LOS ANGELES — Most comics are used to getting better with age but not necessarily bigger. Though having just turned 60 years old, one of comedian Leanne Morgan’s funniest jokes about herself is about just how big she’s gotten — not in terms of her career but her figure. It’s one of the first lines that escapes her mouth in her latest Netflix special, “Unspeakable Things,” which premiered Tuesday, Nov. 4.

After watching herself back on the special that took her to the next level (2023’s “I’m Every Woman”), she — like most people who find themselves on camera in front of the masses for the first time — couldn’t help but be critical, even in her glow-up era. But despite her lament over not fitting into the typical Hollywood mold, it’s clear that Morgan’s life and career have certainly changed for the better. As she grabs the mic on a glitzy stage wearing a golden gown to talk about her fluid retention, pearl-clutching strip club antics and watching her husband Chuck Morgan get arrested by highway patrol, her unvarnished style of storytelling shows us why she’s resonating with much of America. There’s just no substitute for a whip-smart Southern woman telling it like it is.

That charm has resulted in her becoming a top-grossing live act, sitcom star of her show “Leanne,” bestselling author and film actor sharing the screen with Reese Witherspoon in “You’re Cordially Invited.” But most importantly, it’s kept her funny. Recently Morgan spoke with The Times about finding her footing in comedy after raising a family, airing her loved ones’ dirty laundry on stage and the secret to staying grounded and famous at the same time.

Q:You’ve had such a long development in your comedy career over 25 years, but was there a pivotal moment in your life when you felt like comedy could be your full-time career?

A: When I got these children raised, and I was in my early 50s is when my career blew up. I mean, this is bigger than anything I ever imagined. I thought I considered it my main thing when my children were 3, 5 and 7 — and now they’re grown, I’ve got grandbabies. But I went all out from the time I started. I remember telling people that have known me in comedy for 25 years that I’m doing this and I’m going big. And so I always felt in my heart it was going to be big, and then I was going to have my own sitcom. I could see that from the time I was a child. But there were so many years where nobody cared. Comedy Central didn’t want me, I was not, you know, one of the hip comedians … but I just felt in my heart, even though I was raising my children, which was my No. 1 priority, I’m going big and this is my thing.

I wish I could have been younger and thinner, but that’s OK, but I just look at it now, and I think, what a blessing, because I got to raise my own children and they are all grown, and they don’t need me like they used to. My youngest went to school in Manhattan for makeup for television and film. When I moved her into college is the day that a bunch of my comedy video clips went viral and I started selling out shows all over the United States. So it could not have been a more perfect plan. Now she travels with me and takes care of me. She says she’s my caregiver, and she didn’t sign up for that, but we are having a ball.

Q: Given how big you are now, it seems like it would’ve been impossible to give your kids the kind of parenting you gave them before you got famous.

A: I wouldn’t have and they wouldn’t be who they are. And I’ll tell you this, I wouldn’t have the stories that I have that relate to all these people that feel like I’m speaking to them. Because I do think my audience has kind of been ignored. It’s men and women out in the middle of the United States that have just raised a family, and I talk about everything that they’ve been through, but I went through it too. I think it was the best thing that it didn’t happen until later in life. I’ve got more that people can relate to. Honey, if I’d have been in Hollywood at 30, Lord knows what would have happened to me.

Q: How do you keep your normal life and Hollywood life separate and what keeps you grounded?

A: I think what keeps me grounded is I’ve still got a husband that says, “Did you leave the garage door open?” And I still wash everybody’s clothes. I’m still out here on the road renting a Mitsubishi rental car. I’m doing the same thing I’ve always been doing. I went down in the lobby and got a complimentary coffee before they started charging at 9 o’clock, because this success just happened to me. And now I just turned 60 in October. I can’t imagine me becoming Hollywood. I love it, don’t get me wrong. I love where I live down there, and I’ll go back in January and start filming. It’s all wonderful and glamorous. But then I just go right back to Knoxville [Tenn.] and buy toys for grandbabies and I start cooking. I’m still the mama, I’m still the grandmama, and they need me, you know?

Q: Did you do anything fun to celebrate your 60th birthday?

A: I went to the beach down in Florida with my husband and my kids and my grandbabies, and we cooked every night and they bought me two grocery store birthday cakes and I stood at the kitchen counter and ate them with a fork. We really had a good time. We walked on the beach every day and I needed that time to rest. But it was really one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had, if not the best. And I was worried about turning 60. I thought, oh, Lord, 60 — that’s gonna be bad. And then I thought, you know what, I’ve got my health and I’ve had all this success and wonderful things that I get to do.

Q: Which comedians do you look up to the most?

A: I always loved Jim Gaffigan. I just love how he talks about his kids and family. Always loved Jerry Seinfeld. I’m crazy about Dave Chappelle. Growing up, I loved Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and then of course Jay Leno, David Letterman, Johnny Carson and Roseanne. The first time I saw Roseanne it blew me away. I guess I just love when I see people that are very unique and have their own voice. I used to love watching Ellen DeGeneres when she was first coming on the scene.

Q: How is your family handling your newfound fame?

A: Well, now everybody’s asking me for Jonas Brothers tickets, which I’m thankful I can get them. Everybody’s enjoying those kind of little perks. But it’s been interesting to watch, because my youngest daughter who is on the road with me, the 27-year-old, has been with me in the crowds in airports and all that. She knew what was happening. I realized that when it was first happening, my other kids and my husband didn’t even understand what was happening. I’d go to the University of Tennessee SEC football game, and I would say to my husband, “Chuck, I don’t know if I can walk through this crowd. We’re playing Alabama. I mean, I’m kind of a big deal in Alabama.” And he would say, “Oh, good Lord, Leanne, everything’s fine!” And then, of course, he’d walk off, and I’d see the top of his bald head and he would not even be looking at me. And then all these women at that ball game would stop and kiss me in the mouth. I could barely get through that crowd. And then it was somebody at the ball game that happens to be one of my agents in Nashville said, “She can’t do this, Chuck! She’s going to have somebody walk her through this crowd,” and he was just dumbfounded by it.

And then to see my grandbabies that are still babies — they’ll be watching “Trash Truck” or one of the cartoons or something, and they’ll go, “It’s grandma on the screen!” Of course, they don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s been fun. I’ve got the sweetest children in the world, they could do with it or without it. Now, my baby daughter can’t. She’s pretty boujee. My youngest child, the makeup artist, she’s like, “We cannot get in a regular Uber anymore. We’re gonna have to have the Uber XL.” So she’s getting very spoiled, but we’re still in an Uber!

Q: One of the greatest parts of the new special is when you air your family’s dirty laundry — including a bit about your husband getting arrested by highway patrol. Do you run that bit by Chuck first before you said it onstage?

A: Of course, he’s the one who said “Why don’t you tell them about the time I got arrested!” He likes for me to talk about him — don’t let him fool you. [My daughter] Tess is worried about getting a man with me saying that she had to scratch her butthole. But she was a baby when that happened. She said, “I’m so glad that you added that I was a baby, mom.” So but, yeah, everybody’s pretty sweet about it.

Q: What are you most excited to experience in the next phase of your career in 2026?

A: I’m excited to see what’s going to happen with my character on my TV show “Leanne.” I have so many women come up to me and say, I’ve got a divorce after 30 something years, or my husband left me, or I’m starting a whole new job, or whatever. And they go, you don’t know how much that show means to me, and I’ve felt seen, and how much hope that character has given me, and I think that’s so sweet. So I’m excited to see what’s going to happen with her — because she’s now turned 60, and is a grandmother and a mother. And I want women to know that it’s not over, you know and they can do any career and do anything they want to in life, go back to school, whatever it is, and they’re still desirable. I don’t want women to think nobody wants them, you know? And then I hope I can do more movies. I had a ball on the Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell movie “You’re Cordially Invited.” Hope I get to do things like that again. And, yeah, I’m excited about the new tour, I just got to come up with this material.

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