'Leanne': Leanne Morgan brings menopause, heartbreak and big laughs to her Netflix sitcom

Yahoo

4 days ago

The famed comedian takes her great storytelling into her new show with Kristen Johnston
Comedian Leanne Morgan brought back the multi-camera sitcom with the release of her new show Leanne on Netflix, working with veterans Kristen Johnston, Ryan Stiles, Blake Clark and Celia Weston. Morgan's stand-up comedy proved that she's a fantastic storyteller, particularly about her family, all done with Southern charm, and Leanne feels like an extension of what fans already love about the star.
Morgan plays the title character who's trying to cope with her new life after her husband of 33 years, Bill (Stile), left her for a younger woman. The person who proves to be her biggest ally, her rock during this time is her sister Carol (Johnston), who's already been through two divorces.
You also have Leanne's son Tyler (Graham Rogers), the father of Leanne's grandchild, who works for his father, and her daughter Josie (Hannah Pilkes), who's the rebel child to Tyler's "golden boy" status. Leanne's parents, Margaret (Weston) and John (Blark) are a hysterical duo, but a bit more traditional when it comes to their initial thoughts about Leanne and Bill's divorce.
"It had always been my dream, and I'd had deals before, but they didn't make it, and then when Chuck Lorre came to me, ... it went so fast. ... Casting and everything just fell into place. It was meant to be," Morgan told Yahoo Canada.
"Every Monday, at the start of the week, she would come in and be like, 'I can't, there's so much to remember. I can't do it. This is going to be a failure.' And then by Friday, the audience would get there and ... she was just the pro," Johnston added.
"And finally, after a couple weeks, every Monday, I'm like, 'Shut up. You've already said it. You're going to be perfect, because you are!'"
But as Morgan described, Johnston had two jobs on the show, to play Carol and to "coach" her through the process of making a sitcom.
"She helped me so much, because I didn't know the terminology. I didn't know anything," Morgan said. "Then I got settled into it and I want to keep doing it. ... It felt like home by the end of it."
Menopause and sisterhood
At 59 years old Morgan, who's also the co-creator and an executive producer on the series, really leans into the fact that Leanne is a woman in her late 50s having to reevaluate her life. That includes a particularly notable episode where, as Leanne starts dating, specifically Tim Dally's character Andrew, her menopause gets in the way as she has a hot flash in the middle of their date.
"It wasn't hard, because I have gone through menopause and I have sweat and wake up in the middle of the night, and Chuck Morgan, my husband, has said, 'What is that?' And I go, 'Touch this!' And he's like, 'Ew!" Morgan said. "So that is all real and that came from an authentic place honey, because I have been through a rough menopause. Now I haven't had to date, thank the Lord, because that would be, ... I can't imagine. A jungle."
But at the heart of show is the relationship between Leanne and Carol, with Morgan and Johnston being a particularly effective comedy pair. Johnston highlighted that a lot of it was informed by the off screen relationship between the stars.
"Another thing that's so great about this writing team is they picked up on all that, and I think they bring that into the relationships," Johnston said.
"I don't think there were like 30 scenes set in Leanne's bed between us until we started. They started realizing how great those scenes worked. ... A great writer watches the dynamic and builds on it, and takes what works. And I think our relationship definitely bled into the show a lot."
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