reese Witherspoon and Will Farrell?

I did a movie with Will Farrell yesterday.

Oh, honey, Blaze of Glory.

Yes.

Oh my gosh.

I said to somebody the other day, they go, what do you want?

What would you want to do?

And they were talking about Nona's, how successful Nona's, the show, and the Had So Much Heart and Women of a Certain Age on it with Vince Phone.

And they thought that might be something in the vein I'd want to do.

And I said, yes, that

with

Blaze of Glory or Talladega Nights.

Could I do that

with Nonas?

Because those those are some of my favorites but yeah will farrell was a doll he was a sweetheart oh sweet and would just walk on set and there was one thing where they wanted me to say something nasty about a man's parts and i call that doings

and

man's doings or somebody's doings we call it business some lady your lady business i don't even talk about your man business

well i don't know how i started calling it doings, like lady doings, I could say, men's doings.

And Will would walk on set and just go,

Leah,

doings

at me.

But let me tell you, little Reese Witherspoon is one of the smartest people I've ever met in my life.

And everything she's ever said to me, it was right.

So if she tells me to do something, I do it.

And that little thing, you know, tiny and would, and she'd look up at me.

And at first, I said, it's like, you're like looking at Elvis.

She goes, steal.

I go, yeah.

And then by the end of it, we were talking about how much magnesium are you taking at night?

Can you poop?

I can't poop.

Can she poop?

What's she taking?

She doubled her magnesium.

I mean, we were all talking about the same stuff, but that Nick Stoller was from heaven and just let me ref.

And I just loved it.

And I wish I could do that again.

And I was so scared and freaked out, but, you know, just nervous, but I wish that I could do that all over again because I think I could do it better.

I didn't know how things worked.

Little Fortune Themester, the comedian, looked at me and said, there's a piece of tape on the floor, Lynn.

Go stand on it.

That's your mark.

I love fortune.

But everybody there was so helpful to me.

But let me tell y'all that when they called me and said, Rhys Witherspoon and Will Farrell want you to do a table read for a movie, I went, what's a table read?

And I was getting off a stage to, I was doing a casino in Pennsylvania that Janet Jackson had just been to, which thrilled me.

And I, they said, you got to get on a plane.

We'll switch your plane flight and go do this table read.

And I was scared to death, but I did it.

And I had a ball and everybody was there.

I didn't know how all that worked.

And then I got, I had to get, this is comedy.

What, the, one minute you've got your foot in the back of an Uber and a baby's diaper.

Some little mama's riding, driving Uber and you've got your foot in a Burger King sack or a dirty diaper.

the next minute you're doing a table read with will fair and rhys witherspoon and then the next day you fly to georgia to do hayhira georgia

i don't know what that fundraiser was but i got on a plane and and i sit next to

machine gun kelly

so i'm

on the plane little machine gun kelly and i said to my kids, I got machine gun Kelly sitting next to me.

And they go, he would be flying private, mama.

There's no way.

And I go, well, he's six foot seven.

He's got a size 15 shoe.

He's got on a bunny hat that bloody looking.

It wasn't real blood.

It just looked made to look like blood.

And I said, there's some things hanging out of his eyebrows.

And they go, okay, that's probably Machine Gun Kelly.

And I said,

normally I don't talk to people.

I promise I don't.

But I went, Megan, you know, he's had that volatile relationship with me.

I know.

I said, you're not going to believe this.

She's from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, right right where I've raised my children.

He went, what?

That's effing sick.

So anyway, I sat in bonded with Machine Gun Kelly and had a ball, but it was like four days of just crazy mess happened.

And you're like, what is my life right now?

What is my life?

Yes.

Jenna and I text each other that because these moments happen where it's like one day, you know, you're just trying to find the shoes for camp at Walmart that everyone wants and you can't find them and your cart's got the weird wheel and all the stuff.

And then the next day, it's like, okay, I just sat in first class next to Alicia Keys.

Do I say hi to her?

What do I do?

Does she watch the office?

I don't know what to do.

And also, I forgot all my comfortable underwear, and I'm going to land in New York with no underwear.

Like, these are your lives.

It's just wild, isn't it?

It's wild.

And that's why I wrote a book that almost killed me and I named it What in the World?

Because I feel like every day I go, What in the world?

And now I know, Leanne.

I, and by the way, my sister actually took a photo of her reading that book by the pool and texted it to me.

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I know how much Jenna's friendship meant to me through all of it because now we started, we were not famous.

You know, we didn't think the office was going to make it.

We didn't even stop our other jobs after the pilot because we didn't know what was going to happen.

And so much of the fame part, a red carpet, a table read, what do you wear?

How do you stand?

Where do you put your hands?

Do you do the smile so you look constipated or do you do show your teeth?

Like we.

found all of that together.

We failed together.

We had little triumphs together, but I couldn't imagine doing it without her.

Do you have your core group that kind of, is it, is it a group of gals?

Is it Chuck?

Is it a combo?

In stand-up, I've got, I call her little K,

but Karen Mills and I have traveled together on and off for since 2004.

And she has been my ride or die.

If I had a horrible gig and called her on the way home and said, I think I need to quit, she would talk me out of it.

Then she'd call me the next week and say, I'm going to quit.

And I'd talk her out of it.

And if I didn't have a gig, like if she did a booking, she'd say, you need to get Leon Morgan next.

And I would do that for her.

And we kept each other going.

And I call her and I'll go, what do you think about this material?

And when you look at my Netflix special, both sets and see which one, you know, what material you like out of both.

She is my stand-up.

And then now that this is my TV series, which, you know, I'm scared to death, it comes out July 31st.

And I know how.

Y'all got to help me through that because I just, I want people to love it.

And I don't know.

And, you know, there's the uncertainty of it all.

And I'm hysterical.

But Kristen Johnston plays my sister and we had immediate chemistry and you know Lord, she's been on every sitcom mom and third rock from the sun and righteous gemstones and in movies and you know and she has helped me so much.

She taught me, I didn't know all this camera blocking and all this stuff.

And they'd say something and I'd go, hold on, that's a Hollywood word.

What does that mean?

And she would tell me and tell me how things should work and and encouraged me so she's been sent from heaven i couldn't have done that if i hadn't had her on this 16 episodes i told her in our press junket i had a press junket for the first time i've never been so tired in my life i felt like i had the flu and it was all oh yeah you're just mentally like tapped out by the end of them i was like i don't know if anything i said made sense did i say words i don't know We were all just crazy.

You know what?

You know, Melora, who plays Jam

on the office.

She has been an actress since she was a kid.

She was on Little House on the Prairie.

And her mom and dad are both actors.

And so of anyone in our cast, she was truly the most seasoned.

And I remember I did my first kind of press junket for a movie.

And it was over the weekend that we were shooting the office.

And she said,

you look so beat up this morning.

And I said, oh, I had this press junket.

And I was describing it to her because, you know, they, they take you to a hotel and you sit in a chair in front of a poster of your thing, your movie or TV show.

And then just one after the other, different reporters come in and ask you almost the same questions, but you have to be fresh and funny and interesting and delightful.

And sound like you've never said it before.

And you you do that for two days.

And it makes you feel a little bit like you're in a dream state.

Like, am I talking?

Is that my voice?

What is happening?

Well, Melora, she was like, well, didn't they get you the hotel room at the hotel so that you could take a nap and be by yourself during lunch?

And I said, no.

She goes, oh, Jenna.

She goes, they won't get it for you, but if you ask for it, they will.

So she started coaching me on all these ways that I I could ask for space and like self-care.

She was like, you have to have that lunch break completely alone, no one in the room with you, lay in a bed in the dark, or you're going to go crazy.

You're going to go crazy.

So I was so grateful that we had Malora.

She really helped me.

She was great.

Understand that it's okay to have boundaries and to take care of yourself and that you can only be your best self if you have had rest or even a water or, you know, know, things that I was like, oh, we can ask for a chair.

I didn't know that, you know, while you're waiting in the wings.

And when you're just starting out, you're just so eager to please, you know?

And I think especially as women, too, you don't want to be branded as difficult.

And so it's like, there's all these ways that you can kind of just get.

I don't know, maybe even a little taken advantage of.

I can see that.

And I didn't, and everybody was wonderful to me, but you're right.

Well, Leanne, can you tell us about your show?

We're so excited.

We want our listeners to hear all about it.

It's called Leanne

and it's going to be on Netflix.

It's a half hour comedy.

Is that?

I think these episodes are really around 17 to 20 minutes, my darling, you know, because there's no commercials.

They're going to drop all 16 the same day.

Okay.

Ooh, so we can binge it.

Binge it.

Please binge it.

Yes.

Everybody binge it.

They said tell everybody to binge it.

And then I'm telling everybody on stage every night that I have a live show.

I go, please run it while you're vacuuming in the background or while you're putting something in a crock pot.

We'll just turn it on when we leave for the day and just let it and then recycle.

Yes, every day.

I mean, that's how people watch the office, honestly.

Because it's so confident.

Jeff is my friend.

Yes.

Tell us about the actors on it and what's sort of like the premise of it.

Okay, the premise is that my husband has walked off and left me for another woman after 34 years.

And I am in my, you know, late 50s and I'm a mother and a grandmother.

I'm taking care of elderly parents, trying to launch children.

And then this is happening like now, what in the world is going to happen to me now?

And I think what Chuck Lori was thinking,

I thought, I didn't want it to be based on my real life because that would be weird.

You know, me and Chuck Morgan are still married.

Yes.

But my fans went crazy.

Y'all, as soon as they told what the premise was, people were going, Chuck Morgan can't deal with her success.

That's what's happened.

Oh, no.

People blurred the line.

My little daddy, who's 85, one of his friends, who is 90, called him and said, I'm so sorry, Jimmy, that Leanne's getting a divorce.

And daddy said, do something.

And I go, Daddy, it's like Beverly Hillbillies.

You know, that was not true.

Right.

Anyway, Chuck Lori just said, Leanne.

because I had a bit in my Netflix special talking about if I had to get out and date again, because I've got a friend who had to date.

And in the Netflix special, I say, or my other friend, when we were talking about dating, she said, I think I could show somebody my left breast.

But anyway,

he said, I think that's a common thing, not just like if somebody got divorced, but starting over.

Yes.

Like, you know, everybody, things happen in life and kicks you in the teeth and everybody has to start over doing something.

If it's another career or whatever, y'all, I've got to tell you, I don't mean to be sappy, but when this blew up and I started getting big tours and all that in my 50s, women would say on social media, like, this has inspired me.

If you can do this, if this can happen to you after all these years, then I can go back to school.

I can start a business.

I've always, I can start a nonprofit.

So my very first tour, the Big Panty tour,

Vanity Fair Panties.

did a thing with me on tour where women could submit what they like if they wanted to see money for a business or to go back to school or whatever.

They gave five women the money to do whatever they wanted to do in midlife to start over again.

That's wonderful.

And so Chuck Lori knew all that.

Leanne, I'm getting choked up.

Yeah.

And I'm telling y'all, I should have gotten a therapist.

When all this started happening to me, it was so much bigger than comedy.

Women would say to me, you got me through a divorce.

I watch you at night.

I'm going through chemo.

I've lost my parents or whatever.

And I would just, it would be so hard to receive that.

I'd think I'm not worthy.

I would think I'm not good enough for these precious people.

I would get out on stage.

I would not even say a word.

They would stand up and blow kisses at me and do a standing ovation before I ever said a word.

And what I think it was is that

I think that my demographic has been ignored.

I think that Hollywood kind of ignores them.

I think that there's no other comedians in my lane.

I hit a niche where it's just a bunch of darling, fun women out in the middle of the United States and their precious husbands in a half zip golf pull up

who just want to talk about normal lives.

So anyway, Chuck Lori just said, I think, Lynn, it would be, we need something in there with conflict.

And you and Chuck have been married all these years.

Y'all are still together.

Your kids are intact.

They're doing well.

You've done a good job, lady.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But he said, we need some, you know, everybody's got to be flawed.

And my, you know, we're flawed, but you know what I mean.

So then he said, I think this premise, and I kind of thought it, I kind of just thought, I don't know about that.

I don't know.

It doesn't feel authentic to me.

And then I, I thought, well, that's crazy.

I don't want it to be based on my real children.

You know, that would be terrible for them.

So we went with it.

And Ron Styles plays my husband who has left me, but he is so lovable in this.

And we wanted him to be, I wanted there to be redemption and forgiveness.

You know, Ryan is so funny, too.

I'm so thankful that you're surrounded by these good people.

I know.

Well, honey, they put a bunch of pros around me because they knew I was, you know, green, didn't know what I was doing.

And I wanted, because I am a church going girl,

and I do Zumba and I've done jazzercise many a time in a Presbyterian gym.

That's right.

So we've got a lot of those kind of scenes that I wanted to be authentic, you know, for like real church scenes.

And so Jama and there's all these women, like there's a book club scene.

But anyway,

it's really based on real life and, you know, some of my comedy, my sensibility.

But I think it's got heart, but I think it's something people can relate to.

But I think it's funny.

I think it's funny and it's different than anything I've ever seen before.

And Leigh Ann, the character Le Ann.

explores the idea of maybe dating again.

Oh, hey.

Can you imagine if you had to?

No, no, no.

Oh, I can't imagine.

No.

So a lot of that.

Yes.

And I feel like if I do get another season, I can be more equipped to be, because I am a writer on it, executive producer.

I feel like I can give more now that I've been through this first rodeo.

And you know what?

All of the firsts are done.

You know, fortune telling you where to stand on the tape.

That's done.

It's like a learning curve and you're getting it.

And it was the same for Jenna and I.

We're all still learning.

And that's that's the thing Jenna and I talk about is that you're never too old to be curious.

Like you don't age out of being curious, you know?

And I think a lot of your stand-up, it does speak to people who are like maybe a little part of them that they dream, they tucked away.

And you're just like, no, no, no, those dreams, they can live and they can come to fruition.

And I just think it's so inspiring.

Thank you, my darling.

Well, and people ask me all the time about all of that.

And I do say, I mean, you have to to take risk.

You have to persevere.

You know, I went through a whole stage during stand-up when it was big Comedy Central.

And that's, I was not what they wanted.

You know, I was a mama with a pair of kitten heels on,

with capris with birds on them.

I tell people I was not Comedy Central.

But you have to persevere, whatever it is that you want to do in your life.

And I also think you only get one time around this world.

Why not give it?

I mean, you know, what's, what do you got to lose?

If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work.

I tell y'all who inspires me.

I'll listen, I'll watch him all the time on Instagram or whatever it comes up on, Steve Harvey.

Steve Harvey talks about being homeless, but you got to jump off that cliff.

There's a bunch of things he talks about, but you got to, if you do take that leap, you are going to get bruised and bloodied and all that.

And there's going to be a bunch of no's and a bunch of, but you're not going to know until you jump off of that.

And one day it's going to work and it's going to go and i just you know i yes i'm 59 i'm worried that i look like i don't have a chin and i'm telling y'all my fanny was pretty big on that screen i i knew i had a big fanny i didn't know it was

i mean i thought you could set a cafeteria tray on my fanny

This is the hard part, I think, about our industry, which is that when you're just at home and you're being a mom and you're taking care of people, you're not like like looking in the mirror all the time.

I remember I went through this big stretch where Angela and I were just podcasting, we're not on camera, it's just our voices.

It was like five years, the pandemic, and then I got this part in Mean Girls, the movie musical.

I sat down in the hair and makeup trailer, and I had not looked at myself in a mirror for 90 minutes straight in five years.

I

couldn't believe what I was looking at.

I was like, what is that vein on my neck?

When, where,

has that been there?

Like, is anyone else worried about it?

I did not know that vein was bulging like that.

Can you cover that with makeup?

I don't know.

Like, every wrinkle, every sag was suddenly like, and I thought, oh, this is.

Yeah, this is because I have not looked in a mirror for a long period of time.

Or if I'm taking a selfie, I just throw a filter on it.

My skincare routine is a filter.

My skincare routine is soap and some oil of allay.

Yeah.

That is my moisturizer.

And it doesn't even have, it's not even regenerous.

It doesn't even have a hydroxy, whatever in it, or the retinol.

It has none of that.

It's like the mildest whatever I got at Walgreens.

That is my moisturizer.

You were going there to get other things.

You know what?

Honestly,

you know what my face cleanser is?

Most of the time, it's leftover baby shampoo because i have run out of whatever cleanser i bought once and now i'm scrounging around under the cabinets in the bathroom and i found some old like honest baby shampoo and that is literally what i'm washing my face with right now and then oil of olay and put your arm as high as it will go when you take that picture if you that's not not high

don't reach to your ear reach well above your head and you take that picture and And then I told you, Leanne, for the picture we took, you just set your chin on your hands.

Oh, that's a good one.

Maybe you should do it.

Wait, Cassie, can you take another one?

Okay, here we go.

One,

two,

three.

Eight.

That was amazing.

See, it's great.

It solves all the problems.

Leanne, we know you've got to go.

You're a busy lady, but we end our interviews with the thing that was on our call sheets.

It's called the call sheet questions.

There's just five questions.

Okay.

Here we go.

Number one, what was your first job in entertainment?

Does the rotary count for that $50 when I dropped my baby off?

It does.

Okay.

The first time really I got paid doing stand up, a little man that owned a sandwich shop who saw me MC for free for somebody in my Sunday school class at the Kiwanis Capers.

Lynn, can you come induce comedy at my sandwich shop and I'll give you the door money and I'll make money off the beer.

That's the first time I ever got paid.

That was my first job in show business.

At the sandwich shop.

At the sandwich shop for Mike, sweet Mike, gave me a shot.

And I was, I still fear that somebody taped it and it'll come out.

Because I got, he goes, can you do an hour?

And I go, oh, yeah.

I got up there and talked out and I'm bunt for an hour.

And it's no telling what I said.

I don't know what I said.

But anyway, that was the first time I got money.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Our second question is, do you speak any other languages or do you play a musical instrument?

No and no.

Now,

I went to a big, little tiny country school that was big in Future Farmers of America and Home Ec.

I do know how to make a bank to Alaska.

But I played basketball and Spanish was during basketball practice.

And they just told me I didn't have to take it because I was tall.

And they didn't have to be.

And they wanted you on that basketball team.

Yeah.

So yeah, I don't have that, but I am going to try to learn the drums.

And Fred Armison from Sarah Night Live is trying to help me learn how to play the drums.

Fred is a close friend of mine.

He is from heaven.

From heaven.

Truly.

And he messaged me and was so precious about, you know, I like your stuff and all that.

It was so sweet.

And I got to meet him and his wife behind the John Mulaney show.

But I said, I'm going to be 60 in October.

Is it too hard for me to learn the drums?

I said, I've always loved Sheila E and Prince, and he's a big Prince fan.

He made a video for me to start like on a pad.

So, hopefully, the next time I'm on with y'all, I can say, Yes, I'm a drummer.

Yes, I love that.

That's

okay.

Next question: What's a place you've been to that you absolutely loved?

Oh my gosh, I go so many places

that I absolutely loved.

Uh, y'all, I've been so many places.

Let me think.

Greece.

There was Mykonos.

That was pretty nifty.

That's the only place I've been over Europe was Greece.

That sounds lovely, though.

I've never been to Greece.

It was the islands and yeah, Mykonos.

It was beautiful and did not look real.

Oh, but I could say Alaska too.

Alaska was beautiful.

It did look real.

You know, it looked like a picture book.

All right.

Next question.

What do you like to do on the weekends?

I like to have these green babies over and cook what they want and let them go down this Costco roller coaster that I bought them.

Costco roller coaster?

Wait, I've seen that.

I have seen that.

You can buy a roller coaster for your backyard.

I've seen clips of that online and I kind of didn't know it was real.

That's real?

Oh, it's like for little kids.

Yeah, it's on like probably a little above your waist.

It's like a little and then your baby.

Yeah, like a train thing.

And they love it.

And it's got a little red car on it.

And my son will push.

And I mean, they will go all the way to the other end of our property and they go nuts and love it.

And I also like to put out right now, you know, it's hotter than Hades.

I just got something from Target probably that I put the hose in and water squirts up and they put on a swim trunks and go and play in that water.

And I like to have toys out there that, you know, like lizards and stuff that they can put in there.

And I also bought them some riding toys for the yard.

So I always have those.

But if I'm not on the road, which most of the time I'm on the road, but if I'm at home, I like to have all my kids there.

I like to go and buy a bunch of good stuff to eat.

And I like to, everybody cook and do and be together.

That's my favorite thing.

And watch these babies play.

I think I can pick out good toys.

Yeah, that sounds wonderful.

And as a grandmother, you know, as a grandmother now, I can, you know, it's like we were on such a budget.

Like they got Christmas and, you know, they had toys, of course.

But now I can like go, I'm going to the Costco to get the roller coaster and everybody kiss my foot.

We're doing it.

We're doing it.

You know what?

You work hard.

You work hard.

You should be able to enjoy that hard work with your family.

Nothing wrong with that.

Nothing wrong with that.

Last question.

What is your favorite midnight snack?

Oh, y'all.

I do love salty and sweet.

Can I say that I would like to start out with something salty?

So I do love a chip.

I don't have a liquor sense of a tortilla chip with cheese dip.

I do like guacamole.

I like salsa, but I do love a cheese dip with a, like a little rotail.

But I've got to finish it off with a dark chocolate with almonds.

And if I'm really lucky, I might have a Cadbury fruit nut bar near.

which I want everybody to have at my funeral.

I've always said to my children for my celebration of life, i want everybody to come in and get a big size canberry fruit nut bar have y'all ever had one you'll lose no

you'll lose you're mine now somebody told me they're better they're made in england if you can get them in canada they don't have all this waxy stuff on them i don't notice the wax i get mine at walgreens if you're jennifer you're going in there to try to get you to get my oil of ale yes go to the candy aisle and get the big bar of canberry fruit nut now that's a milk chocolate i'm a connoisseur of chocolate, but I love that milk chocolate because it's got a fruit and a nut in it.

And just let it melt in your mouth.

You will lose your mind.

I don't know if I should have even told y'all that because I don't want y'all to get hooked on it.

But I do love a sweet and salty and I do love it, it is fun to eat at night and watch a show.

Yeah, have a little treat.

I love it.

Yes.

I think everyone listening needs to go get the Cadbury fruit and nut and watch Leanne on Netflix.

This is it.

We are not sponsored by Cadbury, but you know, feel free to call us.

I know.

We're probably going to sell a lot of fruit and nut bars.

Yeah.

Leanne, this was a joy.

Thank you for making the time.

You're so busy right now.

And just know you got two gals who are just rooting for you.

And we're here for you.

And we cannot wait to just cheer you on.

You angel.

And thank you for getting me through menopause.

Thank you for letting me laugh at that

new thing that is the hot flash

so much.

I laughed so hard.

I sent it to my husband and I was like, babe, look, I feel seen.

Yes.

Oh, my, I'm so glad, Jenna.

And tell me, somebody, is somebody doing your bioidentical hormones?

You got somebody?

I have all the doctors helping me through.

My big thing is acupuncture.

Oh, acupuncture for hot flashes.

Oh, good.

Yeah, it's working.

It's great.

oh wow and a fan that blows on me at night as you know about the fan oh y'all are so yummy and precious and thankful

as y'all weren't giving all us all this joy all this time thank y'all so much i've had a ball thank you so much well we'll be in touch i want to meet you in person sometime leanne i would love that we're gonna go for a walk we'll do a walk and talk next time you're in town walk and talk and maybe even find a church basement zumba church exercise class we could do that there is a Zumba class within walking distance of my house.

Okay.

So I'm just throwing it out there.

Oh my Lord.

Okay, y'all.

So it can happen.

It can happen.

Okay.

I would love that.

Oh, my gosh.

If the three of us walked into that Zumba class, I would just love it.

People would lose their minds, I think.

I mean, how fun is she?

I love her.

And I seriously, I want us to do a Zumba class together.

Lady, I have been wanting to do the Zumba class, and I was going to ask you if you want to do it, but I think the three of us need to do it.

I'm serious.

I want to do Zumba with you and Leanne.

I want to make it happen.

I'm here for it.

Listen, a big thank you to Leanne for joining us on Office Ladies and for helping us laugh at everyday life.

You can catch Leanne on tour right now in her Just Getting Started stand-up show.

We'll put a link in stories for her show dates.

And And of course, check out her new TV show, Leanne, starting July 31st on Netflix.

So listen, everyone, before we go, we are off next Wednesday.

We're going to be revisiting our interview with Billie Eilish, but be sure to tune in on Friday, August 8th for a little surprise.

In fact, every Friday in August, starting August 8th, we're going to have a little something extra for you.

Mm-hmm.

I'd really like to give you a hint, but I can't.

Mm-hmm.

Can I do rhymes with?

Yeah, do rhymes with.

A little bit of Schmaper.

Yeah, it has to do with Schmaper.

Oh, okay, lady, I have to get packed for Chicago and you have a family vacation to get to.

I do.

I'm going to Iceland and I'm going to go to that penis museum.

Oh, I can't wait to hear about that.

All right, everyone.

Thanks for listening.

We hope you have a good one.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.

Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins.

Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico.

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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