Leanne Morgan's Netflix Success Story Is Sweeter Than She Ever Imagined
Morgan doesn't just star in the 16-episode comedy; she's also a co-creator, executive producer, and writer alongside sitcom legend Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and The Kominsky Method) and Susan McMartin (Mom, Two and a Half Men). Leanne has only been streaming on Netflix for a few hours, but it's already a huge hit with critics and fans alike.
The fact that it's holding its own against a slew of steamy, scandalous shows proves that audiences are ready to harken back to the nostalgia of the PG-rated classic sitcoms of yesteryear that offer a few laughs and the promise that everything will work out in the end.
In the eponymous hit TV show, Morgan portrays a woman who is forced to start over a little later in life, mid-menopause, hot flashes and all, after her husband of over three decades leaves her for another, younger woman. Though this laugh-out-loud comedy is based on one of the worst betrayals a person can experience, Morgan and the cast bring heart and hope to every scene.
Morgan's dreams were decades in the making and took longer than she'd anticipated, and at one point, she told me, she'd all but given up hope that they ever would.
In our first conversation a few months back, during filming on the famous Friends soundstage on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California, she recalled a conversation she'd had with her husband, whom she refers to as Chuck Morgan because she has a few Chucks in her life.
We picked up the conversation again in a sit-down interview with her co-star, two-time Emmy winner Kristen Johnston, who portrays her wise-cracking, ball-busting sister Carol in the series.
Morgan reflected on feeling frustrated and defeated after 20 years of doing stand-up comedy, life as an empty-nester after her three children left home, and the disheartening feeling that perhaps she'd peaked. She felt, as she explained, 'Done for.'
'Things were just not going well. I was working all the time, but it wasn't the kind of work I wanted, and it wasn't like the people that I admired, like Jim Gaffigan and Jerry Seinfeld. And I remember crying to my husband and saying, 'I don't think it's going to happen.' All those years, I had so much hope and had persevered, but I thought, 'This is getting to be too much.' And then I told him I wanted to open up a hardware store,' she laughed. 'And he said, 'You're crazy.''
This was one of those pivotal, make-it-or-break-it moments in her life, but Morgan decided to try something new: She hired a social media team. 'Things blew up, and I got my first tour,' she explained, referring to her 'I'm Every Woman' tour, which led to her first Netflix stand-up comedy special, which is how Lorre discovered her.
Now on her second comedy tour entitled 'Just Getting Started,' Morgan credits the streamer with catapulting her success to the next level. 'Netflix believed in me; it was the stamp that said, 'She's legit.' It was the best thing that ever happened to me. And then Chuck Lorre found me because of that special. And then, look at this…bigger and sweeter and better than anything I ever imagined. And this was my dream from the time I was a child. It happened when it was supposed to happen and how it was supposed to happen. That's how I feel anyway.'
She sat alongside Johnston in the interview, and it was as if they'd been lifelong friends, but they confirmed that they were introduced by Lorre and McMartin for the show.
Theirs is a kismet relationship; they finish one another's sentences and laugh constantly. They even showed up in similar pink blouses, insisting that it wasn't planned. Their chemistry is real, palpable, and translates on camera into what McMartin described in a phone interview as a modern-day version of Lucille Ball and Ethel Mertz.
'I feel like I've known her my whole life for real,' said Johnston. The 3rd Rock from the Sun star added, 'She feels like a sister to me. She really does.' Morgan concurred.
Though Morgan is known for her likability, relatability, and comedic chops, she also had to get into her character's pain after betrayal while simultaneously remaining funny. And because she's happily married in real life, she had to imagine what her character was going through. 'It was a lot. And there were dramatic scenes, and I had to think, 'What would I feel like if this really happened to me?' But as a comedian, I've always made light of bad things.'
'That's how we survived, right?' added Johnston. 'Life is hard. It's your survival instinct kicking in, and you're just like, 'Well, everything's horrible. Might as well laugh.''
Truth lives in the core of good comedy, and of that betrayal at the heart of Leanne, that gutting feeling is as relatable as any, explained Johnston. 'Everybody knows what betrayal feels like; it doesn't even have to be a romantic relationship. I mean, you know, betrayal happens.'
Johnston, who worked with Lorre, McMartin, and Nick Bakay on the hit sitcom Mom, said when Lorre called her for this project, she immediately watched Morgan's Netflix stand-up special. She admitted she hadn't heard of Morgan at the time. 'I'm not a stand-up person, but apparently, everyone else on earth had heard of her. I watched the first few minutes and became obsessed. I mean, obsessed.' Johnston called Lorre back and signed on instantly.
Nuggets of wisdom are cleverly interwoven into Morgan's jokes, and when asked for guidance for anyone watching who might be feeling as despondent about their lives as she once felt about her career, she had some sage advice indeed.
'I had people tell me, 'Oh, you can't afford these social media people.' I knew that was what comedians that I admired were doing,' Morgan explained, adding that she wasn't making a lot of money doing stand-up at the time. 'If I made money, I would buy these kids a haircut and uniforms and that kind of thing. I'd never invested in myself like I should have. And that's what I did. That changed it, that turned everything around. And I just would tell women or anybody, if it's in your gut, you know what needs to be done. You feel this, you know what your gifts are. Keep going. Don't give up. It's never too late.'
Johnston pointed out how life and fortune can change on a whim. 'That's the whole thing about this business. A million times I've been like, 'I'm out. I'm so over it!' But then the next day, Chuck Lorre calls you! You just never know.'
Morgan's story is proof that women get better with age and that we're not in our prime in our twenties and thirties. Her character, Leanne, realizes this, but she has to get through the heartbreak of her husband leaving her to get there. Thankfully, she has her sidekick ride-or-die sister by her side.
Morgan said she knows women who have gone through the same fate as her character. 'They don't feel like anyone will ever desire them again,' she said, describing the dilemma of many stay-at-home moms who may want to restart their careers and lives.
Lorre, who got McMartin and Nick Bakay on board, described his experience watching Morgan's Netflix comedy special. 'She has a truly singular, unique, original, comedic voice. A PG voice, which I thought was also remarkable because, left alone, I have a foul mouth. I appreciate that. I can respect that. And here's a woman who is generating this extraordinary comedy that you can watch with the whole family. You don't have to send anybody out of the room. No one's going to be insulted or appalled at the imagery of the language, and it's brilliant. We're a part of a big Leanne moment; her reach is explosive. It's such a fragile job to stand up on a stage with a microphone and tell the truth, as you know it, to a room full of people. It's a courageous act.'
Leanne is a story about beginning again, a theme Lorre says is universal. 'Everyone deals with starting over at some point or other, or many points in their lives. It requires courage and faith.'
Morgan had one more piece of advice when it comes to handling heartache. 'My mama would bring us brownies and bacon in the bed, and my daddy, I remember when somebody broke up with me, and I was listening to Michael Jackson, and he came and sat on my bed and cried with me 'cause he's very sensitive. He's got two daughters. You just take to the bed.'
'So, we took to the bed together,' added Johnston, finishing Morgan's thought. That's what sisters do.
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