#627 - Leanne Morgan

Sebastian Maniscalco's new stand-up special, It Ain't Right, is now streaming on Hulu. Filmed live at the sold-out United Center Arena in Chicago, Sebastian's newest special features his larger-than-life presence and hilarious everyday... observations to keep you laughing. Sebastian goes all in on family chaos, non-existent manners, and life's most relatable and funny moments. Watch Sebastian Maniscalco, It Ain't Right, now streaming on Hulu.

and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. Today's guest is a stand-up comedian. She's an actress. She's a writer. Her new special, Unspeakable Things, is out now on Netflix, as well as her series, Leanne. I had a great time getting to know her and spend time with one of my favorites, Leanne Morgan. No, just my hair. I feel like my hair just got out of the dryer. You ever feel like that? Yeah, but you are stunning.

I don't know if I want to be damn stunned. I'm not stunning. Maybe I'm stunning in like a, like if people are trapped in a mine or something and I walk up like, God damn, who's that model? You know, if people have been trapped in like a mine for like a month. In Kentucky? But no, I think I've always thought you were beautiful. I don't want to be beautiful, Leanne. That's an insane statement to call someone. Yeah, I just want to be a handsome guy. Yeah, guy looks healthy enough, right?

But you've got that beautiful skin tone. Oh, I will take that. Thank you, baby. I know. You don't need a spray tan. Thank you, baby girl. You're welcome. I appreciate that. Good to see what's going on today.

Oh, my darling. I'm so tickled to be here. Thank you for having me. This is my Super Bowl, as the young people say. I mean, I really feel that way. All right. I don't know if you don't know this, but I saw you. Was that on Last Comic Standing in L.A.? Gary Marshall was one of the... Gary Marshall from the department store? Who are you talking about? Gary Marshall that did Laverne and Shirley.

He was one of the judges. Gary Marshall, bring him up. You were a baby, and you did Last Comic Standing. I saw you do a set in L.A. It was on NBC. Okay. Gary Marshall. That was last comic standing, right? April Macy was on there. Yep. Josh Wolfe. She assimilated up fellatio. She did? In her set. She did. You talked about... your little daddy being old when he had you and all that. And I, you killed and I fell in love with you then. Well, you're an angel.

And then I got to see you do a full set at the Hollywood Improv. David Spade was on the show with you. He came out first, and I love him. And then you... I had my daughters with me and we laughed until we were weak. And you did a full plank on a stool for, I don't know, seven minutes. Yeah. And that's part of the ticket cost. I include that.

That ain't extra. Okay. And then we got to meet you and you remember their names. Oh, I do remember that. And there was a bunch of girls that looked maybe like porn girls that were... Wanting to talk to you. Oh, good. Head on high heels and tight britches. God, I'm so lonely. But go on. And they were beautiful girls around you. God I wish they were still here.

But go on. And then all my friends are at Zany's and they always tell me they get to be with you and I don't get to be with you. Because I live in Knoxville or I'm out on the road working like a mule. That's what it is. Or living in Los Angeles. When are you just going to settle down, Leanne? I don't know. I mean, I'm 60. Did you know I turned 60 in October? You are 60? Yes. Gosh, girl. I hate to even say that in front of you. No, it's fine, honey. I didn't even know 60 could be like that.

God, I want to be 60 just for a half hour with you. You know, my God. Thank you, my daughter. You know, I've got two grandbabies. You do? Don't tell me that. Just tell me you're 60. I like that part.

Do you do? Really? Yes. Well, yeah. I mean, congratulations, A, on having a family. Obviously, that's something that's super important to you. Thank you. I met your husband, Chuck. I met him. Was that his name? You met Chuck Morgan where? Yes, I met him. At the frickin...

With Morgan Wall, it was Morgan. Oh, yeah, at the ball game. Yeah. At the ball game. Go Vols. You know I'm a Vol for life. I know you are. I went to the University of Tennessee. Oh, yes, Chuck Morgan was there. That's right. Chuck Morgan was lingering around. We met Peyton Manning.

And he's worried death about Arch. He's having to tend to Arch at Texas, who is beautiful and precious. I know his daddy, Cooper. I know Cooper, but I never met Peyton, so I was tickled about that. And then I know Tony Vitello. We're friends. Oh, he's great.

Is he not darling? I know. He's great. I know that they're all going to miss him over there, but I know that they're all supportive of him. He's just the kind of guy you have to support as he makes those choices. But God, he is just a great guy. There's some great people over there. And yeah, that was fun though. Had you met Morgan before? Yes, honey. Morgan and I. Did a show together. When he got kicked off of The Voice. You told me that. That little thing was mowing. Had mowing equipment. And.

We both got asked to do a charity thing. I think they paid us $200. If they paid us anything, I can't remember. And he sang, and we were in the back, and I promised him a casserole because I thought he was so sweet. And, darling, he goes, I'm going to...

trying to make it in country music. And I thought, how's that little thing going to go? And not that I didn't think he was talented. No, of course. But I thought that's just so sweetie that you would even consider making a casserole for him. Well, he's the age of my children. He's great. And darling. He is great. He does a good job. He's a smart guy.

Yeah. He's a smart guy. He's competitive, and he's really fine-tuned on who he is. Some people, they're willing to be this or that, but not Morgan as this is who I am. I know, and he doesn't care. And that's a good place to be. You know, you don't care. I think it is. You do your own thing. Well, you've been working in comedy for how long have you been doing comedy for? If you don't mind if I ask. Oh, no, I don't mind you, Angel. God. I was.

32, when my baby was 18 months old, the first time I ever opened, I opened at Zaney's. I'd been fooling around like at the Rotary. You know, like I'd... Take a baby to Mom's Day Out, go and do a little something at the Rotary, make $50. And now were you— In East Tennessee. Okay. Yeah. And then I came— What county was that in? Hamlin County. Over in Hamlin? Uh-huh. Okay. And that's where you met Chuck Morgan?

I met him at the University of Tennessee. God, I knew it, huh? And what was he doing over there? Was he loitering or was he enrolled? I was probably the one loitering. Okay. He was enrolled getting a master's, an MBA, and I was trying to finish up an undergraduate that took me several years, Theo, because I... Drank.

I wasn't drinking. You weren't? I was smoking cigarettes with Diet Coke and coffee. Oh, that's fine. And I was not going to class. I was having to flirt with people to get notes. I didn't care. And I wish I'd have cared, but I was doing stuff like that and making out with people. Yeah.

God, yeah. Like Italian boys because I never seen one. Okay, so I was raised like right outside of Nashville in a town of 500 people, a farming community. So everybody was the same. So when I got to UT, I was like, and I, you know, went to the club. Oh, yeah. If you see something new, you got to put your lips on it. Yeah. That's the Hamlin County motto, I think.

But then Chuck Morgan came to get an MBA and then fell in love with me. And was he on a horseback or something when you saw him? Was he on a damn cane torso? What was he on? He was just on a damn big Dotson, wasn't he? Like, I think he's got a long one on him, under him. Is Dotson a dog? Dotson's a dog. I've had a Dotson. Puddin. Puddin? Yeah. She was precious. Why don't you bring up a picture of her? Look up Puddin Dotson. She was a little bitty toy. Little orange.

overweight, had some thyroid issues, loved to cuss UPS trucks, but darling, like another baby to me. That's a beagle. That's my beagle right now. That is beautiful. That's you? Look at that old. Lord, that was a dress from Dillard's from the junior department that was too tight on my back. Theo. Honey, look, baby girl. I know. I used to have shit.

i used to have shoes that weren't mine growing up and i'd have to stuff the edges i might have to put a hand towel around each one of my feet and put them on and go to school look like a damn vaudeville character or something I look like they used to call me Ronald McDonald's son. Lil Ronnie. Here come Lil Ronnie.

Those fucking shoes, dude. It took me seven minutes to get off the bus from going down those steps, dude. Because if I got out ahead of those skis, baby, it was downhill, you know? It was just slope central. You kill me. Louisiana, is that where you were raised? Yeah.

What part of Louisiana? Over in St. Tammany, Paris, Louisiana. Okay, I just did Shreveport in Baton Rouge. Is that over in the Hoop-dee-doo part? Shreveport, and I'll say it out loud, is definitely going downhill.

Which is interesting for a place that's flat land over there. Somehow it finally let it go down. I heard you said something about it when you got on stage. What'd you say? Everybody that looked like a damn missing person, if you meet anybody in the city. The city is vacant. It looks like a movie set.

I know. I mean, the buildings are empty. And they told me, they go, do not leave this hotel. But I love that theater. And they've got a little Elvis museum in it. And Priscilla brought some britches of little... Elvis that you could not get your toe in. He was so tiny. That's beautiful. Bring up a picture of little Elvis. How little did he get? Before he got in bad health, have you ever been to Graceland?

Yes, I have. And you've seen his little, all those jumpsuits and his little waist? He was getting little as he got older. Look, there's little baby Elvis's. Look at little Elvis right there, and they probably had him down.

Singing already, probably 11 months old they got him out there. I know, and his little daddy had written bad chinks just to take care of their family. He couldn't help it. And he had dysplasia. That's how he got the hips going, you know that? No! Yeah, like an Australian shepherd. That's how it happened in the beginning.

He didn't know what he was doing, dude. He wasn't. If you're like, he's a dancer. No, he ain't. Damn, he's just got a loose back. Are you kidding me? Because you know that I'm gullible. You can tell that about me. You can smell it. Honey. Okay. Honey bun. He had dysplasia. Baby girl, I'm not joking with you. Yeah, he had dysplasia. He had a damn fucking loose tailbone, dude. He was missing a couple joists on that thing, and yeah. And he just had that TikTok in him, you know?

Hell, we had an Elvis impersonator in our neighborhood, and he had the same thing. He had a thing, this guy, he broke his leg, right? He had a couple children. He kept them on an electric fence in our neighborhood because they were his prized possessions. And I actually respected that. The rest of the kids in our neighborhood got real... you know you'd be out there and you know the elements would get you you know people smoking or getting in trouble drinking or people catching crows and

Picking bugs off of them and shit. Just fucking loose cannon type stuff. Yeah. But this fella said, well, I got to take care of my kids. I'm going to give me a little electric fence. Right. So we had that thing. And anyway. He kept people out. kept people like kept the kids in

Kept the kids in, because my people had electric fans, and that'll keep you in. You don't want to get buzzed by that thing. Uh-uh, you'll turn into a fucking doorbell for a couple hours, dude. That bitch, if you get hit by that bitch. We really were so born, little country kids, that we would go and just... stand on it to feel something oh god yeah honey oh I remember one time I grabbed it on accident I couldn't fucking close my mouth for fucking four days

I couldn't close my mouth. Were you from farming? You weren't rural, right? I couldn't finish a can of Campbell's around that. For half a week, I couldn't. And it was daylight savings time too, so it was an extra hour I had to do. I was stuck like that. It was horrible. Dude, my sister, she stays. This is where I'm from. My sister and her boyfriend will stay up to watch Daylight Savings Time. I'm like, what in the fuck are y'all doing? They'll stay up to watch.

They like savings time. Yeah, they're like, it's 11.59 again. And then they're like, you know, they think it's great. I'm like, you idiot. It's the one night you get a free hour from God. It's God caring about you finally after all that year. When you feel good and you think, what happened? Oh, I got that extra hour. And they stay up and watch it. I'm like, what are you watching?

But that's who she is. Is she the one that's got the beautiful babies, the boys that I've seen you interview? Those, no, that's my brother has those two little boys. Those are good boys. I'll tell you this. My family makes beautiful children. Beautiful. Thank you. They are beautiful.

And that's why I call you beautiful, Theo, and you need to receive that. Gotcha. Thanks, girl. My best Hugh Houser impersonation, huh? He's skipping right now up 12 South. He knows every one of those girls, and they all love him. Oh, he is just. I met him the night that. He's one of a kind. For free, I came and opened for Lady Antebellum. You did? Uh-huh.

At a thing, at a thing. Not a bridge to home. No. At a charity thing. Under the bridge. At a bridge, yeah. And he was in the bank with his shirt unbuttoned down to his belly button with a fresh spray tan. hair extensions, and we fell in love. And so we've been good friends ever since. And now he's doing stand-up. Oh, he's the female Michael Landon. That's what I call him. He's known in a lot of homoerotic circles as the ginger Michael Landon.

He will fuck your book club up. I know that, dude. Just with his sheer entertainment and volume and attitude. Uh-huh. And then he also can tell you how to do a tablescape. But you asked me when I started doing comedy. I opened for Billy Gardell at Zany's when my baby was 18 months old. She's out there. She's my makeup artist. She's about to turn 28. Tess. And she's beautiful.

Thank you. Thank you. And she's my makeup artist on my television show, and then she tours with me and tells people she's my caregiver now. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, and she doesn't want to be. She wants to date. you know, and meet men. And it's hard with your 60-year-old mother. Well, it's hard once your mother, if your mother goes downhill early, that's what they call it, going downhill early.

Yeah, you turn immediately. And that's how to really, as a parent, I think that's what you want to gauge. You want right when they get out of high school or college, you want to hit that downhill. So they have to take care of you. So they can tend to you. That's how it used to be. They shouldn't get those free ten.

or 12 years of joy into their mid thirties. And that's when you start capping off that you need to catch it. You just, you got to hit it right at the right time. So I like your strategy really. I do like that. Thank you. I thought when I hit it big, I would be younger and thinner, but that's okay. Yeah. Tell me about some of that. So what was that like?

going through because you when do you say you really start to kind of hit it big and also i love your show on netflix that was the thing that i started you and you shared it thank you my darling yeah that's the thing i started watching i was like this is good it reminded me of kind of like a reba in a sense that it's a southern

show they hadn't had a good southern show in a long time because hollywood hates us and so but finally they're like so desperate because they realize that oh we are human at least that we're gonna put this great show on there and they chose you And was that scary doing that? Had you done that before? And then when did your break start to come? Because it kind of came a little bit later than...

Maybe you expected or wanted? Oh, yeah. My break came in my early 50s, and I was just about to quit. Were you really? I was just about to quit. I was working a lot. I had done a dry bar. And my manager at the time said, these Mormon people are doing these specials. And he said, nobody will ever see it. They're going to pay you a couple of thousand dollars.

You're going to fly to Salt Lake City. We'll get some clips out of it where you can do more corporate. I was doing the Chamber of Commerce for Dubuque, Iowa. Oh, God, I love it there. Dubuque's beautiful. You know, Al Capone had a hotel. Yes, in that hotel. I love that place. I know. And beautiful people. There's real pretty people in Dubuque. Iowa is some of the best people in the world. Clear Lake Iowa, have you been there? No.

So good. It's where Buddy Holly and them, where they took off from that plane out of the surf ballroom. Oh, murder. Remember hearing about that? Yes. You can still go there. It's perfectly... You can still go, you can still see the payphone that they all called their family from before they took off out of there. Anyway, not to bring it down, but that is a beautiful.

If you ever get to go, there's a lot of beautiful places in Iowa. But go on. So you were in Dubuque, Iowa. My career was in the toilet. And I thought, okay, I'll go and do this special. I did a bunch of old material that people hadn't seen. I was rusty. I think it sucked. And I did that special, and some things went viral in it.

Um, but I couldn't sell tickets from it. I was getting work from it, but it wasn't the work I wanted. Like, what do you mean? Were you getting, what, uh, pressure washing or what kind of gigs were you getting? Close. Because, dude, I've seen, I've had somebody... Some guy saw me at a comedy club. He's like, man, I love you, dude. I want you to come pressure wash at the house. And I'm like, well, that ain't helping me. He's like, 200 bucks. I was like, I'll be over there.

I'll damn spit really fast on that siding if I have to. I don't own a pressure washing machine. Go on, baby darling, little baby girl. Little corporate things, stuff. They pay you so much, but you got to pay your travel out of it. I'd get in an Uber with a man on marijuana, drive for two hours, and stay at a motel on the side of the road.

think I was going to be murdered. I mean, it just was, it was just not good. And I got very down and I told Chuck Morgan, I said, I'm going to quit and I'm opening up a hardware store. And because I always thought that would be fun. And he said, No, you're crazy. Did he really say that? Yeah, he goes, Leon, that's crazy. It's fine. You're fine. Just keep going. And so I hired these little guys that did social media for me, these young guys who...

Knew how to do all that stuff. I didn't know. And they put out the clip where you showed me in that tight dress from Dillard's from the juniors department. And I did a bit about, and I'd never done it before, I just had taken Chuck Morgan to go see Def Leber and Journey at Thompson Bowling. And everybody looked sick and had plantar fasciitis.

All the people look band. All the band members? All the band members. Oh, yeah. A Def Leppard guy, I think, had a hernia. Way more than Def, yeah. Yeah. Tiny legs. Oh, God, yeah. Thin hair. Anyway, it must have resonated with people, and that went... and I started selling out all over the United States in clubs that would not have had me.

Yeah. Wouldn't even answer your emails. Wouldn't answer. No. And then, or they'd had me in there like, she's sweet. She doesn't get drunk and fight in the parking lot, but we're not having her back. She can't sell tickets. So I started selling out and then I got my first tour and then the big panty tour.

And I was in my early 50s. And you were in your early 50s. Uh-huh. And what was that? Do you remember the first place that you played at that it was sold out at? Oh, gosh. Like first comedy club where you're like, oh, my God. Yeah, probably. Oh, like off the hook?

In Florida's? Yeah. Brian's Club? Yeah. Oh, Captain Brian. Yeah, Captain Brian. Dude, you're on stage and they're just serving shrimp right up between your legs, dude. Big platters of shrimp. I thought it was a seafood restaurant and I thought I'm in the wrong place. It is a seafood restaurant. A lot of clanking.

But I like that stage, and they were darling, and I had them all. Oh, no, it is a seafood restaurant, and you're in the right place. It's both of those things, and that's what's amazing about it. Oh, Captain Brian's done a great job over there of keeping off-the-hook comedy club. That's what it is.

Yeah, in Naples. Or Bricktown in Oklahoma. All these places that had never had me before. But that was the first place that you went. That was one of the first places. Yeah, I was touring for probably 12 years, 13 years out there. Maybe. I don't know if it's probably about that, you know, just getting in there, lucky to be a feature.

hoping you'd finally get to headline hoping you'd hit a bonus you wouldn't so you're at that kind of tap $1,200 a week mark you know and they give you $300 for travel but you had to decide if you were just wanted to drive 18 hours Or spend the $300 to fly over there, you know? Yeah. Dude, hanging my food out. When I remember in Kansas City, I would— It was cold out there, so—

I got my groceries and I would put them in a bag and hang them out the window at night because there wasn't like a fridge in the room. I'd hang them out. I'd get them in the morning, let them thaw out. And then have me a little lunch a few hours later. And yeah, just little things you would figure out over time. But there were some clubs that always, like Brian Dorfman at Zaney's in Nashville, always let me play.

Cap City and Austin. I consider that my home club. Chuck Morgan moved us to San Antonio for his job. So I worked the River Center and Cap City in Austin, and they were really good to me. Wait, in Austin or San Antonio? Oh. San Antonio, the River Center. And then LOL. And then Cap City and Austin believed in me. And I would drive back and forth from San Antonio with little children. I had three babies, three, five, and seven.

And in San Antonio, I'd get up at the Late Show when everybody was high on marijuana at midnight and talk about how somebody doo-dooed on a t-ball field because I was a mama. I was different from all those boys. There was a lot of young boys doing Arnold Schwarzenegger. Anger impersonation. Oh, baby girl. So I stood out, but that's, you know, not a lot of clubs wanted to book me. Yeah. But I got to raise these children. I was raising children in Knoxville, Tennessee and Texas.

And first of all, let me say this beautiful place, Knoxville. And also, I think, I think Knoxville probably best place to see a football game. I think the best place to see an SEC football game. I haven't seen a lot of football games outside of the SEC. But, man, Nealon, there's something special about it.

It is. I just got to go to Ole Miss and see their game. I saw that you were with Lane, and did y'all do hot yoga? Yeah, we did. He's been on a cleanse. I've said horrible things about Lane Kiffin on stage when I have, well, you know, he left us. Yeah.

So I said some crap. Oh, when daddy leaves. But I'm sorry for it now. There we are right now. Because he's doing, he's, you know, he's, he was cute and there was a lot of girls. Well, you can tell I was raised by a single mother too with how I wear that towel.

I'm going to go ahead and say that. That's why. People are like, what are you doing? I'm like, what are you doing? Okay. With your dad. Okay. So you can tell that to who I am. And those are some wonderful ladies there that were training. They were.

I don't know if they were trainers or something. One of them, I think they work at Facebook Marketplace. I don't know. One of them was actually going to buy a cat off a Facebook Marketplace. And I said, honey. She's like, I'm driving to Batesville to get a cat off a Facebook Marketplace. And I said, baby girl.

That's a bad idea. Okay. She said it's a $60 cat. I said, I'll give you $70 right now. Not to go? Yeah, just to get you a little nap or something, you know? Just to watch cats on YouTube and get you a little shut-eye. Oh, my Lord. I hope she made it. Well, I hope she made it too. And, you know, who knows? You know, you can't follow up on everything. But you're so busy. Well, you give them a little bit of advice, you know. If at that point she drives off.

to meet somebody off of the damn Facebook marketplace and a trailer where they're like, well, we're going to add an addition to the trailer. That is when I'm like, do not do it. Anytime, and let me make this speech right now, and I'm going to put my hat on to make this because I don't like my hair today. My God, I need a wife. But what I'm telling you is this, okay?

If you meet someone and they're like, yeah, we got the trailer and then we're going to add on to it. You're like, that, it doesn't work. It's not a realistic project. You can't just add on to a trailer. with extra housing or quick creed or whatever they're using, all type of shit, you know? Did you know that Chuck Morgan is in the mobile home industry? I could imagine it. I didn't know that. And did he put you in one?

Yes, I lived in a double wine. He flipped it and he said to me, we're just going to be there temporarily. And it was big. You could ride a bicycle through it. Oh, yeah. But I was pregnant with my third baby. It was in the middle of nowhere. It was a hard time for me. Was it? There was a mom. that lived behind us. She had a pot-bellied pig. It charged me all the time. It wasn't a big pig, but it was scary, you know, to have a little pig charging you while you're big pregnant.

trying to get up in a double wine when you don't have stamps. Yeah, it's kind of, yeah, definitely, dude. Chuck Morgan owned the business and had stamps sitting out in the field, several, and just forgot to bring stamps home. So I had to pitch two babies up in a double wide, then hike my leg up, being pregnant. I mean, I had tensed that baby. I was pregnant with her. And we lived on, and it was on a gravel road. And he said, I promise you.

I'll make money. Oh yeah, she's got big hands, I saw. So hell yeah, I can imagine that thing. Helping you balance on the way up a little. Oh, no. And then he did. He flipped it. But, yeah, Chuck Morgan still works in the mobile home industry. Oh, dang. And I don't think, I don't know, maybe some people do try to build onto a mobile home, but I get what you're saying. You could put a fire pit out in front. But I don't know.

Do not try to put it inside. That's what I'm saying. Do not do that. That's a thing. My sister was like, we're going to tear down this wall inside. No, you don't need a living room that has a bathroom in it. But no wall. Did you ever live in one? I didn't live in one. We lived in an apartment complex that was sinking. So I remember we'd sit there at night and watch Unsolved Mysteries with mom and stuff. And one part of the fucking apartment...

After about the second episode, once like a full house came on, your fucking bottom was getting wet. Because it was just, the floor was sinking. There was like some... sink in there some sink in the living room um and people would steal or this was the worst part about our place people would steal our the wood from our balcony let's even find that picture i've talked about this before but People were trying to steal the... So people...

There was a balcony up on that top? Yes, there was. And the police were like, well, you have any pictures of it? We're like, officer, you don't think there was a balcony there? What do you think? We just live with a witch or somebody who just travels on just propulsion or something?

Or some woman on her period who can just levitate out like that? He's like, well, we need to see some images or something. And I'm like, it was just, that was a nightmare. But people would steal that and they would use it to build something at their house.

And then we'd go get it back and get it back installed. If my mom was seeing a guy, we'd convince him if he was drunk to go get that wood back. And it'd always be a little bit less of it every time he got it back. It was that sort of deal. Oh. You know? If you are running a small business or even thinking about one, December's a good time to get things lined up for the future. The end of the year shows you what worked and what didn't.

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That's pdsdebt.com slash T-H-E-O, pdsdebt.com slash Theo. Where are you in your family? Are you the baby? no i'm the second one we have four children and i'm the second one so we had a uh yeah older brother two younger sisters what about you i have an older sister you do What's she like? We were a pretty big deal in Adams Tennessee of 500 people. Yeah. You know, we were tall, blonde. I played sports. She twirled.

She twirled. She twirled. She was a major aunt. And boys used to call and breathe into the phone. That's flirting where I'm from. Oh, she's beautiful, huh? Thank you. She was National Simicai Calendar. You're dressed like a damn dish set we had when I was a kid. That was at the Opry. God, that's great. Oh, my Lord. We both have an unrealistic hair color right there. We've both gotten some dimensions since then.

Yeah, a lot of your photos, you kind of look like an Asian woman that's dyed her hair to look American in some ways. Because of my eyes? Do you think my eyes? No, I just feel like you are a beautiful lady. A lot of these pictures, I don't see you in them for some reason, but...

They look great. I'm just saying. And maybe I've seen a lot. I've been on too many sites with Asians on them or something. But go back. I want to talk about your sister for a second. What's her name? Beth. Beth. Oh, she's beautiful. And so what was it like having a sister like her? She was a majorette. you said she was a major rent and you know 5'11 and she was in Miss Tennessee of course she was dude any tall girl they just they will get it all

If you just happen to be fucking tall, I don't care for whatever reason or something. Maybe there wasn't a lot of gravity in the home or whatever. But whatever happened and you got to be tall, they were like, she's beautiful. You remember that? Uh-huh. And we, you know, when you're in, I graduated 42 people. I think she graduated with 20 something. Okay. So easier for her to do well. Yeah.

And, but she was always very, and still is, very prim and proper. And she went to Austin Peay. She was homecoming queen. And she was National Simicai Calendar on the, yeah. And then I went to UT and I was in a mess. Amass. Amass. I was flailing around. Were you dating women too? No. Okay. I mean, no. I love men. Love them. I don't know how weird it got. No, I didn't go through that. Yeah.

And were you knocked up outside of wedlock or not? No. Oh, she did pretty good. But I dropped out and I got married the first time. It wasn't Chuck Morgan. I have a past. Who was it? It was a guy that was older than me. He went to UT. He had already graduated. Well, I think so. I think so. It just didn't work out. He had problems. It was bad. And I don't think he can help it. Oh, my God. I hope he's all right. Is he alive? No. God!

Oh, that's sad. Thank you for telling us about him. Oh, my darling. But, you know, it made me who I am today. It's okay. It's okay. Yeah. And he was a beautiful, talented. He was beautiful. talented and all that, but it was... Bad. And I was dumb and 21. And then we're talking the late 80s. I still probably had some big hair. And were you listening to like any type of music? Annie Lennox. Okay.

Prince, Billy Arnold, Rick James, nasty Rick James. Okay, so you guys were partying a little. I mean, I was dancing and smoking cigarettes, but I was not a drinker. I didn't care about drinking, and I never did drugs because I'm scared of things. That is you, huh? That's me, 17, a junior in high school. Tess looks like you kind of, huh?

Beautiful ladies. Oh, my God. And who is that? Me and my sister. Oh, I thought that was two of the Von Ericks. You ever seen those kids? The wrestlers? Yeah. Bring them up. Yes. Didn't you interview? Kevin Von Erick, we did. After that, I looked him up because it was so fascinating. As children. They were fascinating. They are fascinating. Great guy. But yes, some of that picture, I thought it was two of them.

Well, yeah, we were little, blonde-headed children. And our family owned the little grocery store in our town. Oh, I could easily. Is that all those wrestling boys? Yeah. The daddy sitting there, did he wrestle or? He did. He wrestled too. Where were they raised?

Maybe East Texas. That's Kevin. And their little mama, you can tell she cooked. Oh, definitely. And she tended to them and got them casseroles. She did not have a choice to cook. I can't believe you gave Morgan a casserole. What kind was it? I never got to fix little Morgan. Now, he did take my Maggie, my middle child, on a couple of dates. Oh, that's beautiful. But she said, I think he likes wild girls that like to key cars. Oh, well. And see, my children went to a Christian school.

And we're taught not to. But she said, she thought he was darling. And she said, I think he likes wild. This was a long time ago. He hit it big. He was, you know, he liked girls that like to fight in the yard. Yeah, dude. I could see that. I mean, yes. Yeah, and that's okay. There's pretty girls in Powell. They were all from Powell, Tennessee. Yeah. And he was a baseball player in mode. I get it. A free fight, yeah.

Yeah. And especially if he just mowed the yard. Yeah. Somebody needs to throw down in it. You know, that's what I'm saying. I know. And see, my sister and I and my kid, we don't like to fight. We're not fighters.

No. And I've got a son, 32. He's not a fighter. Y'all are lovers then. We're lovers. I interrupted you though. So he owned a car dealership, you said?

What were you saying before I interrupted you? My little mom and daddy? No, I told you. You were talking about, oh, the two little kids. Go back to them as children. And sorry, I interrupted you and took you on this crazy thing where I compared you to look like. With the wrestlers. Yeah, and I'm very sorry. But now here we have two beautiful children. Yes, that's me and my sister. And I think that was taken in the back of our, I think people could get their picture made in our grocery store.

Oh, I love that. My family owned the little grocery store there. They did? And we're farmers. We have land. We still have farming. In outside of Knoxville? Tobacco farming. In Middleton City, here outside of Nashville. On the Kentucky-Tennessee border near 101st Airborne, Fort Campbell, Clarksville. That's where I was raised. Oh, beautiful. But I went to University of Tennessee and then married a bunch of men up there. So we had grocery store.

And then my little daddy opened a meat processing plant. And he did everybody's beef, deer, and hogs and all that. And did y'all do nuggets too or anything like that? No. God. It's kind of like now these fancy people that do grass-fed. My people were doing that a long time ago. Yeah, well, if they saw a cow eating grass, they'd be like, this thing's a little gay, you know? Like, it was feed-only back then, you know? If you saw some grass, they'd be like, look at this thick bitch having a salad.

It'd be like, it was a different time. I worked at a place called Soup Galore. I worked over there. I love soup. Yeah, enough people didn't love it like you did, I think, because we could not keep a strong clientele in there. Well, it's just hard. And our big thing was, it was supposed to be like the Baskin Robin of soups, right? Yeah. So they were supposed to have 31 soups. And I'm like, dude.

we don't have enough. If everybody came in here and had two bowls of soup, they're like, well, maybe after the game, everybody will come in and have a couple of bowls of soup. I'm like, there's not. There's only like seven parking spots, too. It didn't even make any sense, dude. And I'd be back there just damn stirring like a booyah bass or a fucking split pea. I mean, that shit would sit there. Are there 31 soups is what I'm wondering.

Oh, of course there are. Bring up a list of soups if you don't mind, brother. For the non-believers out here, for the Methodists, as I'll call them, okay? Bring up a list of decent soups. Put that on there. tomato french onion that was an easy when cream of mushroom that was pretty basic we had that butternut squash we didn't do now i've had that a lot as an adult

Do you like that, my darling? Because that's not a go-to for me, butternut squash soup. It's a rich thing. Sometimes I'll be at a place where somebody will invite me to something where you have to have all your clothes on to eat. And hoopty-do, yeah. Okay, first of all, yeah. And there's nowhere to put your gum. So you have to swallow it. Do you get invited to a bunch of nifty things because you're so cute and fun and everybody wants to be with you?

And you're exhausted. Is that basically it? No, I don't think that's true. I do like one thing that was one thing that sometimes is neat. my best friend went to Ole Miss. So I got to go to Ole Miss. It was his birthday, right? So we went up to Ole Miss. And so I'd met Lane Kiffin from podcasting with him. So I got to like take my best friend on like this walk that they do at the beginning of the thing. But if you'll see.

Play that video. And I'll tell you when to pause it in just a second. Okay? Pause it. Right behind me on the right is my best friend. So he loves SEC football. He loves Ole Miss. In fact, I've only supported Ole Miss because he was an Ole Miss guy, and I love him. We've been friends. We're children.

His father convinced me to go do comedy. His father was a Jerry Clower fan and used to put Jerry Clower on the radio and on the CD. Yeah. But little things like that are great. Like I know you're doing... But it's probably similar stuff. I know you're doing the CMAs with Lainey Wilson, right? You're going to...

just guest with her on there for a little bit, which is amazing. Yeah, I get to intro somebody, but I get to be on stage with her for a little while. She and I played each other in Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud. You did? She invited our family to play. And then I did something else with her with CBS. So I love her. And she's the real deal. She's the best. I went and saw her and Ella Langley play not long ago, and that was beautiful.

And Ella Langley, I got to meet her on the Today Show. Beautiful. Oh, yeah. Beautiful. Oh, yeah. Is she dating anybody? Huh? Is she dating anybody? I don't know a thing. I don't know anything. I mean. She's got beautiful bangs and legs. Did you notice that? I know she is a great performer. She is a firecracker. I know that.

She's just a, you know, confident young lady, so talented. She is so talented. But I don't know. I don't know if she, whoever she, whoever, if she's dating somebody, they're a lucky. They are very lucky because she's a doll, a living doll. She was with Riley Green and I got to meet him. He was darn, look. at her. That doll. Oh. Beauty. Beauty.

Blaney's a beauty, too. She'll iron your fucking shirt with her stare, too. Ella will get something done. Where was she raised? Alabama? I think in The Jungle Book. Have you seen that movie? She is, eh? Wild one. And I mean that lovingly. Ella, she knows that. She is from Alabama. Hope Hull, Alabama. Hope Hull, Alabama. I know she just won a couple of Sea-Dos, I think, in a raffle down there. I saw her using them.

They had a raffle down there at the hardware shop, and she won them. I remember my granddaddy, when we were kids, would take us over there. He'd be like, let's go enter the raffles. It's raffle week. You go enter them. And then he'd go over there to the pool hall and smoke, and you have to sit out in his truck or whatever. Yeah. With a couple stuffed animals. I think we were raised similar. A lot of people sitting, smoking out in a truck. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And the men would go cry behind the Winn-Dixie. If things weren't going well, they'd park back there and cry. Oh. Good chicken, though. Yeah, they had great produce. My buddy Robbie Taylor worked over there for a long time. He was a steadfast employee there and went on to create some businesses of his own. But, yeah, we'd go up there and watch a fellow's cry over there. There were people crying outside.

In the back, not out front. If you're crying out front, that's a gay guy. You know what I'm saying? The real man parked and cried in the back. If you were just up there having a little too much trouble getting one of those big bags of ice out of the icebox thing. That's just a fella that's afraid to admit something to his wife. You know? Oh. Okay, I used to go back when I was waiting tables and smoke with the...

Line cooks, they're fun. They'd gotten out of jail, had fun stories. First of all, if you consider the people that work at Winn-Dixie, the line cooks. No, the restaurant that I worked at. Oh, sorry. Oh, those boys, those line cooks that I worked with, pretty fun. criminals, had a ball, wanting to hear what they did. Where was his first job? So this was a restaurant? This was a restaurant. And it was a real place? A real place where I met Chuck Morgan.

When he came to get his MBA and I was finishing up that undergraduate that took me many years. And this is in Knoxville? In Knoxville, Tennessee. The restaurant where everybody wanted to work because it stayed on the wait all day long. You made big money. Oh, I like that. Because, yeah, you seem like a woman that's probably slept the way to the top of a Marie Callender. You know what I'm saying? I'm not judging you. But go on. Anyway, sorry I shouldn't be talking while you're here.

And I'll say this, that place was nice. That fucking pie aquarium they had at the front. That Marie Callender. You know, I've never been in one. Are you talking about a real Marie Callender? There were restaurants. Yeah. Where were they? I've never been in one. No, you know, they had, I think they had one up there towards Missouri. They had one and it was...

I think it was in the same town as they had. You ever play that Lambert's, the Throde Rolls? You ever been in that place? Yes, I think I've been in the Lambert's. Marie Callender's is based out of Mission Viejo, California. Oh, I did not see that coming. Okay, were you living in Los Angeles when I saw you do Last Comic Standing? Were you out there living as a young, young, young, young boy? Because I...

See, I was a little mama out in the middle of nowhere wanting to be with y'all. I mean, I wanted to be one of the cool kids at the comedy store. And where were you at that time? That's when you were working at that restaurant? No, this was... When I started doing Cap City Comedy Club and all that, and then Chuck got promoted, and then we came back to Knoxville where the corporate offices are, and that's when I...

Well, I mean, I worked, but I, you know, nobody cared. Well, honey, I don't even have fucking long socks. Look what I'm wearing. Cute. Very cute. Your ankles look nice. Oh, thank you. I got a spray tan for you. You did? Yeah. Somebody came to my home and did it. That's nice of them. Yeah, but...

Yeah, I wanted to be out at the comedy store and all that. I wanted to be like you. But was there a thing like, what was it like really having the children and you're wanting to do this? Did you have to say like, okay, I can't do it these years. I can't do it this time of year.

Were there times you had to set off or did you not be able to do that? Because I know sometimes it's like you get a week, you're like, that's the week I'm working. You know, I mean, that's how it was for me. Like I didn't have, I had friends for like 12 years that I was out there touring, but.

I didn't see him that much. I was gone. If I met a girl, I'd start to get to know where I was going. I came back in town three weeks later. I didn't remember who she was. I didn't know who I was. It was hard to keep things together. What was that like for you out there? I took any job. I could get. And I tried to stay on stage when I could. And at times I would go on a little tour with like two other female comedians because Blue Collar had blown up. And so do you remember Etta May?

A comedian named Etta May. Yes. I toured with Karen Mills and Etta May, and we called ourselves the Southern Fried Chicks. Oh, yeah. She plays a character. She used to do the Funny Bone in Baton Rouge sometimes. Yeah, and she lived out in L.A. and was in movies and stuff. Wow. I don't know if I ever got to meet her. She's out there working theaters and clubs still. So funny. And who else? Karen Mills, who is a good friend of mine who opens for me when I tour.

Oh, yeah, I got to get to see that at a May. Because I remember, yeah, like, just you see the flyers at the clubs at the Funny Bone, and that's who was coming through. That's back when Baton Rouge had a Funny Bone, and they don't have one anymore. I don't think Louisiana even has a comedy club anymore.

Well, I know in Knoxville there were side splitters, but you would come to the Tennessee Theater when I was working the side splitters. Yeah, by the time I got to Knoxville, I was already doing outside. The Bijou or, yeah, I know you were at the Tennessee Theater. I was outside of clubs. That Tennessee theater is awesome. Beautiful. But I would do, I would work when I could. I did a lot of private things. I did clubs when they'd have me.

And I always had television deals, though, going. That's the thing. Oh, you did? I had Hollywood after me. Well, honey, shush. But they wouldn't make it. I mean, I had big television deals, but they wouldn't make it. They weren't making any of our shit, but at least you had the deal. I did, and that kept me going, you know. I'd get down, and I'd think, well, something must be.

telling me to keep going because I would have a, you know, I'd get a deal with ABC and Warner Brothers and then I had one with Nick at Night and then Sony and then, so the one I had with Chuck Lorre, that was my fifth. For this new show? Uh-huh. And that, I mean. For Leanne? Yeah. And this went, like, he just said, we're doing it. And Netflix said, we'd love for you to do it. Wow. And we got to, I got an unbelievable cast.

Who put your sister in it? Kristen Johnston from Third Rock from the Sun and Righteous Gemstones. Y'all are so good. And she is brilliant. And she had to tell me what all they were saying to me. I didn't know. I go, what is all this? And then Ryan Stiles from Whose Line It Is Anyway, brilliant. Oh, yeah. Celia Weston plays my mother. She played my mother in the only movie I've been in with Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell.

You're cordially invited. She was my mother in that. Blake Clark, who's in all the Adam Sandler movies, plays my dad. Blake Clark plays your dad? Yes. Oh, that's beautiful. And he is darling. He's great. He was in the water. Boy, I thought he passed away. No, honey. He is my daddy. I swear to God, I went to this guy's funeral online during COVID.

Oh, my God. Good to see him alive. And he does great. I mean, he is—man loved this show, and I think it's because of him and Ryan Stiles. And then my love interest on it is Tim Daly from Wings. So I made out with Tim Daly. I never watched Wings. And is he a gay fella or straight? He's straight. He's married to Taya Leone, you know, that beautiful actress. He is? Yes.

He's married to Taya Leone? Yes, they just got married. They've been together for like 14 years. Oh, that's wonderful. She is in my favorite movie ever, Family Man, with Nicolas Cage. Oh, my gosh. Okay, I loved her in Spanglish. With Adam Sandler. Wow. He plays Agent Andrew, my love interest, because my husband...

Ryan Stiles' character, has walked off and left me after 33 years of marriage. You sure he wasn't just looking for something? Do you have any clue? Is there any, has he called or anything? Yeah, he's still around. He is? Yeah, that's, yeah.

That's Blake Clark. We've got two grandbabies together in this. God. And has this, when this started all, like, yeah, what were your, like. I cried every day. I was like, what have I gotten myself into? It was so scary. Yeah, when this finally happened, what was it like? It was like, oh, no. I've got to learn a script every week, and I'm in every scene.

I'd never done that before. I was overwhelmed by that. It's a lot. It's a lot. You got 250 people there staring at you. Darling people that have worked for Chuck Lorre for years. They're counting on you. Yeah, they're counting on you. Not to screw up. And for people that don't know, the show starts off where you just found out that your husband cheated on you. That's where you girls are spending so much time laying in the bed together and kind of just getting through life. I remember that.

We had 16 episodes, and at first Netflix was going to do, because they only do things in 8 or 10 episodes, so they were going to drop 8, and then my new Netflix special dropped... November the 4th, and they were going to drop another 8 this coming spring. And then they got a wild hare and dropped 16 at one time. First time in their history. Wow.

Yeah. So it all got drawn. And it did really well. I'm so thankful. I was scared to death. I thought, is anybody going? Because it's a multicam. And they said to me at Netflix. We think you can bring back the multi-cam. And I'm like, don't put that burden on me. Yeah. And then it did really well. And I think people miss that format. I think people think of it as comfort and comfort food kind of. And people really liked it.

I'm so thankful. On a streamer, you can be a little bit more edgy, right? You're not as locked in as to a lot of the cable laws. What things are allowed on streaming that aren't allowed on cable? Can you find, is there any information on that? Can you look up on? I think Ryan did say SHIT. Can you look that up on perplexity real quick? They wanted to probably cuss a lot more, but, you know, I didn't want it. Streaming services allow certain types of content that cable television cannot.

Correct, right? Streaming platforms often feature uncensored profanity, explicit sexual content, nudity. I was not nude. Okay. Graphic violence and mature themes that would not be allowed on cable channels. There are fewer restrictions.

on the depiction of drugs, controversial political topics, or socially sensitive material in original programming produced for streaming. On streaming, creators are less limited by requirements around content rating or time of broadcast. That apply to cable and especially broadcast TV.

Cool. Examples of content differences. Shows and movies on streaming may include swearing, nudity, sexual situations, and violence without censorship, while cable versions of the same content are often edited or bleeped for language. blur nudity, and cut explicit scenes. I did carry a gun. You did? Well, that's fair. We thought somebody was breaking in. It's a Tennessee state law. You can.

Well, Ryan Stiles said to me, I didn't know how to hold one. And he goes, you know how to hold them, Lynn. You're from Tennessee. I go, we're not just going around. packing guns my people call it packing and I said I mean I know people that have them and hunt but my daddy never did and I don't know how to I think people think in Tennessee it's like the wild west yeah Oh, people think it's shoot them up out here. You know what I'm saying? Like people are just like.

Yeah, if it gets a little weird, you can shoot. But I do like the fact that if somebody thinks they're going to walk into a place and get a little weird, they're going to have to know that there's six or seven men and women. And people, you know, women in the middle who are willing to pop, who are willing to shoot back immediately. I know. Yeah.

There's some bad mama-jamas taking care of business, which I like. The show is great, and people are loving it. What's these new guys on now? Do what? You only have your first season? Yeah, I go out. Are you going to do a second season? Uh-huh. Congratulations. Thank you, my darling. I go out in January and start again. And will Tess go out there with you? Will your daughters go out there? She's about to get her union, so she works on the set.

with me okay and is my my makeup artist and um and also i mean it's just good to have family out there because chuck morgan's still working a big job and i i don't want to be out there by myself it makes me feel better to have You know, one of my children with me. Oh, yeah. My oldest child's married and got my two grandbabies and working. And then my middle child lives in, I told you that at the UT ballgame, the one that went to Chipotle with Morgan Wallen. She lives in New York.

And works for the food bank. She's a nonprofit. She's always worked in nonprofit. And this baby went to school for makeup for television and film in Manhattan. That's beautiful. I know. So I get to, so they get, you know, she takes care of me while I'm out there. Because I need, I can't, I got to.

Learn all this stuff. Honey, you can't just be, yeah, just wandering around just wondering if your bra fits all right all day. Right. You know what I'm saying? You ever been in a tight bra? Yeah. God. What's that like? Bang it. Is it? Bang it. Yeah, I don't want to be so pitiful that I'm like Mariah Carey and like men had to carry me around. But I do, I need people to tend to me now.

I never thought I would get that way, but I mean, I got to learn a lot. And my girlfriends back home, they're like, just drink some wine at night. You got so much on you. I go, I can't drink wine and sweat in the bed all night and not be able to learn a script the next day. I can't be drinking. wake up, yeah, and your mouth is all dried out and stuff. And it makes women's blood vessels expand and you sweat in the night. I hate to even tell you that.

When you get to certain age, it's not girls your age. They're not sweating. I don't know. They might be beginning to sweat. Some people are, yeah. People are losing water. I know that. People are losing water weight. And some are retaining it. Well, people are losing weight, too. I mean, everybody's on those GLPs or whatever, the XPVs or something. The BC, yeah. People are on all that shit. I mean, they busted a lady selling Ozimic outside of a damn vineyard.

vines out there, you know? She was outside of the vineyard vines. Selling it, yeah. Selling dope or selling GLP-1s? Selling Ozempic, baby. Yeah. And all you can do is pray for her. I know. It's hard. Everybody's going through something. Everybody's going through something. Yeah, that's the thing. Coca-Cola. For the big. For the small. The short. And the tall. Peacemakers.

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What was your town like? Was there any lore in your town? Any famous people that came to visit? Was there any... I'm trying to think of something interesting that happened. Honey, there was a demon. Of course. The Bell Witch. The Bell Witch is from your town? Yes.

Oh, my gosh. You've heard of the Bell Witch? We had some ghost hunter children, and I don't know if something happened to them through the church or something. They didn't tell me everything that happened to them. We had two young fellas who were touched by the spirit and out there hunting. The Bell Witch? They went to the bell, which is the only, that is the only time that the government got involved in an investigated witchcraft situation.

Right, honey. That's where I'm from. Oh, those little boys. They look like they love a ghost. Sam and Colby. Yeah, Sam and Colby. Sam and Colby. Great guys. But yeah, so that was your area. That's where I'm from. And I was raised, yes, with a demon. They talked about it all the time. If there was a 4th of July picnic, they put a dummy in a... coffin and said, that's the witch, that's Kate Batts.

So that was big lore around y'all. Oh, yeah. And the Vanderbilt football team fraternities would come down, torment each other, beat the windows out of our church. Everybody had to pass money around. put more windows in the church. Oh, that's an HVAC issue. Graveyard, dogs that had bullet holes that couldn't explain why they're still walking. Crows, she comes in the...

She comes in the form of a black dog, a black crow. Crazy mess. And I was raised in it. Yeah, she just showed up dressed like Chris Robinson. Yeah. It was great. And people come from all over. They still come. And during October is the Bell Witch play, and it's sold out. And I went, my sister got me tickets a couple of years ago, and I sat by a guy that works at Warner Brothers on the pit. Wow. And shrinking. He came to see it. He was drinking?

shrinking with Harrison Ford, that television show. Oh, got it. Shrinking on Apple. Does he... A Warner Brothers executive. I'm sorry. Is it worth going to see that? Yeah. I think if you... Do you want to be around a demon? I don't. But do you want to go? Do you like scary mess? I would like. I know you've got the Holy Spirit and that probably bumps you. I think it doesn't make me feel great, but I do like to go.

over there and just every now and then make sure that the devil's still out and about so i know that the path i'm on is what i'm supposed to be doing right i get that i get that because the devil is at work okay there's a cave you can go in the cave and there's Native American bones. There's animal bones. The witch is in there. People come from all over to go through that cave. I've never been through it. I didn't want to go. And my daddy didn't want me to go in it. Oh, my God.

And what town is that in? That's over in Adams? That's in Adams, Tennessee, on the Kentucky-Tennessee border in Robertson County. Wow. There's been movies written about it, books. See, children that grew up in Tennessee used to have to do a book report on it, but now nobody... I don't think they make them do it. The Bell Witch Cave story is one of America's most famous.

mysterious events experienced by the Bell family in Adams, Tennessee between 1817 and 1821. The haunting began when John Bell, the family patriarch, encountered a bizarre creature resembling a dog with a rabbit's head on the property. A dog with a rabbit's head. I haven't heard that one. It sounds like a hormone issue, but I don't know a lot. See, Batesy must have been beautiful.

And then John- Because what does it say? Betsy? Let me see. Oh, disturbances escalated to eerie- Sorry to interrupt you. No, that's all right, Angel. Disturbances escalated to eerie noises, objects moved by unseen forces, bed sheets pulled away. and this could have just been a pervert, and violence towards the family, especially daughter Betsy Bell, who experienced beatings and fainting spells. Dang. I know the real story. You do know the real story? I do. Then set us straight. Okay.

First of all, let me say that before Nashville became the capital of Tennessee, it was going to be Adams because of our rich, dark-fired tobacco. crops that grow. We grow tobacco for Copenhagen and Skull, but because it was so rich in the land for tobacco. It was going to be the Capitol, but then for some reason they made it Nashville. John Bell ran for president at one time with the Whig Party, so they were a very prominent family. Lucy must have been a beauty. A man came through town.

was in love with her. Lucy or Betsy? Lucy. Okay. Wait, Lucy, wait, Leah, Lucy's the daughter. Betsy was the mom. Okay. John's... Okay. So Lucy, she did not want that man. And so to torment her, he could throw his voice. They said he was a ventriloquist. I know what you're going to do with that. I got like Frank Caliendo. Hey, I'm John Gruden. You need an exorcism, Betsy. Yeah, go on. Hey, Lucy. But they, like, blamed it on a slave, God love him, and it wasn't him.

It was this man. It was never the slave. Every time the slave was like, what did I do? This was a man that could throw his voice. He was a mathematician, a ventriloquist, and he fooled them all. And then. Poisoned John Belen killed him. Oh. And then Lucy didn't know it, and I think Lucy ended up marrying him. That's how it works. That's how it works. Hey, they say shooters shoot.

You know, that's what I'm saying. And women are attracted to twisted. Are they? Yeah. Oh, God. And trauma. And, you know, you want to fix people because we're nurturing. So anyway. And that is the bell witch and the whole thing. And people come, and it's always on the front of USA Today. It's one of the oldest ghost stories. And it's part of Tennessee history, like you said.

But that's what I was raised in. That's what we're known for. Now, maybe they're known kind of for me. Maybe. Oh, yeah. I think so. Me and a witch. I think she's beating me. I think it depends. How many tickets do they sell every year to that event? I sell more. Let's go. Let's just say I sell a few more tickets than the Bell Witch.

They sell quite a few tickets. I ain't bragging. But not, but I'm, you know. Yes, I know you do. I did some small arenas this year. Hell yeah, you did. And I'm just joking. You know that. I know, but that is popular. And you know, people that love ghosts, love ghosts. Oh, yeah. And people are speaking and channeling.

the Beatles and all that kind of crap down there. But I don't like all that. I believe in demons. I don't like all that. Well, you know, this is one thing that we just did talk about when Sam and Colby were here, these ghost hunter children. who i'm not saying were victims of sexual crime and i have no idea i don't know what their lives were like some of that's alleged i'm not saying that i read that somewhere what i am saying is um

That, yeah, they said, well, we talked about how it's just like if you summon something, it'll show up. It's like having faith asking God to show up in your life. If you sit out there and ask for it to come, it'll be there. And that's sometimes why I think the devil's winning because you have people that are spending.

more time summoning the devil than you have people that are sitting here asking God to show up. See, and there's the thing about the bell witch, and growing up, my cousins would do it, and it would scare me to death that they'd go, say her name three times, turn around, and she'll appear. Okay, I was at the Stardome. In Birmingham. In Birmingham. I finally got to do that place. I emailed them. 11, 12 years and then finally.

One day it just came up on the schedule. Now you're going to be at the Stardom. And I bet you killed. I was so excited. Well, I was in the back. You know, they have several little, I guess a little theater and the big theater, a big room. And there was the girl that you've seen and a million posters that go around to comedy clubs and talk to dead people. I mean, she talks to dead people.

And she says in the audience who, you know, your uncle so-and-so's here. She was in the green room at the Stardome. And she said, and she was a doll. And she said, oh, yeah, they're in here right now, dead people. And I thought. Surely to goodness, our sweet Lord would not, if I die, I don't have to be in the green room in a comedy club with a half a bottle of mustard.

With, you know, something on TBS on the TV. Surely I'm not going to be stuck in a green room, you know? Yeah. I don't. Surely he'll let me. Walk somewhere fun. Not where, you know, the pillows don't match on the sofa. That hard-ass sofa in there a lot of times.

God, this, oh, green rooms are crazy. And then sometimes like, this is a green room. I'm like, this is a bathroom. It doesn't have a toilet in it. I'm like, you're like, sometimes the green room is crazy. Sometimes it's just a curtain. People don't like, oh. There's nothing like that. All the clubs over the years are coming up. All the places you go do.

You know? But I think it's like that about everything. You think like backstage then is going to be amazing once you get to certain levels. And then sometimes backstage is you're just hiding behind the edge of the stage waiting to walk out there. You know? It's all exciting. But, um...

It's always just about putting the show on, making sure that it looks good out there. The backstage is never, there's not a lot of money spent backstage. It's kind of dusty. Yeah. But isn't it thrilling though? I've watched you in big places. women yelling and all that. Some of those are men with long hair, but yeah. Those are men that have had sex changes, but happy they're there. We did have a guy pee in a woman's hair one night out there in Colorado.

And we had to give her a free shirt. Because somebody peed in her hair? Yeah. Just drunk and crazy? Or what was it? I don't know. She wanted a hoodie, too. I'm like, baby girl. Chill, okay. You know, the shirts, they're pretty good shirts. I know. Probably $65. Oh, we don't, yeah, we actually sell pretty cheap on the road. You do? Yeah, we don't sell like super.

See, my people don't want a big hot hoodie, but I've got women in menopause and their husbands. I do skew a little bit younger now. Yeah. But I don't know. I love a hoodie, and I think a hoodie's cute. And I can see where one of your hoodies would be, darling. But I got to go with a v-neck. Everybody's sweating. Yeah. Yeah, when you start, the fire starts to have to get out, you know. The heat starts to pop out after a while. And I don't even, somebody does the...

the merch now, it's like a, that's like a ghost. I never see them. I don't know. I know. I can't even get a hold of my own shirt. People are like, can you get me a shirt? I'm like, I don't even, you know, I just go online and order and pay for it. and buy it yeah i can but it is kind of interesting once it you know you get to certain spots and

Or certain parts of your career, if you're fortunate enough to have some of those moments. Yeah, what an exciting ride that you've had. Because did you ever feel like women don't get the appreciation that men did? Did you feel that in comedy? No, I always hear women talk. Talk about that. And I don't know. Everybody was always good to me.

If I didn't get something, I didn't think of it as man-woman kind of thing. I just thought I'm not ready or I'm not edgy enough. Comedy Central was big. I would always audition for stuff, didn't get it, just for laughs, didn't get it. Until later. And I never thought of it as a man-woman thing. I just thought, it's not my time, or I've got to get better.

I don't have that whole man-woman thing. I just don't. Yeah. I mean, I always, I know there's a lot more male comics and all that, but I did not feel anything. Nobody was disrespectful to me or that I didn't deserve something. I just didn't get that. I don't know if people didn't want to bully. Because I'm a mom. I don't know. I have thought that. Some people don't, people are used to seeing men be the jesters, right? And there is something, or I think it used to be more this way.

Because I don't think it's this way anymore. That it used to feel like the jester is supposed to be a male. You don't want to see a woman, you know, it's like you want to, you don't want to see a woman, like, imagine if it's something that's kind of vulgar or something like that. you know, that there's, it's not as popular of a view of women. So I think it took, some of it, I think it took time for the view of that to be more possible.

Does that make any sense? Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. Now it's like, yeah, you're like, oh, that chick's hilarious, you know? But I think there was probably, I could see there being like, you know, a generation or two ago where people were more like, Oh, I can't believe she's saying that. Or I think also they want a woman to be pretty and not making...

faces where she's not as attractive or something. I fought with that, like I wanted to be pretty, but I didn't want to look stupid. And when I was younger. Right. Now, I mean. Whatever we can do. Whatever we can do. And Christian Johnson would say to me, because when I first saw myself on TV, I thought, oh, my gosh, where's my chin? And I need to get a facelift. And, you know, Hollywood and how that does that mess to you. And then.

And she goes, Lynn, think about the funny. Think about Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore. And, you know, instead of just fixating on trying to be. Youthful and the prettiest and all that. And I do think that's wonderful that this happened to me at my age because I don't have that pressure of somebody. I mean, you look at Nikki Glacier's legs. She is stunning. You know, she is a beauty. Oh, yeah. Like a couple of dams. She's got some Charleston shoes on her, baby. Things are nice.

Yes. All these young girls that are, you know, so pretty. And I think, I feel like that even puts more pressure on them. That I don't feel that pressure anymore. I used to feel that pressure. Yeah.

So it really kind of, everything kind of happened at the most perfect time, you feel like? Oh, I know it did. Right. And it's kind of a silly question because it's, to me, it's all on God's time. And what else am I going to do about it? I know. And you think about if, I always think if those television deals have made it, these children.

would not be who they are, my kids. Was there any real tough moments with your kids where they kind of held it against you that that was more of a thing or something like that? No, no. And really, I wasn't, I was not working. I mean, I was working. But I was always there for them, and I never had to hire anybody, that nobody ever resented me for anything. I did miss a few things as they were growing up. But not bad, not bad. I got to be there with them.

And when I did that movie with Reese Witherspoon, she said to me every day on that scene, you got to raise your own children, Lynn. She did. And I did. I just saw her the other day. I just met her first time. Beautiful. Is she not beautiful and smart? Connor. I met her kid, Cullen. She had two boys with her, Cullen. Oh, Tennessee's the baby. Cullen and Tennessee. Those are their names. I just met her the other day.

Yep, beautiful, nice, friendly. We chatted for a little while. Actually, I told her I would check in and just say hey to her. Yeah, I got to say hello, but... She's smart. Ava Deacon in Tennessee. Deacon. You saw Deacon, and I was trying to think of that baby's name, and he's stunning. No, she has two little ones, though. Tennessee's the baby. She had the first two behind that Felipe boy. Okay, Ryan Felipe, yeah. Yeah, and then this baby. I got to meet...

Well, I met all of them. Maybe his friend was there. I thought it was. Oh, I did. He probably had a little friend with him. He might have had a damn friend. And she said he loves living in Nashville. He gets out and plays in the neighborhood and does all that. They were joyful children. I mean, yeah, I met them at the Vanderbilt game.

Yeah, that would be the tough part. I wonder, was it tough balancing any of that? Is it tough? It wasn't tough. I need to tell people. It was not tough because I had Chuck Morgan that was an executive. That made good money. So Chuck could help provide everything. Uh-huh. I didn't have to. I mean, I took horrible gigs. I did horrible gigs like everybody, but I wasn't sleeping in a Ford Festiva. Right.

Yeah, my mother had a Ford Festiva, actually. She did? And we used to have to make jewelry in the trunk in there at night. Making jewelry? We'd sit in there and make little earrings and stuff like that and bracelets and stuff. Well, I sold jewelry when I started.

That's how I got into comedy. Chuck Morgan moved me to Bean Station, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Appalachia Mountains, and I sold jewelry like women sell Mary Kay in Tupperware because I'd had my first baby, and I wanted to stay home with him. And I was supposed to be talking about jewelry in these women's living rooms. And I would, you know, I started some of my first material there talking about breastfeeding or hemorrhoids or whatever. Got laughs.

Women would book me far in advance. And then that gave me the confidence to do comedy club. By the time I got to San Antonio, I had a comedy club. And I did open mic and all that. But I sold jewelry. I wasn't making it in the back of a Ford Festiva, though, my darling. Well, yeah, we would just do it in there because it was quiet in there.

And you need quiet to make jewelry. Yeah, it was just peaceful in there, kind of, you know. We'd go sit out in the car a lot at night, I would. I'd go sleep out there sometimes. My mom had these boxes. She used to deliver cookies. My mom mostly did delivering.

So she was always boxes of some shit at our house. Boxes, that is. Like Little Dambies, or what are we talking? Well, she worked for this cookie company for a while called Vortman Cookies, I remember. And I'd go sleep out there, and that Ford Festival, that bitch would barely go, dude.

That thing probably had about 400 pounds of cookies in that bitch. Car only weighed 80 pounds, dude. Dude, if you drop something near the car, you could pick it up and look under there for it. It was so easy. Look at that car. Yeah, that one right there. Yep, that was it. Ours was gray, though. That thing was small, brother. And my mom could beat all of us while she was driving, play us like a damn drum set in there while she was driving, dude. And my long neck brother hit his Simba last.

But she could pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. We were misbehaving in that little car. But yeah, there was never any peace in the area. But I'd go out there at night sometimes and spend a little bit of time. I'd go lay on those boxes of cookies. They smelled so good. They had gingerbread cookies, too, around Christmas.

I'd go lay on there and just smell that gingerbread and just pretend I lived in England or something. Oh, my darling. I love that. And my mom had a big rug in her room, and it was, uh-uh.

I don't know if it was a cow. I don't know what it was. It was an animal that had died. Real? Yeah. Hide? Real hide. I think it was an animal. Hell, it could have been a damn Doberman. I don't know what it was, but it was big. You know what I'm saying? It was pretty big, and it looked like somebody had milked it.

And you laid on that? I'd lay on that thing and just smell that animal and just think of like being out on like the prairie or something or being like a cowboy or something like that. I remember that. Well, your imagination, honey.

It was fun. But yeah, the damn apartment was sinking and people would steal that wood. I just want to finish the love life here. So Chuck Morgan, you meet him over there in Knoxville. And he walks into where and sees you? At the restaurant that I was working. And what were you doing there working? I was waiting tables and I was standing waiting for my table to get...

And he came through with a training group and he's six foot four. And I said, you're tall as a tree. And he said, sorry. And I thought another butthole's come to work at Grady's. Yeah. And I thought. Stay away from him. He's not fun. And he just would, like, stand next to me, you know, and kind of lurk. And provide shade, you mean. I love how you can't see the positive in it, Leanne. Go on.

And then we would have shift meetings and I'd be eating a baked potato with some sour cream and butter on it. And maybe cheese. And I remember the second thing he said to me was, you don't need to eat all that fat on your baked potato. And I thought, man, what a butthole. I mean, he doesn't need to sit by me. Leave me alone. The next time.

I think I said back there doing catch-ups or something, I said to one of the girls working, I love your Dooney and Burke purse, girl. The next day, he brought me a Dooney and Burke purse and a big box with a bow on it. And then started doing all my side work. And if I had a test, he would say, I'll take your shift. I'll give you the money. And started like pursuing me, wooing me. And see, I had been through a divorce at 23. I was divorced at 20.

Three. Which, how redneck is that? Were you living in a group home? Where were you living? No. Well, I roomed with two boys that were in the basement. I was working behind a clinic counter. Honey, that's a group home. I think it's a halfway house. Go on, though. And they said there's these new apartments opening up. Did y'all have a wreath or not? Wreath or no wreath? No wreath. Yeah.

and they said one of them worked in the shoes and one of them worked in security and they said there's a new apartment complex being uh built in the fort by ut campus if do you lou they call me lou they go do you want to um Share an apartment with us. We'll keep you safe. We'll be in the basement. There's two down below the steps. There were two bedrooms up. We didn't have a fourth roommate. Except one time this little boy moved in there for a little while that wanted to be a weatherman.

He did not have it. Oh yeah. Sometimes that's a gay guy, too. He was gay and darling, and we did each other's hair and had a ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, but... And smoked. 200% chance of sunshine, I'll tell you that, baby. He had a little bitty robe, and he'd walk around in, and he had a big pump.

door and he wanted to do the weather but you know some people just don't have that that the support behind them oh god i don't think he ever got to do the weather but anyway i don't know how he came in the but anyway I took care of these boys. They were dating and doing and...

And I was kind of like, not the mom, I was 23 years old, but I made a good Rotel dip. I liked to make over them. They'd have their girlfriends over. They'd have their guy friends, fraternity boys. And so it was something to help me get. over this divorce and have friends and all that. And it turns out Chuck Morgan was in their fraternity and was in MBA school with one of them.

We made that connection later. But by then, I had been through a horrible divorce. I'd cut all my hair off. I had short hair. Shaved it off? Not shaved, but short. Were you going to join the Air Force, that type of shit? If I had had the guts, yeah. I didn't. I'm sissy. But I didn't want anything to do with men because I was so hurt and all that. And then Chuck Morgan just would not take no for an answer and wooed and wooed and wooed me and bought me gifts and paid my rent.

You know, later now in interviews, he brings it up and acts like he resents it. I had to pay her rent. I go, nobody asked you to. First thing he told me. I had to pay her. He had a damn invoice written up in his phone. He said, I'll email it to you. I said, look, but I'm.

He probably kept that receipt. But did you finally, was there a moment you realized you loved him kind of? Yes, I fell in love with him. And then. But was there a moment you did or just kind of slowly build up? It slowly built because I did not.

I always had trust issues because I had been through something terrible. And I told him, I've been through something terrible. Don't woo me. And he does not take no for an answer because he's a mobile home salesman. Oh, yeah. They've got a lot of testosterone. They're very dominant. And the first thing you tell them is no. Yeah. And they don't take no. They can sell. I mean, he's been successful.

He does not take no for an answer. He still doesn't. Oh, when you're slinging mohos, dude, that shit's fucking, you gotta, you gotta. It's lucrative. You can't give up? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Warren Buffett Company, Berkshire Hathaway. Mm-hmm. Anyway.

Yeah, he would not leave me alone. And then he said, when I get a job after MBA school, we'll get married. And then I was cocktailing. He was bartending by then. And he broke up with me. What? Yeah, he broke up with me for no reason. What? No reason? Well, he said that I smelled from the cigarettes and he could not take anymore. But I don't think that was the main reason I did smell. Marlboro Lines. Oh yeah, they're good. They're good.

Loved them. I wish they were healthy. Yeah, they're good. Anyway, I had just, I don't know what he was going through, but he broke up with me, and then he bought a used mobile home business up in Bean Station, Tennessee, where there's no... women his age. I think that was also a factor. He gets up there, there's women working at the bank, you know, in their 40s. Had a hard time. Okay, so then...

I'm down finishing up my degree. I went to Fort Lauderdale on spring break, got a tan. I was a third wheel with another couple. Don't matter, bitch. The sun hitting everybody. Yeah. And he had never seen me with a tan. By then, I was working behind another counter. I had like four jobs, you know, trying to make it. And he saw me with a tan and then said, can I buy you a pair of tennis shoes? And I was like.

Maybe. And then I took him back. He bought me a pair of Asics. Oh, God. They were nice. They were pretty nice, I thought. They were nice. Yeah. Yeah, and he wanted me back. I'd been dating a long-haired boy that was an artist who was... Poor. Poor. And I do like a man with health insurance. I got to tell you, I like a man that when he takes you to Costco, he buys the toilet paper. He doesn't say, let's split it. Yeah. I don't like that. Yeah.

So this was a long-haired artist, and one of my roommates said, either Lou's got a date or we're being robbed. And he did kind of look like my sister. But anyway, Chuck found out. Sister's good-looking, though. Yeah. He was a pretty guy. He was pretty, but he had a bicycle. He didn't own a car. He could make mayonnaise from scratch, and that was pretty nifty. Oh, my God. And that was considered also a hair. People would put on their hair back then. Remember that?

Yeah. To deep condition. Yeah. Yeah. And he also, I thought about this the other day because it was fall. He made pumpkin cheesecake. He said, I'm going to. This was, Lord, what was this, the early 90s? And he goes, you know what? I think pumpkin, canned pumpkin would be good in a cheesecake. And I remember thinking.

I don't even know what you're saying. Who is this fruit wizard over here? Yeah, who is this fucking Halloween fruit wizard doing that crazy shit? I mean, that was considered damn experimental at the time. I know. He really was, you know, kind of a savant. So then he said to me. He was in over his head at a damn Marie Callender's. I'll tell you that. That's for sure.

And he rode a bicycle, and the bicycle had a sticker on the back of it that said, burn fat, not oil. And I was driving a Toyota Corolla. Ooh, those are nice. Mm-hmm. that my little daddy bought me because I had been driving after a divorce, my granddaddy's Impala that was beige, that...

When I drove through a parking lot, people threw dope out of the window thinking I was the FBI or the police. They'd have one of those lights on the outside of it. Remember those sometimes? You get those police vehicles, people at an auction. That was the big thing in our town, somebody getting them a damn auction vehicle, them bitches.

Go on, though, so. And so the long-haired boy said to me, if we marry, I want to stay home with the children and you be the breadwinner. And I broke up with him that day. And I was like, I don't have any earning potential, and I need somebody who's a hunter and a gatherer. Yeah. Like Chuck Morgan.

I've never had to worry about Chuck Morgan. Whatever happens, if the world's coming to an end, Chuck Morgan will get out there and dig ditches or drive a truck or do whatever. He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He can make it off of Flat Rock. He can make a living off a flat rock. Amen.

Yeah, so we married, and then that's when he took me up into Appalachia's. Because, yeah, once you get something good, you go hide it near the mountain. You got to hide it somewhere if he's a man. So he put you over there. He put me up in those mountains. Bean. Bean Station, Tennessee. Bean Station, Tennessee. Pull that up. I want to see that beautiful joint. And it's beautiful looking at the mountains and the lake, but we didn't have that. We didn't have that kind of view.

Very tiny town. There was an IGA grocery store. I remember those. And I liked it. They were good. And there was a post office and his business was right behind the post office. And he had that business at 27. He bought that business and was running and had employees. Or wash or what was it? Used mobile home refurbishing business. Ooh, I like that. And I worked for him.

few weeks and and we don't work well together and I honest to goodness I know that that helped start my comedy career because I saw things you've never I saw a family drive up in a gremlin with the window out and a nine-year-old smoking a cigarette, looking for a single wide. And they came in the office and the grandmama said, or the baby said, give me a light, mamaw.

She lit her cigarette off of that, her grandmama. She was nine, and I thought, okay, I need to go home. I need to go home, get pregnant. Oh, yeah. Because I can't take this. I mean, it was a lot. Oh, yeah. I want something to come out of, climb out of my body and start smoking. Yeah. But I, yeah, it was, my husband is very.

loving and giving and there would be like if a family didn't have a home there was a little old woman that didn't have a that they wanted a house and he said she said I can make you blankets and so he took a blanket that she would make every few months, and that was her payment. So Chuck Morgan also had a mobile home park and bought all the children their Christmas. He would come home and say, we've got to get a Justin Bieber doll ASAP.

I'd be like, okay. So then Chuck went to work for a big company because he would give everything he had away to everybody. And he still does. He still is very giving and loving. Not to his own family. No. Not at all. He captured you and put you in the heels. Or tells me that I don't need to be flying first class on tour. Because all these boys have these big buses and stuff. These comedians have...

I am in a Mitsubishi rental car. Yeah. This baby and I share a hotel room. I talk about that in this new special on Netflix that dropped. That's the truth. If people watch this. Chuck Morgan wants us to share a hotel room. She's going to be 28 years old. We are sleeping butt to butt in a king. God. Yeah. Oh. And he... prefers us to eat the free continental breakfast. Now, I will say this. The ones at Hampton Inn got better. They did an upgrade about nine years ago.

Yeah. That I respected. You could start to see it. They put like pictures inside of the elevator and I was like, okay. Okay. Okay. And they had that little omelet you could get with cheese in it. That was good. And they started to get that thing.

Waffle maker. Yeah. But then somebody fucking leaves it on. You have to turn it over. It's very hard to use. I watch somebody. You'll see somebody get burned. There's a lot of issues. I wonder if they're still keeping those. But Hampton Inn. But they make a good waffle, those things. They've done a great job. Yeah, yeah. And you know what Hampton Inn's clean, you know? Of course, man. Yeah, those are the days, you know. Well, I'm still in them. I'm still in them.

But, you know, he was not used to this. Like, I didn't make money for years. I mean, I'd make a little bit of money and get my children Santa Claus, get everybody a haircut, not save for taxes. that he'd be real mad, you know, come April. But then when this started happening, you know, he's just not used to it. It takes your family a while to figure out what's happening. The baby knew what was happening because she's out there with me.

He's like, this could end tomorrow. Yeah, he just, yeah. He's just looking at the balance sheet when you guys get home. It's never great, you know. Who spent $60 at a damn Wendy's, you know? And it's just like, well, you know. Uh-huh. Or in an airport, one of those, you know, you got to have some magnesium for stress. Yeah, those kiosks, yeah. And how long have you guys been married now?

It'll be 34 in April. Oh, that's beautiful. And three babies and two grandbabies. And everyone asks, what's the secret to 33 years of marriage? I say it's a lot of praying in the bathtub. It's hard. Tornado prayers kind of. Yeah. It is. It's hard. And you just got to.

Fight the big battles, not the little ones. You know, just let things roll off your back because it's a lot to live with somebody. And it's not easy. It's not easy. And Chuck Morgan and I are both very opposite. He's very introverted. Very anal retentive. Everything's got to be in its place. I'm an artist, Theo. Yeah. My junk drawer is pretty bad. Yes. In my kitchen.

But I've raised these children, and they're fun. He's very well-educated and loves school. If he had been at home with them, I've always said, if he wasn't traveling, they would end up in Harvard with a nervous tick. But they had me. And we went to the zoo. And we went to Dollywood. I didn't let them skips go. But we had a good time. I love that. And they want to be with me now.

Of course they do. You know, they're fun, and they want to be with me. But they're not over—they do great, but they're not—he's an overachiever. Not us. Never enough. Never enough. Driven.

Driven. I realize now I'm kind of driven in my stand-up. I want things to be like the special coming out. I'm worried. I told you at the UT ball game, I'm worried sick. I just, you know, it's just, it's never good enough for me. I don't, you know, I wish I could do it a hundred times more, even though I don't because it'll give me the shingles. I don't want to do it again.

It'll give me the shingles. Unspeakable thing that just came out on Netflix. Congratulations. Your second one. Yes. Thank you, my darling. My second one. And it went to number one on Netflix. And then, you know, in my mind, I'm thinking, oh, nothing else came out that week. Raw Wrestling will be out Monday. That'll knock it out. And then the Squid Games, the little children who were, I don't even know.

know what that is but my okay my television show had to compete with that went to number two that had to compete with those girls that were killing those boars in their panties oh i don't know if i saw that was hunting wives Oh, I haven't seen Honeywell. Is it good? It is kind of, it's nasty. If you like a good nasty, there's some... Lesbian going zone. Oh, I've heard about this. And they're killing boars in their panties.

People are watching Mormon wives right now. I've heard it is fascinating. Shit, I'll take either one of them. I'll take it. I got to get a dang wife. I think I could handle a hunting wife. Whoever made that show, I don't think, cares for Republican people. in Texas because it's about Republican people that are shooting bores in their panties. And that was number one. I never got to number one with my television show because I could not compete with that.

Who could? Who could? Yeah, honey, you got to number two, and that's great. Thank you. I think that's perfect. Thank you. Yeah, that's love. So you got Chuck Morgan. You've had a nice life so far, Leanne. I do. I do, you angel. Lou, they call you Lou. In college, everybody called me Lou in high school. Were you a tomboy kind of? Mm-hmm. And I love sports until I'm, you know.

Then I love boys, and I got real boy crazy, and I still played sports, but I didn't care as much. And then I projected onto my children and made my kids play all these sports because I knew I didn't do as much as I should. I love that, though. You have to do that as a parent. Yeah, they played club volleyball. My girls played all over the United States. Travel. Yeah. Oh, my kids are going to play shit that I never got to do.

whether they wanted or not. Or you look athletic. Did you play ball? I played high school basketball. I smoked also at the same time, but they let me play. I was pretty good for, I was the only kid that would smoke. It was an active smoker. Yeah. Like I remember one time I was out there smoking and one of the assistant coaches was out there smoking. So nobody could say shit. But I was pretty good for somebody out there that had a... That didn't have your full lung capacity. Yeah. Yeah, I was...

Good in spurts. That was my nickname. Good in spurts. Well, they made me play everything because I went to this little bitty tiny country school and I was tall. So I played softball. Yep, the model. Basketball. She's the model. She's basketball, everything. Meet up at her. If we're in a field and people are lost, meet up at her. The tall person always gets all the action. They're the lighthouse of the fucking world when you're tall.

Those are the days, especially in a small community. Yeah. It's a tall one. I miss that, though. I miss, like, I wonder where I'd like to live one day whenever I get a family and stuff, maybe in a small place.

There's small little towns around Middle Tennessee that are darling. Do you think you'd want to stay in Tennessee? I think so, you know. I want to spend time back in Louisiana when I can, but I do. I've enjoyed it here. I miss my home. I miss a lot of the people.

But I go back and see them. Every time I'm home, I spend most of my time home traveling and seeing teachers that taught me when I was a kid. I'm still close with a lot of people from my childhood. You had to have been very smart and bright, and they knew it. I don't know what I was like. Because you're so quick-witted. I do all right, I guess. What was I like? I don't know what I was like. I bet you were a yummy little kid, and they thought that kid's got it, like Elvis and J-Lo.

And Michael Jackson. You know, when somebody's got it, they've got it. And you can't manufacture it. And you have it. Well, that's a sweet thought. But, Theo, it's true, my darling. And then you're bright and you're quick-witted, so they knew you were smart. And then, you know, people are fun back then that used to smoke. That's fun. That's a fun kid. Wrong. Nobody needs to be smoking now. Let's say that. Nobody needs to be smoking now. But it is fun to watch a kid smoke.

You know what I'm saying? When that nine-year-old pulled up in your story to buy that double wide. That's a little girl. That's a little girl. She's getting a discount. We had a smoking porch at my school. Everybody smoked on that porch. I didn't smoke then. I waited until I got to UT, and I started at like 19 because all these girls that were waiting tables and had Louis Vuitton purses. I wanted to be like them.

Of course. And they were like, let's go smoke in the bathroom. Screw that manager. Oh, dude, I remember first time. Yeah, I definitely smoked. And then finally got a little bit of cocaine. And then... Who gave you cocaine? I don't remember. I just remember I'd been... There was cocaine in a little town in Louisiana. Not a lot. Not a lot. Not a lot, but somebody had it. Enough to keep you up. See, I didn't even know what in the world. We didn't know what... There was a couple of boys that...

That they'd be like, they like to do dope. But we stayed away from them. We were scared of them. Because they were all these farming kids that had Future Farmers of America jackets. So we stayed away from that. But we couldn't write a paper either. You know, we weren't ready for college. but we weren't it wasn't a wild it was insulated

from farming people. Oh, yeah. Well, that was more when I got to college. In our town, we never had, yeah, you'd have people smoking. Oh, so it was college. But, yeah, in our town, you did have people smoking, but it was like, we, yeah, we're smoking dope. Yeah, like those kids smoke dope. That's when they would say dope. Dope.

You didn't really see like pills and stuff back then. It would just be people got high on weed and it was kind of an issue. But I don't know. I miss it. I miss just being in our neighborhood. You know, that guy, the Elvis impersonator who put that fence up. Yeah. He had broken his leg. And so somebody said it.

in cement right save money from going to the hospital or whatever so they set that bitch in cement and it must have been fine right seven weeks whatever they take that uh cast off they broke the cast off they broke it with a the hammer was too big that they broke it with and it broke his hip when they beat the are you kidding me no I'm not kidding at all when they hit the thing with the hammer it cracked his hip so now

His shit's rebroken up at his hip. And he ended up getting that kind of tick tock in him like that. And he got into Elvis impersonating, which is so wild. But that helped him when he generated. Well, that's what I'm saying. He was. Yeah.

He was built like it was just about to be noon. You know what I'm saying? He was built like, you know what I'm saying? Another 60 ticks and it was lunch break. You know what I'm saying? He was just a damn pentameter walking around town. That's all he was. He was one of those things where the thing goes back and forth.

you know when you pull the ball and you let it go and then this one goes and it's like that that was him he was just tick tock my gutter right there and he was just cruising around but yeah he had a couple kids kept him in the yard and uh i don't remember what that story was about

kept them in the yard. And that was the electric fence that he got. I don't remember how well that started. All right, let me ask you, how far is St. Francisville? Is that anywhere near where you were raised? That's about two and a half hours from me. You know who it was from there that you're making me think of? John Morgan.

The Raging Cajun. Raging Cajun. I opened for him. You did? I've opened for him. Bring him up. He was a good storyteller, and he still is. And he could get a crowd going. God, he could. Very high energy. John Morgan, the Raging Cajun. Cajun. That was at the Stardome. I opened for him, or featured for him at the Stardome and then in San Antonio. Play a clip of Ezra if we can or just, is he still doing it on one day? Yeah, I think so.

God, there was nobody like him and he had adopted 30 years of being together. You make love and you move on. You get up and you move on. You ask the right questions. You want some nut butters and milk? Well, I ain't gonna like nutta buttons after bustin' them up, boy, I'm gonna tell you about it. With a glass of whole milk, she will. Bitch, I'm at the point in my life where you can ask me, you want to fuck, or you want nutta butter to give me milk? That's whole milk?

I love him, man. He was the best when I was starting out. I mean, he's a great comedian. There's a lot of comedians that people that, you know. that don't get some of the acclaim maybe in some I know do you remember little Mark Ryan Mark Ryan was a good storyteller too that was kind of like him and he was from Louisiana Mark Ryan no I do remember Mark Ryan

A little blonde-headed, yeah, that boy. Oh, wait, you know what? I don't know if I remember him. I worked with him. That's cool. It's hard to know. He yelled a lot. I probably did. He yelled? He yelled. I mean, like, you know, high energy, like John Morgan. Oh, dude, John Morgan. But John Morgan lived in St. Francisville, I believe, and he had a little Asian daughter. They adopted a daughter, I believe. And he had this, he would tell some stories about her. He was, uh...

He's one of the best storytellers that I've ever heard. He kind of reminded me of that Jerry Clower in some ways, you know. But yeah, there he is right there. John. Yeah, he's a sweet guy. He stayed in touch with me. Yeah. Yeah, he was darling. Raging Cajun, John Morgan. Well, one of my good friends owns, I ask you that because one of my friends owns an inn in St. Francisville that is beautiful, and I go there sometimes, and I just didn't realize how...

And I did the shows in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, and I thought, Louisiana is fascinating. People in Louisiana are fun and wild and darling. I had a ball. Which one of the reasons I think there's not a lot of comedy clubs there because you can have just as good a time talking to somebody, anybody. Everybody there is an entertainer. Everybody there is a comedian. Everybody there, they're going to open their mouth and you're going to hear something that's going to make you smile.

or think or question, they're entertaining. It's an entertaining state. It's one of the most... Native states where people are born there that never leave. I think like per capita, it's the number one where people are born that never even leave the state. They're born and then die right there. I think because they just got everything they need over there. You know, it's a special.

place. You're a special person, Leanne Morgan. Thank you so much. You don't need me to vacuum or anything. I feel like I need to do something for you for letting me be on here. Because you're so darling. You know what you can do for me? What? Really honestly? Come back next year, will you?

Oh, my darling. You promise you will? Do you mean it? Yeah, because I've just had so much fun. This has been a gift of my whole life. It's just like, yeah, the past like week, like I went, I did Joe Rogan's podcast yesterday. And it's like, sometimes it's like, you know, it's like. I think sometimes I live in a place where it's like, there's so much of me out there, like just online. And some of this could be like paranoia or ego stuff. I don't know.

But it's still something that I think about sometimes that I just get like, I don't know. I've just felt like nervous the past few weeks. So to be able to sit down in a conversation that is easy and it's fun. You know, Joe is like, he knows a lot of information. So it's like, you're having to learn a lot. And like, sometimes I think I feel like I don't, it's hard for me to like chime in. Cause I don't really know.

about stuff and this is just two people i don't know what a lot and we can just which is what i Love. Oh, you angel. When I watch you, I think, and I'm not blowing smoke up your butthole. When I watch you, I think, oh my gosh. Thank you for that. Also. I think when I launch you, I think he's got the sweetest spirit.

You've got a sweet spirit. Oh, thank you. You really do. And I feel like God gave me that discernment. I know he did. And I've said to John Crist and to Hugh and people that know you, and they go, he's got the sweetest spirit. They think it too. and just so bright. You're such a bright light. When I think of you planking and then talking about those hamster bones, and we were crying.

laughing so hard there's just nobody like you and that's and you know in this business I mean you're just so unique there's just nobody like you and I hope you know that, and you give so much joy. When I told people I was doing this, they said, please tell him hello for me. My stylist, who's from Australia, who dresses Oprah Winfrey.

And Maria Shriver said, I love him. She goes, I would marry him. Everybody wants to have a baby with you. I just want you to know that. I would have carried one for you. I think Chuck would have let me. I was very fertile at one time. I could have done it. I'm very healthy. I'm from farming people. We killed our own beef. I could have done it, and I would have done it because you've got to have some children. You are so beautiful and fun, and your teeth are pretty. Well, thank you.

Yeah, I appreciate it. I want to have kids. I want to have a family and stuff. It's just been like, you know, it's tough. It's like you got to meet the right person. You know, I don't know. I met somebody that was kind of neat the other day. And so that was kind of cool because it made me think like, okay, this is still possible, right? Whether or not that ends up, like if there were ever anything there, like.

because sometimes you start to be like you know you get in this space where just something doesn't kind of click for a long time you know like you meet people when you go on dates and like you have people you just kind of like are flinging with or philandering with but when you're like oh this is the partner that i want

And I think like, are there something about this person just that would keep me interested for a long time? You know, just something about them. I don't know what it is. Maybe they got. You know, it could be a damn mole or something, or they're missing a fucking vertebra or whatever. One of them bitches is off a little, you know what I'm saying? But you want a girl that wants to have babies. Yeah, I would like to have a woman that wants to be a good mother. That's super important to me.

That's hard working. You know, I'd like to have an attractive woman, but that's not the most important thing to her. You know, like, you know, you can be attractive, but if that's the most important thing to you, that's. that's okay, but that's not really what I need. I need somebody, you know, like just like a teammate. But here's the thing. It's like, it's just always hard to figure out. But then once you start trying to figure everything out.

That ruins everything. So you know what? God's made it perfect for me that I got to do all this work. You know, I got to go and do all these fun things and live out like a lot of my dreams, you know? I know. You know. You're living them out. I know. It's crazy. You're living them out. I'm living them out. I could see this. I knew this as a child. Did you know it as a child? No.

I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what it was. You didn't, because I've heard Steve Harvey say... to his teacher when she said what do you want to be when you grow up because i'm going to be on television at 10 and she said no you're not made fun of him all right and then i heard eddie murphy in a um interview on today's show he said i knew i was going to be famous

I feel like in Adams, Tennessee, at nine or ten years old, I thought, is something wrong with me? Because that's all I could think about, is I wanted to be in movies and in television. And I thought, is something wrong because nobody else is talking about this? But I just knew it in my heart. But then, you know, I went to school and got divorced and all this crap. And then this happens to me at this time in my life. But I could see it.

I didn't know it was going to be this unbelievable. It's bigger and sweeter than I ever dreamed of. Yeah. But I could see... I could see this happening for me. And I just wondered if you felt that way. You didn't know? You know, at one time I got voted most likely to either be on TV or succeed. You know what? I loved laughing with my friends. I just loved it. I loved making people laugh.

I just loved it. You know what it was? It made me think that it gave me some sense of worth. You know, it was like. You know, I don't even know if I wanted to be joking around all the time, but I felt like it was the only way that I knew that I had some kind of a value as a kid. If that's kind of crazy, you know, and not to make like a sad thing, but I think it makes sense as a kid. You're like, oh, well, this is.

if i do this thing whatever it is you know if it's a trick if i hide my legs behind my neck whatever you know what i'm saying or do that you know do you know some weird or something or like tuck my eyelids and whatever it is, then like people think it's, you know, I didn't do any of those things, but if I say certain stuff, it's entertaining to people, you know? So I was like, well, I got to just do that, you know?

I don't know. Did I ever see it? I don't think so. I didn't go to a comedy club until I was in college. I didn't really know it existed. I'd seen like Chris Rock and I knew he was very, you know, he was just so. and the way he sounded and just him, you know, but I never felt like I was close to that. I didn't know about Comedy Club. I watched, I would watch, you know, David Letterman and Jay Leno and all that.

But I was more like, I wanted to be like Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett. But I didn't know there was, I thought, I didn't know how to get there. But then I came to the comedy store. Chuck Morgan took me to the comedy store when we were dating. And we came out to L.A. and I said, I want to go on that Hearst. I want to go in there and see where people have been murdered in L.A. That was beautiful. Oh, it was fun. And then I want to go to the comedy store and little Dom Herrera was up there. Oh, yeah.

One of the greats. My heart beat out of my body, and I thought, okay, that's it. I think I can do that, and I want to do that. But I didn't know how. But you just start, and then that's the thing. You know what somebody said one day? They said,

You kind of start this job and then comedy chooses you. It's like, does your life work out enough for it, right? There's so many great comics that, you know, John Morgan might've had to raise his daughters and stuff like that and your, his family. And, you know, he, he, uh. He had a beautiful wife. I'm not sure if they're still married. They are, and she's like a detective or an investigator or something because she was in a documentary about a murder in Louisiana. God, I love that.

And that's every woman's dream. But no, he had a beautiful wife. He just had such a great life that it's like, at a certain point, you're like, well, shit, this life's so great here. You know, I'm not saying, but it's like. Somebody said at a certain point, it kind of chooses you. Can you still do this? You know, I didn't like any commitment. So I didn't like, so that was one thing that was perfect for me. It was like.

Oh, I have a chance to leave. I want to go. If all I can say bye, I want to go. Whatever it is, I have somewhere else I have to be. I don't have to be right here. it's been good. You know, it's given me so many unique things. I mean, now it's like more, it's fun. Cause you get to have like unique experiences and like,

You know, like you go places and they'll let you be on a sideline. Sometimes it feels a bit extravagant for me. And I wish that some of the things, it was a little more normal. Some of the popularity part I do not like about. today. A lot of that's from social media and stuff. I'm not saying boohoo or anything, but some of it's uncomfortable. You know, sometimes you want to just be like in a place where you're sitting there with everybody else, just kind of enjoying the deal, you know?

That's the first time I went on the field was at UT. You did great when you came out there and waved. I was like, she's a pro. Thank you. I was very nervous, and that didn't feel real to me like I deserved to be. I don't know. I just thought, what in the world? What are they doing? I love my school. I don't want anybody to know my GPA. I mean, I barely got out of there, and they're so good to me.

good to me because i'm the only comedian that came out of there and i guess but um but that made me feel special but i thought what am i even

What am I doing? But it was wonderful, and Chuck Morgan enjoyed it and all that. I'm glad he did. And you're inspiring young women to do comedy and inspiring young Southern women. We need that. We need, like... the south to stay alive through storytelling you know it's like we need that i would love to eventually get back to just telling stories from home like just stories from

Growing up and locking it down more and really getting in and writing some tales from growing up. I hope that that's something that's part of my future. you tell the best stories from growing up well I love them and it's something you know it's like but it's like

Yeah, it's just important, and it's so good that you're doing it. And you know one thing I forgot about my wife? I want a funny gal. Some of the funniest girls I think are from Philadelphia and New Jersey. I'll say that flat out. They are funny. They are funny. Oh, Laura Peake. I mean, she's from Tennessee.

She's great. She's married. We got her in. I know. She opened for me a lot. And she would tell me that she'd be out on the road with you. She loved being out there with you. We had so much fun. She's very funny. She's the best. When you have a show in town, you're going to have to invite me. I'm going to...

I think we're going to finish up the end. And here's why. Because I'd rather you come back sometime and we get to do it again. It's been so much fun. Honey, I'll make you a casserole. Yeah, you promised Morgan one. Look, you make me one, I'll give it to Morgan. I'm going to see him tomorrow at Bible study, actually, so. You will see him at Bible study. I think he's going to end up preaching. That little thing. You know, I have no idea. I just know. Yeah.

I don't know. He's an inspiring guy. He's just, he's an interesting, Morgan is, he is him, you know? He is him. Authentic. He is. But you're authentic too, my darling. Yeah, for sure. And y'all are in a Bible study. Is it a Beth Moore? What are y'all studying? I mean, tomorrow I think we're watching a movie, but it is a... it is bible study

That's so sweet, Theobahn. I'm not sure what chapter we're on. I shouldn't even have said that. I'm not in one right now. I used to be in one when I was raising my children, but I'm not in one. And I need to be disciplined to do it on my own. Well, that's when you need the Lord the most. raising those little hench women and men.

but no i'll tell him you said hey and that was fun even just to get to see you guys next to each other when i saw y'all at the game and talking to each other like little moments like that like bring me so much joy when there's like two people that you think are like oh these people are so interesting and they get to meet each other or talk or get to spend time around each other You know, watching stuff like that is fun. All right. Leanne Morgan, Unspeakable Things.

Yeah. It's out now, your second special. It's on Netflix. You guys can go and watch it. And you're going to be touring again at some point? No, you're going to do the second season of your show. I'll do the second, and we'll wrap, I think, in April, and I'll start touring again. If I can come up with another hour, honey, I'm working on that. You'll be fine.

Will I? I think just have Chuck Morgan tell you the truth about yourself. I know. Yeah. It'll hurt, but... Critiquing. Yeah. Critiquing what I eat and if I'm eating too much fat. Lord. He does give me a lot of material. He does. He does. See, that's a blessing. Yeah. I think, yeah, you got so many. And when you marry and have babies.

That's a whole nother. You're going to have to work for another 30 years, honey, because you're going to be so prolific over all that. Really? Oh, yeah. I think that was my best. I'm ready for some of that. I've got to spend more time in prayer, I think, you know. But it's okay. Everything's fine. Everything is wonderful. Look at your skin tone. Thank you. And you got that full out of hair. You didn't have to go over to Turkey. It's so flark this time of year.

You know? I don't know what that is. I'm going to have to call Hugh Houser. Yeah, he will know. Because he'll say to me, would it kill you to tease your hair land? Yeah. Let me get back there. See if he'll put a little conditioner in it. Nothing. Yeah. A root lift. Yeah. Maybe he'll just help me get a root lift. Thank you for having me, you sweet angel from heaven. Oh, my God. You're the best. Leanne Morgan, thank you so much.

much um the pride of Tennessee here she is and uh grateful to spend time with you today go Vols go Vols my darling