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With her first streaming special to debut this spring and in the midst of a massive U.S. tour, comic Leanne Morgan is just getting started

Leanne Morgan is on a roll but that’s not the way she’d put it.

“Just workin’ like a mule,” she deadpans.

After years of working the comedy circuit and any corporate event she could find, the former Bean Station resident found herself on the cusp of comedy stardom in the days before the pandemic hit.

“The first tour was so exciting,” she said, adding that social media had helped her find her audience. “We started selling out all over the United States and then COVID hit.”

But a funny thing happened during lockdown, Leanne’s following got bigger.

“In the middle of that everyone was at home, sharing videos and my audience grew,” she said.

As COVID restrictions lifted and venues began to reopen, those sold out dates were rescheduled and more were added, making for a hectic touring schedule as comedians ping-ponged across the country grabbing dates whenever and wherever they could.

“When they opened up all these theaters, they threw us wherever they could put us,” she said. “I’d be in Des Moines, Iowa one night and halfway across the country the next.”

That tour – the Big Panty tour – ended in December as she filmed her first Netflix special.

After a break for Christmas, Leanne went out to California to start prepping new hour of comedy for her next tour.

“By the end of the Big Panty Tour, I was ready to move on,” she explained. “I was in LA all of January working on new material. They’ve only given me six weeks to turn this around. I didn’t sleep for two weeks. I thought ‘Oh My God. My first 45 minutes took me 10 years.”

Morgan builds her set around stories from her life. Some comedians hire joke writers to help build their routine, but for Leanne, that’s not an option.

“I just can’t do that. I talk about my own life and my own kids,” she said. “I don’t write jokes. I’m a storyteller. I think it’s all up to me.”

But the new material came and the Just Getting Started Tour kicked off in late February but like most comedians working with new material, it will change over the course of the tour so that after 100 dates, she’ll have what she needs for the next special and the process can start over again.

“It’s still not all together,” she said. “I’m still working on it. I’ve got the stories, I’ve got the things I want to talk about … I’ve got 100 cities to work this out before I shoot another special.”

While she’s thrilled to be working her new material, she’s almost as excited about the logistics of the new tour, which won’t have her crisscrossing the country one night to the next.

“I’m excited and as far as logistics, I’m thrilled,” she said. “It’s going to be so fun. I’m in the south and the Midwest a lot for the first half of it.”

Then after the Netflix special “I’m Every Woman” drops April 11, she hopes it will help her reach her audience in places like the Pacific Northwest.

“I think they are ignored by Hollywood,” she said. “Women that have had their children, we all feel invisible, nobody cares. I think that’s why all this blew up for me. They love me and want me to do well and they are rooting for me.

“My fans are so precious to me. They root for me. It’s more than comedy. It’s like a bunch of best friends.”

That fan based has raised Morgan’s profile considerably. She spent a lot of years launching her career at corporate events and juggling one television development deal after another that never seemed to pay off.

Now, in addition to her first Netflix special, a role in a movie this spring and a book scheduled for a 2024 release, she’s selling out massive venues and working major gigs.

In addition the playing the legendary Ryman Theatre and Nashville, again, she’s got a pair of shows in Knoxville at the Civic Coliseum, the facility only huge comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan and Kathleen Madigan work.

This will be her first time in the Coliseum as a performer.

“I’ve seen the Ice Bears there once,” the Middle Tennessee native said. “Live entertainment is where it’s at right now. I was at the Ryman, first show to kick off the Big Panty Tour and I watched myself do my own act – I was out of my own body. I knew what the Ryman and the Grand Old Opry meant. There was a presence there that I haven’t felt anywhere else.”

Morgan worked the Opry, serving as emcee for the tribute for beloved actor and comedian Leslie Jordan – who also experienced a massive popularity surge during the pandemic. The acts that evening included Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder, The Brothers Osborne and Maren Morris as well as Jordan’s acting and comedy friends like Mayim Bialik, Cheyenne Jackson, Jim Parsons and Margaret Cho.

“Being raised on Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff and Hank Williams Sr., I understand the heaviness of working the Opry,” she said.

Morgan will make her film debut April 28 when “Sun Moon” opens. It’s a film about a wedding and she plays a very judgmental woman in the church.

Again, she drew from her life.

“I know people like that,” she said.

“I had a deal with Sony television for a sitcom development deal and the producer who is over the affirmation arm of Sony asked me if I wanted to be in this movie,” she said. “I was scared out of my mind – never taken an acting class. I tried to do the best I could. I had a good time.”

Leanne will be joined on tour by an old friend from the early days, fellow Tennessean Karen Mills – from the Southern Chicks days – will open on the Just Getting Started Tour.

“She’s a big support to me, a very close friend to me and my family and my children,” she said. “She’s so fun and so easy to travel with. She’s a confidant. I’m thankful she’s willing to do it.”

She’s also incredibly dedicated.

Leanne explained Karen was in a serious car accident before a show in which she broke her neck but demanded to call from the ambulance to get someone to tell Leanne she’d need a new opener.

“She is the toughest little thing,” Leanne added. “They were like ‘Ma’am you’re shouldn’t be on your phone right now.’”

Asked what she’d say to her fans in East Tennessee where she got her start, Morgan said she wouldn’t have the career she has today if it wasn’t for the people of East Tennessee.

“Tell everybody in East Tennessee that they have kept me in this,” she said. “When nobody else cared people in East Tennessee always supported me. They have kept me going. I appreciate it and receive and give them all the credit.”

Morgan’s Netflix special debuts April 11. Her Knoxville shows are April 15 and 16 but the show on the 15th has sold out.