<\/p>\n
Most comics are used to getting better with age but not necessarily bigger. Though having just turned 60 years old, one of comedian Leanne Morgan\u2019s funniest jokes about herself is about just how big she\u2019s gotten \u2014not iin terms of her career but her figure. It\u2019s one of the first lines that escapes her mouth in her latest Netflix special, \u201cUnspeakable Things,\u201d which premiered Tuesday. <\/p>\n
After watching herself back on the special that took her to the next level (2023\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Every Woman\u201d), she \u2014 like most people who find themselves on camera in front of the masses for the first time \u2014 couldn\u2019t help but be critical, even in her glow-up era. But despite her lament over not fitting into the typical Hollywood mold, it\u2019s clear that Morgan has certainly changed for the better. As she grabs the mic on a glitzy stage wearing a golden gown to talk about her fluid retention, pearl-clutching strip club antics and watching her husband Chuck Morgan get arrested by highway patrol, her unvarnished style of storytelling shows us why she\u2019s resonating with much of America. There\u2019s just no substitute for a whip-smart Southern woman telling it like it is. <\/p>\n
That charm has resulted in her becoming a top-grossing live act, sitcom star of her show \u201cLeanne,\u201d bestselling author and film actor sharing the screen with Reese Witherspoon in \u201cYou\u2019re Cordially Invited.\u201d But most importantly, it\u2019s kept her funny. Recently Morgan spoke with The Times about finding her footing in comedy after raising a family, airing her loved ones\u2019 dirty laundry on stage and the secret to staying grounded and famous at the same time. <\/p>\n
You\u2019ve had such a long development in your comedy career over 25 years, but was there a pivotal moment in your life when you felt like comedy could be your full-time career?<\/b><\/p>\n
When I got these children raised, and I was in my early 50s is when my career blew up. I mean, this is bigger than anything I ever imagined. I thought I considered it my main thing when my children were 3, 5 and 7 \u2014 and now they\u2019re grown, I\u2019ve got grandbabies. But I went all out from the time I started. I remember telling people that have known me in comedy for 25 years that I\u2019m doing this and I\u2019m going big. And so I always felt in my heart it was going to be big, and then I was going to have my own sitcom. I could see that from the time I was a child. But there were so many years where nobody cared. Comedy Central didn\u2019t want me, I was not, you know, one of the hip comedians \u2026 but I just felt in my heart, even though I was raising my children, which was my No. 1 priority, I\u2019m going big and this is my thing. <\/p>\n
I wish I could have been younger and thinner, but that\u2019s OK, but I just look at it now, and I think, what a blessing, because I got to raise my own children and they are all grown, and they don\u2019t need me like they used to. My youngest went to school in Manhattan for makeup for television and film. When I moved her into college is the day that a bunch of my comedy video clips went viral and I started selling out shows all over the United States. So it could not have been a more perfect plan. Now she travels with me and takes care of me. She says she\u2019s my caregiver, and she didn\u2019t sign up for that, but we are having a ball.<\/p>\n
Given how big you are now, it seems like it would\u2019ve been impossible to give your kids the kind of parenting you gave them before you got famous.<\/b><\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t have and they wouldn\u2019t be who they are. And I\u2019ll tell you this, I wouldn\u2019t have the stories that I have that relate to all these people that feel like I\u2019m speaking to them. Because I do think my audience has kind of been ignored. It\u2019s men and women out in the middle of the United States that have just raised a family, and I talk about everything that they\u2019ve been through, but I went through it too. I think it was the best thing that it didn\u2019t happen until later in life. I\u2019ve got more that people can relate to. Honey, if I\u2019d have been in Hollywood at 30, Lord knows what would have happened to me.<\/p>\n
How do you keep your normal life and Hollywood life separate and what keeps you grounded?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think what keeps me grounded is I\u2019ve still got a husband that says, \u201cDid you leave the garage door open?\u201d And I still wash everybody\u2019s clothes. I\u2019m still out here on the road renting a Mitsubishi rental car. I\u2019m doing the same thing I\u2019ve always been doing. I went down in the lobby and got a complimentary coffee before they started charging at 9 o\u2019clock, because this success just happened to me. And now I just turned 60 in October. I can\u2019t imagine me becoming Hollywood. I love it, don\u2019t get me wrong. I love where I live down there, and I\u2019ll go back in January and start filming. It\u2019s all wonderful and glamorous. But then I just go right back to Knoxville [Tenn.] and buy toys for grandbabies and I start cooking. I\u2019m still the mama, I\u2019m still the grandmama, and they need me, you know?<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think my audience has kind of been ignored,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt\u2019s men and women out in the middle of the United States that have just raised a family, and I talk about everything that they\u2019ve been through, but I went through it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Todd Rosenberg \/ Netflix)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
Did you do anything fun to celebrate your 60th birthday?<\/b><\/p>\n
I went to the beach down in Florida with my husband and my kids and my grandbabies, and we cooked every night and they bought me two grocery store birthday cakes and I stood at the kitchen counter and ate them with a fork. We really had a good time. We walked on the beach every day and I needed that time to rest. But it was really one of the best birthdays I\u2019ve ever had, if not the best. And I was worried about turning 60. I thought, oh, Lord, 60 \u2014 that\u2019s gonna be bad. And then I thought, you know what, I\u2019ve got my health and I\u2019ve had all this success and wonderful things that I get to do.<\/p>\n
Which comedians do you look up to the most?<\/b><\/p>\n
I always loved Jim Gaffigan. I just love how he talks about his kids and family. Always loved Jerry Seinfeld. I\u2019m crazy about Dave Chappelle. Growing up, I loved Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and then of course Jay Leno, David Letterman, Johnny Carson and Roseanne. The first time I saw Roseanne it blew me away. I guess I just love when I see people that are very unique and have their own voice. I used to love watching Ellen DeGeneres when she was first coming on the scene.<\/p>\n
How is your family handling your newfound fame?<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, now everybody\u2019s asking me for Jonas Brothers tickets, which I\u2019m thankful I can get them. Everybody\u2019s enjoying those kind of little perks. But it\u2019s been interesting to watch, because my youngest daughter who is on the road with me, the 27-year-old, has been with me in the crowds in airports and all that. She knew what was happening. I realized that when it was first happening, my other kids and my husband didn\u2019t even understand what was happening. I\u2019d go to the University of Tennessee SEC football game, and I would say to my husband, \u201cChuck, I don\u2019t know if I can walk through this crowd. We\u2019re playing Alabama. I mean, I\u2019m kind of a big deal in Alabama.\u201d And he would say, \u201cOh, good Lord, Leanne, everything\u2019s fine!\u201d And then, of course, he\u2019d walk off, and I\u2019d see the top of his bald head and he would not even be looking at me. And then all these women at that ball game would stop and kiss me in the mouth. I could barely get through that crowd. And then it was somebody at the ball game that happens to be one of my agents in Nashville said, \u201cShe can\u2019t do this, Chuck! She\u2019s going to have somebody walk her through this crowd,\u201d and he was just dumbfounded by it.<\/p>\n
And then to see my grandbabies that are still babies \u2014 they\u2019ll be watching \u201cTrash Truck\u201d or one of the cartoons or something, and they\u2019ll go, \u201cIt\u2019s grandma on the screen!\u201d Of course, they don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing, but it\u2019s been fun. I\u2019ve got the sweetest children in the world, they could do with it or without it. Now, my baby daughter can\u2019t. She\u2019s pretty boujee. My youngest child, the makeup artist, she\u2019s like, \u201cWe cannot get in a regular Uber anymore. We\u2019re gonna have to have the Uber XL.\u201d So she\u2019s getting very spoiled, but we\u2019re still in an Uber!<\/p>\n
One of the greatest parts of the new special is when you air your family\u2019s dirty laundry \u2014 including a bit about your husband getting arrested by <\/b>h<\/b>ighway <\/b>p<\/b>atrol. Do you run that bit by Chuck first before you said <\/b>it<\/b> onstage? <\/b><\/p>\n
Of course, he\u2019s the one who said \u201cWhy don\u2019t you tell them about the time I got arrested!\u201d He likes for me to talk about him \u2014 don\u2019t let him fool you. [My daughter] Tess is worried about getting a man with me saying that she had to scratch her butthole. But she was a baby when that happened. She said, \u201cI\u2019m so glad that you added that I was a baby, mom.\u201d So but, yeah, everybody\u2019s pretty sweet about it.<\/p>\n
What are you most excited to experience in the next phase of your career in 2026?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019m excited to see what\u2019s going to happen with my character on my TV show \u201cLeanne.\u201d I have so many women come up to me and say, I\u2019ve got a divorce after 30 something years, or my husband left me, or I\u2019m starting a whole new job, or whatever. And they go, you don\u2019t know how much that show means to me, and I\u2019ve felt seen, and how much hope that character has given me, and I think that\u2019s so sweet. So I\u2019m excited to see what\u2019s going to happen with her \u2014 because she\u2019s now turned 60, and is a grandmother and a mother. And I want women to know that it\u2019s not over, you know and they can do any career and do anything they want to in life, go back to school, whatever it is, and they\u2019re still desirable. I don\u2019t want women to think nobody wants them, you know? And then I hope I can do more movies. I had a ball on the Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell movie \u201cYou\u2019re Cordially Invited.\u201d Hope I get to do things like that again. And, yeah, I\u2019m excited about the new tour, I just got to come up with this material.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most comics are used to getting better with age but not necessarily bigger. Though having just turned 60 years old, one of comedian Leanne Morgan\u2019s funniest jokes about herself is about just how big she\u2019s gotten \u2014not iin terms of her career but her figure. It\u2019s one of the first lines that escapes her mouth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2137328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2137327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Leanne-Morgans-late-stage-comedy-glow-up-at-60-couldnt-have-come.com2F792F412Fb504940a48a4979457e671e4.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2137327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2137329,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137327\/revisions\/2137329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2137328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2137327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2137327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2137327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}