Leanne Morgan is Back
And she’s upsized, from Lexington Opera House to Rupp Arena
The last time Leanne Morgan performed in Lexington, she played two nights at the Lexington Opera House, and filmed her first (self-financed) Netflix special, “I’m Every Woman.”
The special immediately hit Netflix’s Top 10 and quickly became one of the most popular specials on the platform — following a clean family path similar to that of fellow Tennessean, Nate Bargatze.
Having spent decades raising three children in Tennessee, Morgan did not have the option of following the typical path to mainstream comedy success. Paying dues at Mitzi Shore’s The Comedy Club or NYC’s Catch a Rising Star — hoping to go up as a walk-on at 2 am — wasn’t logistically feasible for a young mom living in the south.
She wasn’t likely to encounter Judd Apatow at the Piggly Wiggly and be offered an HBO series like ‘Girls’ or ‘Crashing.’
So she charted a different path, one that began by telling funny stories at MLM parties where she’d sell jewelry, and new fans would go on to “book” her for another jewelry party, or a corporate luncheon, or a church basement, encouraging her to “come, and do your little thing.”
Morgan, a happily married empty nester with two beagles, is now spinning her life story into a hit comedy tour, and a new book to be released in September.
Currently on another 100-city tour, Morgan will upsize to Rupp Arena on her upcoming October visit.
“At the pace these new shows are being added,” Morgan says, “I’m going to run out of spray tanner by January!”
At home in Tennessee, she enjoys Costco runs, along with cooking and stocking the fridges of her extended family. If a podcaster so much as mentions that their children are attending college anywhere on the east coast, she’s likely to volunteer to feed and shelter them, just in case they want to “eat fried chicken and sleep in a bed.”
She mourns local losses on stage, whispering her grief, “the J. Crew has shut down in Knoxville,” and celebrates the wins, laughing, rejecting granny dresses and acknolwedging, “for 58, I think I’ve still got my arms.” She’s willing to go sleeveless.
She says “I named my second tour ‘Just Getting Started’ because I’m a 58-year-old mother and grandmother who’s having the time of my life. This is a dream come true. I truly feel like I am in the prime of my life.”
Morgan will perform at Rupp Arena on Oct 5. Her new book, ‘What in the World,’ is on stands in September. She will appear in the new Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell movie, ‘You’re Cordially Invited,’ later this year,
This article appears on page 18 of the September 2024 print edition of Ace.
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