How to Do Things For Yourself Without Feeling Guilty

There’s no expiration date on your purpose, and sometimes the best things in life happen when you least expect them. In this episode, I sit down with comedian and actress Leanne Morgan for a conversation about marriage, motherhood, chasing your dreams, and finding success later in life. Leanne shares how she spent over 20 years pursuing a career in comedy, the moment she almost gave up, and how everything changed when she finally found her audience. We also talk about navigating marriage when you and your spouse communicate differently, learning to ask for what you need, and the guilt that comes with pursuing your own dreams while raising a family. Leanne is as funny as she is genuine, and her story is a reminder that you don't have to have everything figured out right now. Sometimes the most important thing you can do is keep showing up, stay true to who you are, and trust that your time will come. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Join me on Supercast for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and AMAs: https://jefferson.supercast.com/ Leave me a voicemail to be featured on the show! https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/ask-jefferson Order The Next Conversation Workbook: https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/workbook Thank you to our sponsors: AG1. Visit https://drinkag1.com/jefferson. Save an extra 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen, AG1 Pro, or AG1 Essentials by going to https://drinkag1.com/jefferson and using code BACK2ROUTINE. BetterHelp. Click https://betterhelp.com/jeffersonfisher for a discount on your first month of therapy. Order my book, The Next Conversation, or listen to the full audiobook today. Like what you hear? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review! Suggest a topic or ask a question for me to answer on the show! Want a FREE communication tip each week? Click here to join my newsletter. Join My School of Communication Watch my podcast on YouTube Follow me on Instagram Follow me on TikTok Follow me on LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jefferson Fisher?

  What would you say to the mamas out there that are torn between raising a family and following a passion?

• 0:06Speaker 01

  If it's something that you feel like in your soul and heart, you really need to be doing, I think you should do it. Now, I think, I don't want people to be mad at me for saying this, but you've had these children, they come first.

• 0:20Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  They come first. But yeah, do this side hustle or whatever you gotta do.

• 0:28Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  Until it's your time. Yeah, I think women need to do that because, um, because one day they're gonna be grown and they're not gonna need you as much.

• 0:38Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 0:39Speaker 01

  And this, look what has happened to me. I'm 61. These, you know, my kids are 33, 30, and 28. They're watching this happen with me. They get to participate in all this. My mom and daddy still are here to see it. But, um, but I do, I get to, I feel vibrant. I feel alive. I feel like I'm working my brain. I'm achieving, um, you know, I'm learning a script every week when I'm shooting a series. I'm on tour. I get to see these people. I'm running a corporation.

• 1:13Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  For the first time in my life of, you know, I got 25 people on my team.

• 1:19Speaker 01

  It's crazy.

• 1:20Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  But I love it. I love it. My little daddy will say every once in a while, aren't you tired? Don't you wanna stop this? You know, cause I'm from working people, farming people. My mom and daddy had a meat processing plant. When they retired, I think when you work so hard, like manual labor and everything, you think, well, we need to retire and sit down. Because we've worked so hard physically all of our lives. I don't, I don't know that I'll ever stop. I think I could be 80 and be like Betty White. I always loved her, you know, and just, even if I'm piddling at the end. I just wanna stay active and do, you know? I think it's important for people to keep learning and keep doing and keep creating.

• 2:02Jefferson Fisher?

  I agree. I think that's, um, I think that's wise advice. What was it like when the first time you tell Chuck Morgan, hey, you know, I think I'm gonna go do this stand-up thing for a sec. I'm gonna go to this club, go, you know, do five minutes there.

• 2:17Speaker 01

  You know, he just always was like, okay. And I don't, I think he kind of thought of it as that's her thing, like that's her thing she's doing.

• 2:32Speaker 01

  Um, but he was always supportive of it. And I know that it would, it would be nervous for me because the first time I ever really, um, I did an hour in my Sunday School class in Morristown, Tennessee. We were all very close. We all had young babies, you know, we did everything socially together and all that. And I had a good friend in that that was in the Kiwanis Capers and he said, Leon, you're kind of a ham. Do you wanna get up and emcee this thing? And I was like, yeah, I know. And in the high school gym. And I must've dazzled enough that a guy that was in the audience and said, uh, this is while I was selling jewelry. He said, um, you know, I've got bands that come to my sandwich shop. If you wanna do stand-up

• 3:17Speaker 01

  or if you wanna come and do your thing.

• 3:19Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 3:20Speaker 01

  And I go, yeah, I do. And he goes, can you do hour? I was like, yeah. The first time I ever got up, I mean, before, that was probably before, I mean, Zanies was after that. Um, I did an hour. And I wrote it down, like just bullet points on my five-year-old's kindergarten tablet. You know, when you're learning how to write?

• 3:42Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 3:43Speaker 01

  Uh, that's all I, notepad I had. I put his kindergarten tablet and I said it and did an hour. And I think somebody filmed it and I still like sweat at like three o'clock in the morning thinking that film's gonna come out sometime.

• 3:56Jefferson Fisher?

  Release that.

• 3:56Speaker 01

  Cause I'm sure I sucked. It was awful. And no telling what I said.

• 4:00Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  But, um, but Chuck, I remember there was a big glass in the sandwich shop. And I was sitting there and people saw Chuck driving by in the minivan with three children, like looking out the door just to make sure I was all right in this glass. So he always, I'm sure he was nervous for me.

• 4:21Jefferson Fisher?

  He had to.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  But I don't know if, he would say at times, like when we needed money and stuff, like you need to probably get a job. And I'd be like, I can't. I'm a comedian. I mean, like I can't, Chuck, if I go out here and get a job, people are not gonna take me seriously and think that I'm really a comedian.

• 4:36Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 4:37Speaker 01

  Cause now we're back living in Knoxville and I do all these corporate, private things for people that kept me going for 20 years. And, um, breast cancer fundraisers, ovarian fund. So I go, if I'm over here working at Target, which I've always said I'd love to work at Target back in the day.

• 4:53Jefferson Fisher?

  Who wouldn't?

• 4:54Speaker 01

  Who wouldn't love to be in back there with that bed and you put it on the shelf?

• 4:57Jefferson Fisher?

  Target tell you what you need.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, that's how that goes.

• 5:00Speaker 01

  Um, but I always thought, well, if I get a job, then I'm not gonna be legit as an artist. And of course, you know, he's practical in MBA. He probably, you know, thought, oh my gosh, Leon. But he would always say, okay. And somehow we did it, honey. Somehow we did it. And it took him a long time to figure out how big this was. And I still think he's figuring out how big this is.

• 5:25Jefferson Fisher?

  Was, were you nervous the first time he actually watched you?

• 5:28Speaker 01

  Oh, I don't let him watch me.

• 5:31Speaker 01

  I don't let him watch me. And I tell him, I swear Chuck Morgan, cause if I do like the rhyme in here or something special like that, like the Bridgestone, he'll come. But I go, you better be up at the merge table or in the concession stand.

• 5:45Jefferson Fisher?

  Get out of here.

• 5:46Speaker 01

  And don't you dare, listen to me Chuck, it's something about it, because I'll tell you why. He's a detail person and we'll be at a social gathering. And I'll start telling a big yard.

• 5:59Speaker 01

  And he'll say, it wasn't Tuesday, Leon, it was Wednesday and it was at three o'clock. It wasn't at two o'clock. And I'm like, you're ruining my story.

• 6:05Jefferson Fisher?

  Come on, yeah.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  Yeah. I don't want, I feel him like.

• 6:08Jefferson Fisher?

  Must've be a little embellishment. I mean, yeah.

• 6:11Speaker 01

  And I forget details.

• 6:12Jefferson Fisher?

  For sure.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  Hey, um, but he's a detail, he goes, details matter, Leon. So I'll say, you can come, but do not watch me Chuck. And he, I think he respects that. I'm sure he snuck in and seen a couple of things. But he's watched me film my television series.

• 6:28Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  He's been on set for that.

• 6:30Jefferson Fisher?

  Have y'all ever argued about your comedic career?

• 6:34Speaker 01

  About what I was gonna say or just?

• 6:38Jefferson Fisher?

  When you were first starting out, you know, of, was there ever a time that he was against it or has he always been supportive of it?

• 6:45Speaker 01

  He's always been supportive of it.

• 6:47Jefferson Fisher?

  That's awesome.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  He really has. And I'm going to the club and it's midnight, you know, he would, he didn't, never said a word. Really.

• 6:59Speaker 01

  I mean, we can argue about other things.

• 7:00Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 7:01Speaker 01

  But no, he's always known that was important to me.

• 7:04Jefferson Fisher?

  You have different conflict styles?

• 7:07Speaker 01

  Yes. I like to resolve conflict. He doesn't.

• 7:12Jefferson Fisher?

  He doesn't.

• 7:12Speaker 01

  He likes to have the same fight over and over the last 30 years. We've, yeah. I'll, I come from a, and I know I'm not a therapist. I do just have an undergraduate. But I do think therapy's so important. I love it. I love to watch people talk about, you know, different communications. Cause that's what I got on you.

• 7:31Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  I got on to you. And you give so, such good advice.

• 7:36Jefferson Fisher?

  Thank you.

• 7:36Speaker 01

  I'm mealy-mouthed. It's hard for me to ask for what I want or tell a team what I want, what I need. I'm like, well, can I, maybe we should, I don't know. What do y'all think?

• 7:48Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 7:49Speaker 01

  Because I think at my age, being from the South, being a people pleaser. Um, but you've helped me learn ways to say what you want, you know?

• 8:00Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 8:01Speaker 01

  And there's, and it's good to be honest. And it, you know, it's, and it's kind to be honest in what you want. So I'm in this time of our life with these children gone, honey, when these children went to college, I took to the bed and did not cope well.

• 8:18Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah. Oh, I can, I can imagine.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  It's awful. You're like, why didn't you give me these children? And then they have to go to college. Um, and grow up and get married and all that. Of course, then you, then you have daughter-in-laws that you love and, you know, and whoever they're gonna marry. It's just more love. It's just more love. But, um, but Chuck Morgan, I really think it's important, especially with this happening to me. This is a weird thing, what's happening. How many people go through this where now there's fame and there's security issues and there's, I'm gone, he's at home now. I mean, he's still working a big job and running a vision of that big Berkshire Hathaway company, but he, um, he travels some, but not as much as I do. He was the one that traveled every week of the world.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  Now I'm the one traveling. He's at home in that house with a beagle. Who is yummy, but she's deaf and can't hear thunder, can't see. And.

• 9:17Jefferson Fisher?

  Looking bark. Yeah, yeah.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  And I, so I have said, you know, we need, let's get help navigating this.

• 9:24Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 9:25Speaker 01

  This is a lot, Chuck, and it's hard for him to emote and it's hard, he's not a talker. He's introverted, you know, it's hard for him to tell his feelings. Um, I can talk all day about my feelings. I love therapy. Oh, I love therapy.

• 9:40Jefferson Fisher?

  External processor?

• 9:41Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 9:41Jefferson Fisher?

  And he's the internal processor?

• 9:42Speaker 01

  Uh-huh. And it's hard for him to say, I miss you.

• 9:45Jefferson Fisher?

  Mm-hmm.

• 9:46Speaker 01

  And I need, I want you to just be here and sit with me and when are you coming home?

• 9:51Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  And, you know, so I worry about him and, but I don't want him to retire and travel with me.

• 9:58Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 9:58Speaker 01

  Because I've gotta be funny and I can't tend to him.

• 10:01Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  In a hotel room.

• 10:03Jefferson Fisher?

  Right, yeah.

• 10:05Speaker 01

  And I would have to, because he needs me, you know, and I'm the mama and the wife. So I've got to be able to focus on what I'm doing and I, and he needs purpose. He, he's still, he loves working and he's young, he's, he's only 60. So, but yeah, it's, we're very different. I like to, I like to talk things through and let's figure this out. That's very hard for him.

• 10:29Jefferson Fisher?

  You like to go levels deep and he's, you know, he, he needs to think about it. Is he a man of little words?

• 10:36Speaker 01

  Man of very little words. But like, if you said to him,

• 10:42Speaker 01

  I've got these two babies and we, and Sarah and I have got to go to the Smoky Mountains. Chuck, can we drop them off at the house and you tend to them? And by the way, I've got a flat tire. He would be your ride or die in 10 of those babies.

• 10:55Jefferson Fisher?

  He'd be right there.

• 10:55Speaker 01

  And he would be right there. Like he is a loyal, um, he's a helper. And he wants to, to help people. He cuddles drug dependent babies. Did you know that? Chuck Morgan, there is a protocol in East Tennessee Children's Hospital, which Dolly Pardon now, it's called the Dolly Pardon Hospital because she gave generational will. My middle child started volunteering there at 16 and then was in nonprofit there and over large gifts and raised money. Chuck loves a baby, honey and a dog. And he found out about the drug dependent, we have the protocol, people come from all over the United States because there was the opioid and meth problem in the Appalachians.

• 11:41Speaker 01

  So people have their babies and these babies go through withdrawals and somebody's got to be able to hold them and know the sensory issues and how to calm them down going through withdrawals. Chuck Morgan is one of those people. And does it every week of the world's done it for 10 years.

• 11:57Jefferson Fisher?

  He's a big softie.

• 11:58Speaker 01

  He is a big softie, not on the outside.

• 12:02Jefferson Fisher?

  Not on the outside of it. I can't imagine.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  He's a lot of, you know, who left the garage door open kind of dad.

• 12:09Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, the thermostat.

• 12:11Speaker 01

  The thermostat.

• 12:15Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, I can only imagine. They do, um.

• 12:17Speaker 01

  He's very money conscious and honey does not spend money and people think I'm joking about that. I'm not.

• 12:24Jefferson Fisher?

  Always been that way, even now?

• 12:25Speaker 01

  Always. From the time when I married him, his little daddy said to me, you better watch him. He's like a squirrel. He'll bury it in the backyard. He has always watched money. He's a numbers person. I've never had to worry about a thing. If, if, if something happened to his job, he would have driven a truck or done whatever he did, ditches, whatever. But he's always been a saver and I've never had to worry about anything.

• 12:51Jefferson Fisher?

  Before we keep going, I want to take a moment to tell you about AG1. When I am traveling and my family and I are in transition, I like to keep a little packet of AG1. What is it? It is a dry powder that I can just rip off, tear in and know that everything I'm getting inside all of my greens that I need, up to 94% of your nutritional value that you need is right in there. Making sure that my gut health is good, that my energy levels are good. And within three months, it has been shown in gold standard clinical trials to help improve your overall health. I know with AG1, I feel good. I know I'm putting good stuff in me and it actually makes my day a little bit easier to make sure I'm getting the good stuff that I need in there.

• 13:31Jefferson Fisher?

  So for a limited time, save an extra 20% on your first subscription of order of AG1 Next Gen, AG1 Pro, or AG1 Essentials by going to drinkag1.com/jefferson and using code BACKTORUTINE. That's the, the number two, back two, number two, routine. That's ag1.com/jefferson, code BACKTORUTINE. And now back to the episode. So I grew up where my mom would pick out the, you know, it's like the newspaper for the grocery store, you know, it's like you, you have it and it's, um.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  The weekly deals.

• 14:09Jefferson Fisher?

  Exactly. And it'd be like, oh, uh, you know, uh, ground beef is 50 cents a pound or something like, you know, where it's like, oh, this is good. Something's a few cents off. That was, I, I got really good at scouring deals that was early on. So I think Chuck and I would definitely.

• 14:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. And that's responsible. And see, I'm all, and honey, I was like, you know, in a McDonald's parking lot telling jokes, these kids, you know, were sitting in the back of an SUV, selling, I was selling CDs out of the back of it. Honey ripping and doing, I, I piddled money away. I've never been a, and Chuck will, you've got to watch your pennies and they'll become dollars and all that mess. I came from, I mean, my mom and daddy have been very frugal, very frugal. But they didn't teach us how to be frugal. My sister and I probably, you know, cheap shops.

• 14:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 14:59Speaker 01

  Uh, I'm more of a, let's go to Chick-fil-A, you know, and I'm, TJ Maxx has got pumpkin towels out. Yeah.

• 15:09Jefferson Fisher?

  Let's go.

• 15:09Speaker 01

  I piddled money away. Chuck Morgan will save for something big, you know, like a vacation and all that. If I didn't have Chuck Morgan, I would have been living in a hole. I've always said that. I'm afraid I would be on some kind of assistance.

• 15:22Jefferson Fisher?

  I believe it. I'd say I'm definitely the spender of our relationship. Sierra, she can pinch a pin into a dime. I mean.

• 15:28Speaker 01

  Really?

• 15:29Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, that's definitely, yeah.

• 15:32Speaker 01

  What do you like to spend money on?

• 15:34Jefferson Fisher?

  I, I think, I mean, I'm a.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  That's a nice sweater.

• 15:37Jefferson Fisher?

  Typical, typical, typical guy. I got, I thank you. I got this when I was in Australia.

• 15:41Speaker 01

  Pretty.

• 15:42Jefferson Fisher?

  When I, when I went to talk to him, I was like, I need to buy something from Australia. So that's what.

• 15:46Speaker 01

  Is that made out of sheep or something?

• 15:48Jefferson Fisher?

  It probably is. It probably is.

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Don't they have sheep?

• 15:51Jefferson Fisher?

  They have, uh, New Zealand for sure. They got, they have lots. Actually, I might've even gotten this in, uh, New Zealand. I don't know. Uh, I think.

• 15:58Speaker 01

  You're going over and talking to people in New Zealand?

• 16:00Jefferson Fisher?

  We did. Yeah. We spent a month over there.

• 16:02Speaker 01

  Did you ever think this, honey? Did you ever think this?

• 16:06Jefferson Fisher?

  No. And I definitely had, uh, I can remember Sierra going, okay, go do your little thing. And so that became, I, I have friends.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  I didn't even think of that.

• 16:17Jefferson Fisher?

  I have friends that didn't even, who still don't really understand what, because it's like you and I, it's like, I, I understand because I'm there and you understand because you see it, but it doesn't mean some of your closest friends and family.

• 16:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, they don't see it. And I have a, okay, a friend who went into therapy that's famous comedian, who said, that his therapist said, your family and your friends are the, and everybody's the last to catch up. They don't understand what's happening. Now, my baby child is my makeup artist and is in the union for television and film, a real true, she sees it because she's with me. She knew what was happening.

• 16:56Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, she sees it.

• 16:57Speaker 01

  Uh huh. And she had to tell everybody and Chuck Morgan to be like, this could blow up tomorrow. I don't know what he thought I was, but he goes, isn't it, don't you dare spend a bit of money. And I'd be, and I told him, I go, I think we need to move. Like I can't be living in this neighborhood anymore. He goes, oh, good lord. You know, it took him a long, and we had a friend in the family that had been a personal assistant to a celebrity and they said, no Chuck, this, let me tell you what's going to happen. So that was helpful to have somebody.

• 17:27Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 17:28Speaker 01

  To kind of guide him through it that he can listen to that wasn't me.

• 17:31Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 17:31Speaker 01

  Cause he knows I'm a dreamer and I'm telling a bunch of tales, but that person was able to say, no Chuck, y'all need to move. You need to do this. You need to do that.

• 17:40Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 17:41Speaker 01

  And so now they're, they're really, but my other two children, you know, are working regular jobs and they, they, like I was going to go to the Emmys and I asked the middle baby and she goes, I don't know if I've got PTO. And I was like, it's the Emmys. Let's figure out. But you know, but they, I want them to get to go and see some of this stuff and do, you know, but, um, but yeah. So I didn't even think about that because of all this.

• 18:06Jefferson Fisher?

  It's different. Yeah. I, I grew, I mean, mine was, I started my, my vehicle, making videos in my car. So I didn't even see humans outside of just, you know, looking at myself in the car like a weirdo. And I can remember Sierra at one point, this was maybe six months into me making some videos and she's like, okay, can we have a talk? Like so, is this, when do you, when are you going to stop kind of doing, is this either going to make money or is it not, you know, what is this, what is this going to do, you know, at some point? Like, help me understand. And, uh, I kind of had to be like, look, I, I don't really, I don't really know, but I really love doing it. And it wasn't until

• 18:48Jefferson Fisher?

  we were in the middle of California at a random Chick-fil-A and somebody came up to me and had this.

• 18:58Speaker 01

  Reaction.

• 18:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Reaction. And that was the first time that Sierra goes, okay, I think this is something a little bit.

• 19:06Speaker 01

  Because were you a trial attorney?

• 19:09Jefferson Fisher?

  I was, yeah.

• 19:10Speaker 01

  Is that how you learn all this?

• 19:13Jefferson Fisher?

  A lot of it. I, I, I learned some of it, but a lot of it is just my own.

• 19:20Jefferson Fisher?

  Raising and I have grew up on a lot of cowboy wisdom, kind of old southern wisdom. My grandfather's like a John Wayne type of figure. My dad's very similar disposition. So I grew up watching closing arguments. I grew up in depositions and so a lot of that is that old soul like Charlie is, you know? So there's a lot of that that comes into it.

• 19:45Speaker 01

  Emotional like you, you understand people.

• 19:47Jefferson Fisher?

  Uh, yeah, and it's harder to understand yourself sometimes, but it's easier to understand other people. And in my mind, it has to be, I would imagine it's like this sometimes with a comedian, your mind never really stops. Like you always are thinking of, oh, okay, I could play with that word, you know, of like what I could spin this off of and how you can, I'm constantly editing my words in my head. And so I think that's kind of some of it where it came from. But that was, that was the big part for Sierra was, what's all this doing?

• 20:21Speaker 01

  Cause she married a lawyer.

• 20:23Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, she married, and she's an attorney. She's, she's a lawyer too.

• 20:26Speaker 01

  Is she practicing?

• 20:28Jefferson Fisher?

  Not, we, not in the last, it was a big transition for us, the last probably eight months or so because of everything. And we still have the firm. It's just, it was a big transition doing all of this. And so the whole family got to come to Australia, the whole family. It's been, it's been, it's been great to have our kids really involved in it and that's hard. I have to imagine that there were some times, you know, you're driving after a show, Lynn, and maybe you didn't do as well as you want, or maybe it bombed.

• 21:01Speaker 01

  Oh, many times, honey.

• 21:02Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, and you just go, maybe I should just.

• 21:04Speaker 01

  I didn't think that.

• 21:07Jefferson Fisher?

  You didn't?

• 21:08Speaker 01

  I would be down and I would want to give my money, the money back and feel this big.

• 21:14Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah. How did you, what did you say to yourself?

• 21:16Speaker 01

  I would, um, I would go through my mind of everything I think I could have done better and I would want to give money back and I'd feel bad, but I have, God sent me, Karen Mills, we met 20 something years ago. She's a female comedian who'd done it longer than me and was single. So she was out on the road and in clubs and doing that real, that road dog kind of comedy. And I had heard a call and go, I just bombed and I maybe, I mean, we would kid and say, maybe I should quit and she'd go, no, you're not going to quit. And then she'd call me and say, I bombed, I'm going to quit. And I go, no, you're not going to quit. I never thought about really quitting.

• 21:58Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 21:59Speaker 01

  But I would feel so bad, it's so gut wrenching. And Jerry Seinfeld's become a good friend of mine and has mentored me.

• 22:05Jefferson Fisher?

  Oh, oh, cool.

• 22:06Speaker 01

  I know. And he's, to this day, he told me the other day, last week, he goes, I had a show, it didn't go well and I, or it didn't go as well as I wanted it to. And it, and it stays on my mind. And he goes, Lynn, that's just who we are. That's just who we are. And so there's a blessing to all this, but there's that curse.

• 22:27Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 22:28Speaker 01

  Of, because you're up there by yourself, you're only depending on yourself, you're not in a band and you.

• 22:33Jefferson Fisher?

  It's you, it's on you.

• 22:34Speaker 01

  And if people are paying you and you want them to have a good time and you see one man sitting going.

• 22:41Jefferson Fisher?

  Mad that he's there.

• 22:42Speaker 01

  Uh huh. Or just not a laugher. Like Chuck, I've watched him at comedy clubs and stuff. Chuck will be, you know, thinking about it and not laughing. Sometimes I do that and you think, is he not having a good job? And everybody else will be throwing their purse in there and losing their mind and you got one person and that person will stay on your mind for days.

• 23:02Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 23:03Speaker 01

  Days, that's the curse. And I just want everybody, I just want to give the best, you know? And there's times when, even to this day, I'm in a big theater or a small arena or whatever, and it's just flowing.

• 23:18Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 23:19Speaker 01

  And it's nothing could go wrong and everything is, you're just like, it's like you're surfing on the sun. And then there's other times where you just feel a little off and you know it and in your mind, you're having a conversation while you're on stage going, this is a little off, but I'm going to give it everything I got.

• 23:36Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 23:37Speaker 01

  It's just not, you know, it's not how I'd want it to be. It's, it's crazy like how you talk to yourself and all standups tell me, you know, we talk about it all the time. We're all having a conversation in our head while we're doing the standup, if it's not flowing.

• 23:51Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  You know, or you're like, oh my gosh, I forgot what time I got up here. I've got to do math and figure out how many minutes I've got left and I'm not good at math. You're looking at a, at a clock on the stage going, how many minutes was I? And then the, the driver's coming to get me at what time? I mean, you're, it's just crazy.

• 24:08Jefferson Fisher?

  While you're, while you're doing it.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  While you're doing it.

• 24:10Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 24:11Speaker 01

  But yeah, I never thought, the only time I thought, this isn't going well and maybe I should let it go. And it was, I was in my early 50s and I had done a Drybar special. Drybar is a clean thing online. We didn't even understand what in the world it was. My manager at the time said, there's this thing called Drybar, they want you to shoot a special, they're going to give you a little bit of money. And when I say a little bit of money, I mean a little bit of money. And, um, he said, we'll find, we'll get clips out of it where you can get more breast cancer fundraisers and chamber commerce luncheons.

• 24:51Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  And that, and that's all, that was all sweet and kept me going for 20 years, but that's not what I wanted.

• 24:56Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 24:57Speaker 01

  I wanted to be like Jim Gaffigan. I wanted to be working in theaters. I wanted to be, I saw what he was doing, I wanted to be that. And, um, so I did this Drybar because I was so desperate that nothing was going right. And I was doing these, you know, these gigs that I'd been doing and my money wasn't going up and it was just, felt like I was at a dead end. That came out, it got millions of views, millions, like things went viral from it. But I wasn't selling tickets still and I was doing a few clubs and they were like, we love, we love her, she doesn't get drunk and fight in the parking lot, but we're not having her back. And I would just be devastated.

• 25:35Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 25:36Speaker 01

  And then, um, I was getting little corporate things, but they were not good. And I was, you know, now I'm getting in my early 50s and I'm like, I'm in an Uber with somebody high on marijuana in California to go do this gig where they're putting me up at a motel on the side of the road.

• 25:53Jefferson Fisher?

  What am I doing?

• 25:54Speaker 01

  You know, I did that for 20 years and it's fun when you're starting out and you're like, I don't care if I have to wear my heels in the bathtub because it's so nasty. I'm doing standup. But, but then it got where, oh my gosh, is this sad? And am I going to get raped and killed out here? And this, you know, I just got so down and out and I thought, this is not going well. I don't know, there weren't any television deals coming and all that. And I thought, maybe I should give it up. I knew Charlie was having my first grandbaby and in the country, we take care of grandbabies.

• 26:25Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 26:26Speaker 01

  And that's a lot of guilt I have because I should be helping with those babies, but, um.

• 26:30Jefferson Fisher?

  You're a big caretaker. You're, you.

• 26:33Speaker 01

  I'm a nurturer and honey, I wish, I beg Chuck Morgan for more babies.

• 26:37Jefferson Fisher?

  You're a big nurturer.

• 26:38Speaker 01

  I love breastfeeding, I raised them in the bed, honey.

• 26:42Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 26:43Speaker 01

  They all slept in the bed, that big family bed. I'm very kumbaya when it comes to that kind of stuff. Child development, my degree, I mean, I loved babies. My mom, I got a good mama. I, I think everybody ought to have a bunch of babies.

• 26:57Jefferson Fisher?

  I think you're a mama to a lot of people.

• 26:58Speaker 01

  I do, I do like to, I think I'm getting the old crotchety woman where I'm telling everybody, like, everybody needs to get off of the escher, don't do the escher. Everybody needs to get out and ride a bicycle and not be in the basement.

• 27:15Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 27:16Speaker 01

  Um, but I, um.

• 27:18Jefferson Fisher?

  Get off these screens.

• 27:19Speaker 01

  Get off these screens and get out here and ride the bicycle and eat Oreos and some, you know?

• 27:24Jefferson Fisher?

  Cheetos.

• 27:25Speaker 01

  Some Cheetos and some.

• 27:27Jefferson Fisher?

  Some puff Cheetos.

• 27:28Speaker 01

  Grape Kool-Aid that hadn't been chilled.

• 27:29Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 27:30Speaker 01

  But I, um, really got desperate and felt like, and I went out to eat with Chuck Morgan and I started crying and I said, I just don't think anything's going to happen and maybe I should give up. It makes me want to cry now because I know God was with me. And he said, no, you got to keep going. Chuck Morgan said that. And I said, okay, well, I'm, I said, I've been watching Jim Gaffigan, Nate Bargatze, I knew Nate, I'm close to Nate, but I saw Nate starting to sell out clubs and then he was going into small theaters and I was watching what they were doing. They had the same social media people. And I thought, they've got social media people. And I was doing social media, but I was putting up pictures of a dachshund, you know, I didn't

• 28:15Speaker 01

  know what I was doing. And I told Chuck, I'm gonna, and I never invested in myself like I should have. If I made money doing the breast cancer fundraisers, I went and got the kids haircuts, their uniforms.

• 28:27Jefferson Fisher?

  Hmm.

• 28:28Speaker 01

  I spent money, that was the kind of an unwritten, unspoken thing with me and Chuck Morgan, that that money was to help run the household. I had like three headshots in 25 years, which was stupid.

• 28:41Speaker 01

  But I thought, I'm gonna find social media people because they've got them. And I'm gonna try it. And if I'm gonna give it three months, because it was expensive, I'd never spent that kind of money on myself. And it made me feel guilty. Um, and I thought, I'm gonna give it that, and if that doesn't work, then I know that's God's way of telling me it's time to get out. And that'll be my last ditch effort. And I was moving that baby, she'd gone to college, and then she came to us and said, the other two were out of college. And she said, or maybe one was still at UT, but, but. Uh, she said, I'd like to go, I would like to be a makeup artist for television and film. So we found the school in Manhattan, we were moving her in that day.

• 29:26Speaker 01

  My social media boys, who I love, who got me, and they had a Christian mama. They understood me, they got my voice, which is unusual.

• 29:38Jefferson Fisher?

  Mm-hmm.

• 29:39Speaker 01

  You know?

• 29:39Jefferson Fisher?

  Hard to do.

• 29:40Speaker 01

  Hard to do. And, um, it was a God thing how I found them. And anyway, they put out a video, and I wish I had journaled, it was either the first video or the second video. We were moving Tess into her, uh, student housing. And one of them called me and said, this is going viral. And we'd never seen anything like it. And you could see just thousands on Facebook, thousands and thousands. And I'd gone viral from the Drybar thing, but it really didn't translate into success.

• 30:10Jefferson Fisher?

  Hmm.

• 30:11Speaker 01

  And honey, overnight, I, I did, it was a video about me taking Chuck Morgan to go see Def Leppard and Journey, and how everybody looked sick and had plantar fasciitis.

• 30:23Speaker 01

  And people could relate to that.

• 30:26Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 30:26Speaker 01

  And then started saying, well, who is that? And where, what else does she have? So then they started looking at all my other stuff. And over, it felt like, it, within a week, comedy clubs were calling my manager, saying, can we get her? Because people saw the video and go, is she ever come to this club? So they were in, you know, Tempe, Arizona, saying, we want Liam Morgan at this club.

• 30:50Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 30:51Speaker 01

  So then I started selling out all over the United States within weeks. It's like somebody turned a light on in a dark room, I'm not kidding. And I could feel it. And the day we were moving Tess in, I felt electricity going through my body.

• 31:07Jefferson Fisher?

  Hmm.

• 31:08Speaker 01

  And I, I swear, I, I feel like God was saying, okay, we got this last one taken care of. She'd had cancer.

• 31:16Jefferson Fisher?

  Hmm.

• 31:16Speaker 01

  Had thyroid cancer, had been operated on, got well enough then to go to this school. I feel like God said, we got her. This last baby is taken care of, she knows what she wants to do. Let's roll. I feel like that's what he's saying.

• 31:32Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 31:33Speaker 01

  Let's roll, you got these babies raised? It's time. And I feel like all that work I'd put in, and I worked hard.

• 31:40Jefferson Fisher?

  Of course.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  You know, I'll say, oh shucks, how'd this happen?

• 31:43Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 31:44Speaker 01

  But there, there was a lot of work that went in, and a lot of bad gigs, and a lot of good gigs, and a lot of, you know, sacrifice, and a lot of no's, ups and downs.

• 31:54Jefferson Fisher?

  Mm-hmm.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  Where nobody cared, I couldn't get arrested. Comedy Central didn't want me, you know, I wasn't edgy, like, you know, just a lot of rejection, a lot of work. And I feel like it all came together. When social media was getting big, and, um, I found my audience, you know, I've been looking for them, I kept thinking for 20 years, there's gotta be mamas out here, they're talking about the same thing I'm talking about, about how their pants fit, they're going to Weight Watchers.

• 32:22Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 32:22Speaker 01

  They wanna kill their husband because he didn't hear the baby crying the night, or, you know, you're on a budget, whatever.

• 32:27Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 32:28Speaker 01

  I thought, they gotta be out here, but I couldn't find them, because I didn't have, I had television deals, but they hadn't made it. I wasn't on Comedy Central, I, you know, I wasn't getting.

• 32:37Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  Uh, there was no way to reach them. Cause, so then I've got them. And then this happens.

• 32:46Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 32:46Speaker 01

  And there was nobody like me talking about this stuff.

• 32:50Jefferson Fisher?

  There isn't.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  On this level, they're, they're out there, but they're not on this. And it was just, it's bigger and crazier than anything I could have imagined, but I felt it. I knew it was happening. And Chuck, I remember saying, something's happening, like, I think this is going viral, and I can feel something. And they were like, our Uber's here, we gotta get these suitcases in, we gotta get to Brooklyn.

• 33:12Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 33:12Speaker 01

  And, and nobody understood, but I was saying it. And then I would be in these clubs, and women would say, my husband left me, you got me through it.

• 33:24Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 33:25Speaker 01

  I'm going through chemo, you got me through it, my little daddy died.

• 33:28Jefferson Fisher?

  Mm-hmm.

• 33:29Speaker 01

  You got me through it, I watched you, you, you're married the same man I'm married to. My boy's an old soul. My, my daughter used to hit me in the back of the head with a backpack, you know, because she needed a piece of cheese after the pickup line. And it, it became, and then, okay, so then COVID hit.

• 33:47Jefferson Fisher?

  Yep.

• 33:47Speaker 01

  I got my first deal, the Big Panty Tour, Hunter Cities, COVID hit, couldn't do them. Had to wait till, you know, that all loosened up. But I just sat on my back porch. And I don't know why I did it. I just felt like it was natural to, my little mom had had a stroke, had been in Vanderbilt. It was a debilitating stroke. I was going and taking care of them, I feel like during COVID, that, at least the blessing was, I could take care of my elderly parents. They were going through a terrible time.

• 34:19Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 34:20Speaker 01

  And mama couldn't eat solid foods. And I started doing videos on the back porch, no makeup on, saying, I'm gonna make my mama a chicken noodle casserole, or I'm gonna do this, she, she loves a Jell-O salad, she can eat it, and she can swallow it. And it became like a community, and it got, it got bigger during COVID. And I would say, don't watch the news, you know, everything's gonna be all right. But I felt that in my heart, none of that was put on.

• 34:56Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 34:56Speaker 01

  And I was worried to death about my mama.

• 34:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Hmm.

• 35:00Speaker 01

  And going through that with her, and I was, you know, everybody was scared to death, and didn't know what to do, and all that with COVID. And I think I was a calming, but people tell me I was a calming voice during that, which is sweet. I get that all the time, people say, you got me through COVID. But I was just talking about recipes, and my mom and daddy keep the thermostat on 75, and I was going through menopause at the same time. And, and it really connected with people. So it, and then, so by the time the first tour was able to launch, after COVID loosened up, it was nuts.

• 35:38Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 35:39Speaker 01

  And crazy. And then Netflix came to me a special. Netflix came, which is The Stamp.

• 35:44Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 35:45Speaker 01

  Which is the stamp, say you're legit.

• 35:47Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 35:47Speaker 01

  You know?

• 35:48Jefferson Fisher?

  And then it was Katy Bar the Door.

• 35:49Speaker 01

  Katy Bar the Door.

• 35:51Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  So I've, I've got one more special to shoot with them, they gave me a two special deals, so it'll be three specials with them. They gave me a sitcom. Been in some movies. Wrote a book.

• 36:05Jefferson Fisher?

  God thing.

• 36:07Speaker 01

  All of it, I see his work in all of it, it makes me wanna cry when I look at you, because you're so precious, you've got a sweet spirit. Chaver, son, you doll from heaven.

• 36:17Jefferson Fisher?

  You're sweet.

• 36:18Speaker 01

  But I do, I see him in every bit of it, because I would have television deals, and they wouldn't make it, and I would be so devastated, and think, you know, well, I thought, you know, all this hype, and then nothing would happen. But, but I got to raise my children in Knoxville, Tennessee. It, they, it just wouldn't have been, they wouldn't have become who they were supposed to be.

• 36:38Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 36:39Speaker 01

  And I have this material, this full life of raising children, and cooking, and cleaning, and doing, and Chuck Morgan, and grandmamas, and everybody that people can relate to now, this, this, you know, if I'd been out in Hollywood.

• 36:55Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 36:56Speaker 01

  You know, I wouldn't have all these experiences that I've had, that people relate to.

• 37:00Jefferson Fisher?

  Yep, now, now they can relate to exactly the, the grandmama life.

• 37:04Speaker 01

  The grandmama life.

• 37:05Jefferson Fisher?

  So many God things. There's somebody listening right now, who doesn't feel like they can do them, they can do things for themselves without feeling guilt. And what would you say to the mom out there who feels like they can't do a thing for themselves, because they just feel too guilty?

• 37:23Speaker 01

  I know what that feels like, God love them. But I do think, if you're fulfilling things that God has put in your imagination, if you, if there's something that you feel so strong about, you feel like God's telling you that, if people say that's their gut, or whatever, I say it's God, for me. If, whatever, if you feel like that is, you were being pulled to do that. If you, I do feel like you'll be a better mama. If you take care of yourself. I look back, and when I was young, I loved to exercise. And I would feel guilty, because I'd think, if I go to the gym, everybody's gonna get a stomach bug, everybody's gonna have to go sit in this, you know, and everybody's gonna get germs and do all that.

• 38:08Speaker 01

  But if, but I should have, and I did exercise, and I did try and take care of myself, but it, but I look back on it, and I could have done better. And when you, when you are taking care of yourself, and your mental, you know, of what you feel like you're called to do.

• 38:26Speaker 01

  You're a better mama, a better wife, a better partner, whatever, better daughter. If you are doing the things that, that make you happy.

• 38:39Speaker 01

  But I also say, I mean, that, that mama, being a mama comes first, you know, and a daddy. Being a mom and daddy comes first. You have those babies, that's the priority. But you can still do these things that fulfill you. And, you know, even if you're not getting to do what you want to do, because you are, you want to be there for your children. It's almost like, a therapist told me this a long time ago, like Shawshank Redemption. Remember in Shawshank Redemption? He starts, he's in that sail and he starts chipping away to make that tunnel.

• 39:12Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 39:13Speaker 01

  And it may take five years, but in his mind, that first chisel, in his mind, he's free.

• 39:20Jefferson Fisher?

  Yep.

• 39:20Speaker 01

  It may take five years to do that tunnel, but in his mind, he's free. So if, if you're doing just that little chisel to start whatever it is you want to do. If you want to become a yoga teacher, if you want to go back and get your undergraduate degree. If you want to go and start a nonprofit, if you want to, if you want to make jewelry and start a business, whatever it is. Or go, you know, start a new career or whatever. In your mind, if you're working toward it, even if it's not what you think you want it to be, you know, in the, at the pinnacle of it, in your mind, you're doing it.

• 39:56Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 39:56Speaker 01

  You're doing it. And that's how I would feel when I was doing, you know, so many comedy clubs a year, not many. But I was doing, you know, fundraisers or corporate things. It wa, I knew that wasn't this, what I'm doing now, but in my mind, I'm getting there, I'm getting there. But I, I, but I'm still these, I got these babies and everything, we're doing it, we're all doing it, you know?

• 40:25Speaker 01

  I, I hope that's helpful to people, because in your mind, you, you know, you're working toward it. And I do, women feel so guilty in that.

• 40:35Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 40:37Speaker 01

  But

• 40:39Speaker 01

  this time with your babies goes by so quick. And I'm looking, I'm reflecting on that a lot lately, because I'm turning sixty-one. And I'm watching them raise my grandbabies and they're doing a wonderful job. And I think, man, it goes by fast. So when you're in it, you think, oh my gosh, am I ever going to get, I remember sitting in the yard with a bunch of kids crawling over me and seeing an airplane go over and thinking, where are they going? And then now, you know, be careful what you wish for. Now I'm on an airplane all the time. But, um, but there's that time, that time's so special and so wonderful. That when you're, that you get to be a mama and or a parent, that, and it goes by so fast, your time will come.

• 41:24Speaker 01

  Your time will come, because this is so special. You know, to sit there and kiss on those babies and, and dance to Ain't No Hollaback Girl in the Kitchen while you're cooking.

• 41:33Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 41:34Speaker 01

  You know, and going to Dollywood. You're going to have to take these babies to Dollywood.

• 41:38Jefferson Fisher?

  We haven't taken to Dollywood yet.

• 41:39Speaker 01

  Oh my.

• 41:39Jefferson Fisher?

  I know. Our kids are very different, though. Is it different raising boys than it is girls?

• 41:44Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah. My boy, and I, and my kids will go, well, he's your favorite. No, nobody's my favorite, but they're, but he was so easy. But little boys to me are just so easy, you know, just, you know, like, I'm just going to go shoot this baby gun, um, at this tree. And, you know, just happy.

• 42:06Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 42:06Speaker 01

  Uh huh. And then the girls are emotional.

• 42:09Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  And they, you know, my girls are twenty months apart and they, you know, one would starfish, one in the back. One was, used words to hurt, one would use physical. And they'd fight, me and my sister would fight, and we are two sissy honey. She was in pageants and we, you know, we didn't fist fight like that, we fist fought like that. But girls are more emotional and, and volatile, but they can't help it. But that was what makes them so special. Women feel, you know?

• 42:40Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 42:40Speaker 01

  But Charlie would just be out, you know, when we lived on two eighty-one.

• 42:44Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 42:45Speaker 01

  I had a bit about how I would get in the minivan and I would watch my kids come out. And my girls would be tickled and happy in front of their teachers. And then get in the minivan and that middle one would take her backpack and sling it, hit me in the back of the head with it. And say, don't you have a piece of cheese in this car? Because she needed a snack. And then Charlie would, she would be, you know, hysterical and just on the verge of tears and tired. And Charlie would say, there's, they're building a new Home Depot up on two eighty-one.

• 43:16Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 43:16Speaker 01

  Like staring out the window, you know, tickled. And then the baby, the baby child would be in the back going, mama, mama, mama, mama. And I go, what? And asking me questions like, did Jesus ever have headlights? You know, that kind of stuff.

• 43:32Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 43:32Speaker 01

  So they're all very different, uh huh. And it's such a blessing to get to have both.

• 43:37Jefferson Fisher?

  Very different.

• 43:38Speaker 01

  Very different.

• 43:39Jefferson Fisher?

  Jack came down the other night. And, uh, yeah, or he came down just the other morning. You know, his head's, he got bed head all nuts and he's like, that's where we, what we doing today? You know, he's just like, he's all about it of what's going on and he loves to read and, uh.

• 43:58Speaker 01

  I bet he's gonna love history.

• 44:00Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, he loves, he loves.

• 44:01Speaker 01

  See, my boy loved history.

• 44:02Jefferson Fisher?

  He was getting his haircut the other day, telling the barber about Greek mythology. Yeah, I mean, he was just, you know, and Gaia, you know, he, when he had Cronos, and he was just like, I was like, I don't even know. But Ruby came down the other day and was, uh, crying, uh, coming downstairs.

• 44:19Speaker 01

  She had to, honey.

• 44:19Jefferson Fisher?

  And she goes, I, I don't want my husband to die. That was her first thing. I don't want my husband to die. And they're like, well, baby, it's okay, we're not, your husband's not dying, you know? And so that was her whole, uh, thing. Well, if daddy dies, you know, what happens? Well, we'll go live with your grandmother.

• 44:40Speaker 01

  Ruby's my Maggie.

• 44:41Jefferson Fisher?

  And so she said, well, if, you know, if, well, daddy dies, then we'll go live with, you know, your grandmother. She go, okay, well, well, that would be okay, you know, that would be okay. But he's not going to die, right? And no, okay. But that was her thing, was I don't want my husband to die. So it's just like, they're so.

• 44:56Speaker 01

  Charlie would go around and tell people the history of SPAM and talk about World War Two.

• 45:01Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 45:01Speaker 01

  And then Maggie would say, um, Maggie called me the other day, she's thirty, I, she, because it's my birthday week. And she goes, mommy, I don't want you to die. And, um, she goes, girl, I've been looking at pictures of you in your, in the nineties. And I don't want anything to happen to you, girl. I go, I'll live to be alone. I mean, I, and I'm, and it'll be okay, Maggie, and she's thirty. But as a little bit of girl, she would ask me deep, deep questions all the time, but about death.

• 45:33Jefferson Fisher?

  Yep.

• 45:33Speaker 01

  And, um, and what was, um, did daddy, what was his first gift he ever gave you? Like, she wanted to talk all that stuff.

• 45:41Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, I think she's big, or at least Ruby's much more on, she does not like to be separated from her people. She likes, oh, the whole family to be together. And she's the type that she, she likes looking at wedding photos from us. And she'll ask, you know, what, what was the, this and what was the, and she loves, like little girls love people's names. You know, they love, she can name every, and my, you know, Jet will be, well, who's in your class? And he, who's you, I, I don't think I know his name, you know, it's, it's just so.

• 46:10Speaker 01

  Does she love romance? Because she wants to see y'all's wedding pictures.

• 46:13Jefferson Fisher?

  Oh, yeah, and she loves, and she'll, uh, and of course, I eat it up, because she's, you know, I dance with her all the time. And do voices with her all the time and, uh, you know, pretend to be different accents. And, uh, that's her, that's her thing. Now, my son, though, he, I'll tell you, Lani, he wants to be a comedian so bad. Naturally wants to be a comedian.

• 46:34Speaker 01

  He says it?

• 46:35Jefferson Fisher?

  Yes, he loves it. He loves listening, uh, to any, he loves jokes, loves joke books. He's all, he's, uh, he's all about it.

• 46:44Speaker 01

  He likes to watch stand-up?

• 46:46Jefferson Fisher?

  Well, I haven't let him watch.

• 46:47Speaker 01

  There's not many people you probably could.

• 46:49Jefferson Fisher?

  No, but I do.

• 46:50Speaker 01

  He can watch Nate.

• 46:52Jefferson Fisher?

  True, absolutely. And he, I take, take that back, he has watched Nate before. Um, and thought he was hilarious, although some jokes are, you know, he just can't.

• 47:00Speaker 01

  Over his head.

• 47:01Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, he can't, he can't.

• 47:02Speaker 01

  But I think Nate's got kids coming to his arena shows.

• 47:05Jefferson Fisher?

  He has to. He has this bit on McDonald's, uh, that he did. And that I was in tears, because it was just like, it just reminded me of being in the car with my parents.

• 47:18Speaker 01

  His daddy, Nate Bargatze's daddy, Stephen Bargatze, was a magician and a stand up. And opens for him some. If you ever get to see him in Nashville.

• 47:29Jefferson Fisher?

  Go see it.

• 47:29Speaker 01

  You got hilarious, honey. And does magic tricks, like a bowling ball out of a newspaper and you don't even know where it came from. So funny. And Nate takes him out on the road a lot and he's precious.

• 47:41Jefferson Fisher?

  That's awesome.

• 47:42Speaker 01

  They're precious family. But if you've, if you've got a baby that's into that.

• 47:46Jefferson Fisher?

  He's loved.

• 47:47Speaker 01

  I'm just gonna tell you, honey. Cause from the time I was little, it was like, how's that funny? How can I make it funny? I wanted to make people laugh.

• 47:56Jefferson Fisher?

  It is that.

• 47:57Speaker 01

  And I didn't pay attention in school.

• 47:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 47:59Speaker 01

  And I, honey, wanted, I, it, I was a class clown.

• 48:03Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 48:04Speaker 01

  And I was like, what are we even doing here? Let's have fun.

• 48:07Jefferson Fisher?

  Jets, I've been able to, we've been able to take them, you know, on the road a few times when we go speak or whatever, at different groups. And this is how I knew, like, okay, we gotta be careful here. First day of school this year. Drop them off. Of course, they're at the point now where they don't even look back, you know, we're teary eyed and okay, have a wonderful year. And they're like, okay, see you, peace. They're walking, their backpacks is just as big as they are. And counselor comes up to us and says, are you Jets parents? Are you Jets parents? And we said, yeah. She goes, well, I have a Jet story for you. And we said, oh my gosh, okay. What, what she got? And she said, well, I was teaching a class.

• 48:48Jefferson Fisher?

  And what I typically don't do, but I was teaching this class and I got at the end of it. And Jack came up to me with a dollar bill between his fingers and goes, great class. And she said, I'm okay, baby. You don't have to go, no, no, this is for you. This is just, that was a, this is great class. And so he, she goes, I've never been tipped before. For my class. And I was, and I said, I don't know where he's probably seen me tipped because, you know, everything is digital now. And the bigger question was, where did he get the dollar bill from? Because we don't.

• 49:23Speaker 01

  And he did it that way.

• 49:24Jefferson Fisher?

  He did it that, he did it the tip way. And so I don't, we didn't know where in the world that was, but that's been his like, he'll do anything for us.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  Oh, he might be a stand up.

• 49:34Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, we're gonna, he's, we're gonna have to get, get on to it. But I, I can only imagine. What I hear you saying now is you have so much gratitude, Liam, for all the things you, not just you've had being a, a mama. And now this gratitude for being a grandmama. And the fact that you've stayed true to who you are has now allows you to not only live the life that you've wanted and to live it fully. Not to say that you did it perfectly and there's not a lot of things we can't learn. It's that you also get to live that same life with the people who relate to you so much.

• 50:12Jefferson Fisher?

  Cause I think what you said is so true. Had you gone off and done the LA life or the New York life or whatever that is, you wouldn't be, it, it wouldn't be the same.

• 50:23Speaker 01

  It wouldn't be the same. And I know, and I've said this in many interviews, but it's the truth and I don't mean to be sappy, but I, I go out on stage. They are standing and blowing me kisses before I ever say a word. And, but I look out in that audience because they want to see me win, which is unbelie, I mean, it's a different thing, you know? I mean, I know people have got fans and all that, but it's like, if she can do it, I can do it. And I've got that a lot of that. And then I look out in there and I think, I'd be best friends with every one of these people. Oh, every one of these women, honey, we'd be going to a Zumba and then the Bible study and then lunch.

• 51:02Jefferson Fisher?

  And mahjong.

• 51:03Speaker 01

  And I've got to learn how to do that. I don't know if I can learn that thing. That's, my sister does it.

• 51:08Jefferson Fisher?

  I feel like there's an era or like there's some days go, okay, this is, this is mahjong day. I don't know what it is, but it was all over in my life.

• 51:15Speaker 01

  All those towels are nifty. But, and my sister said, I need a set for your house. And I went, okay, Chuck Morgan knows how to play. And Tess picked it up pretty easy.

• 51:24Jefferson Fisher?

  Well, Sarah wants to buy a set for her mama. And I was like, okay. But for my mom, it was Bunko.

• 51:29Speaker 01

  Oh, I love Bunko. I play Bunko.

• 51:31Jefferson Fisher?

  Every, every week.

• 51:32Speaker 01

  And that was mindless. You, you just throw that and everybody talks. That wasn't hard.

• 51:37Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 51:37Speaker 01

  This is hard. I don't know if I can learn it. Little Reese Witherspoon, you know, I've done a movie with her.

• 51:42Jefferson Fisher?

  Yes.

• 51:43Speaker 01

  She's big into mahjong, but she's brilliant. But those little mamas here in Nashville, they're all playing and doing. And everywhere you go, there's a new mahjong set and, and glasses and keychains and all that. Um, but yeah, I do, I think, um, I'd be best friends with every one of them and they want to see me win. And this, I get a lot of this. My 80 year old daddy, my 90 year old daddy loves you. I get a lot of little elderly men who have never watched stand up before. Think about that. And they sit and watch me.

• 52:17Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 52:17Speaker 01

  And I was at my GI doctor the other day because I have issues, you doll. I won't say it because you're good looking. Um, nothing bad, but anyway, she was a doll and she, and she looked like Loretta Lynn and she said, or like Crystal Gayle, she has long, dark hair, country as I am, a gastrointestinal doctor who said she'd been bush hogging that morning. And I was like, you're my people, because my people bush hog. Anyway, she said, um, what was I saying? What was I talking about? Um, the GI doctor said.

• 52:51Jefferson Fisher?

  We were talking about, uh.

• 52:53Speaker 01

  Lord.

• 52:54Jefferson Fisher?

  Uh, the little old men who love you.

• 52:55Speaker 01

  Oh, she said, can I tell you this? She said, thank you, Jefferson. I'm glad you still got your wits about you. She said, my little daddy takes care of his, uh, my stepmom who's got Alzheimer's. And his whole retirement has been that he's her caregiver. And she said, I saw him with his little laptop and he was giggling, laughing. And I said, she said, I, he didn't like, he doesn't laugh much because it's real hard what he's going through. And she said, what are you watching, dad? And he said, this comedian, and it was me. So that kind of stuff.

• 53:29Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, it just hits you.

• 53:31Speaker 01

  It's just bigger than comedy. It's bigger than anything I ever dreamed of. And it, um, and people share that kind of stuff with me. And, but I'll have little 80 year old men in Pensacola, Florida at a arena, just come up to the stage and do this. And I'll go.

• 53:51Jefferson Fisher?

  Eat it up.

• 53:51Speaker 01

  Uh huh. God forbid Chuck ever walk off and leave me. I know I can get 80, 90 year old men, honey. I can get whoever I want.

• 53:58Jefferson Fisher?

  That's true.

• 53:59Speaker 01

  In that category, because they love me. But isn't that sweet?

• 54:05Jefferson Fisher?

  That is so sweet.

• 54:06Speaker 01

  And then, then I'll get people say, my little eight year old loves your television show. And, um, we leave it on in the background because it's calming.

• 54:14Jefferson Fisher?

  Calming. Yeah, I love it. Speaking of your show, season two.

• 54:19Speaker 01

  Season two.

• 54:19Jefferson Fisher?

  Congratulations.

• 54:20Speaker 01

  Thank you, my darling. Thank you. I, I'm proud of it.

• 54:24Jefferson Fisher?

  And won.

• 54:25Speaker 01

  Um, I think it, I think it's so funny. We talk about elderly parents moving in, which nobody's talking about that on TV.

• 54:33Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 54:33Speaker 01

  The people who play my parents are magic. Celia Weston and Blake Clark. Your children, I'm sure have watched Toy Story.

• 54:41Jefferson Fisher?

  Yes.

• 54:41Speaker 01

  Blake Clark is slinky.

• 54:43Jefferson Fisher?

  Oh, yes, yes, yes. He does the voice for Slinky.

• 54:45Speaker 01

  Uh huh. And he's in Adam Sandler movies and Celia Weston's been in every.

• 54:48Jefferson Fisher?

  He's got that gravelly voice.

• 54:49Speaker 01

  Gravelly voice and is brilliant. And Celia Weston plays my mom who is a, a doll and been on over a hundred movies. And award winning actress, Christian Johnston, Ryan Stiles, Tim Daly. They put the best around them.

• 55:06Jefferson Fisher?

  You have an all star, all star.

• 55:08Speaker 01

  And you know, they, when I, we went in to talk to Netflix about a show, I wanted, I'm a big Parks Recreation and Office fan. And I, I grew up on sitcoms and I love them. But I thought, I want to do a single cam. And they were like, you know, they're expensive to make. It's like making a movie every day. And they said, we think you can bring the multi cam back. And I was like, don't put that burden on me. Because I thought, you know, we, we just don't have multi cams like we used to, but people miss them. And so they said, if you'll do it, Liam, we'll buy it right now and we'll do a multi cam. And so Chuck, Lori and I talked about it. And we decided to do it. And of course, he's king of sitcoms, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, all that.

• 55:51Speaker 01

  And, um, and we did it. And now I'm, I feel very lucky. I got to do it because, and I don't know if I'm going to get a season three yet. We'll probably find out in a week or so. But, um, it's, they're inexpensive to make compared to a movie every day, like a one, a single cam. And that schedule is the best schedule in Hollywood. I just did Dax Shepard's podcast and he goes, I worked on a podcast, Liam. It was the best schedule I had in Hollywood. Reese told me that. It is, it's really a light schedule and you film at the end of the week. But I mean, I'll go in, do a table read on Monday. Do a little rehearsal, little rehearsal, nine to three on, you know, or nine to two, nine to one, Tuesday and Wednesday.

• 56:35Speaker 01

  And then film on Thursdays and then Friday in front of a, a live audience. And it's pretty good schedule. It's hard.

• 56:42Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 56:43Speaker 01

  It's hard and it's a lot to learn, but it's, um, I've, I know why they give them to comedians. We're used to being in, in front of a live audience. We need that interaction. And, um, you know, I've always admired Ray Romano, Jerry Seinfeld.

• 56:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 56:59Speaker 01

  Roseanne, Frasier, Cheers and all that. So I'm, I, it's, I feel very lucky to be in this. And people really miss that. And will tell me, when they see me in the airport or something, they'll go, we, you know, I just, where is that, where have those shows been?

• 57:14Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 57:14Speaker 01

  And there, it's just nothing twisted, which I like a good twisted show every once in a while.

• 57:21Speaker 01

  I'll watch A Game of Thrones.

• 57:22Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  The first two or three seasons, though, after, you know, it got a little twisted, too twisted for me. But like documentaries, and I love a documentary. I love all those things. But I think it's important to have something that a family can sit down and watch together. And we've got that. And, uh, people have been really sweet about it. And it's been in the top, it was in the top 10. I couldn't beat that pastor. That documentary about that crazy pastor in, um, South Carolina. He was number one.

• 57:51Speaker 01

  But I get competitive. But anyway.

• 57:54Jefferson Fisher?

  I'm getting an insight there.

• 57:55Speaker 01

  I did get competitive.

• 57:57Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 57:57Speaker 01

  And I want to do well. I want to do well.

• 57:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, it's okay to want to win. That's okay.

• 58:02Speaker 01

  I got a grandbaby, honey, that's competitive. And when he plays Candy Land, if he doesn't win, he stomps his and his fiance and his mom and daddy have to say, you can't be a sore loser. But I said, that'll, that will, he'll do well in life.

• 58:15Jefferson Fisher?

  Don't burn it out.

• 58:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:16Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 58:17Speaker 01

  He'll do well in life because he's competitive.

• 58:19Jefferson Fisher?

  Well, that's good. Then I'm, then I'm, I'm winning on all fronts there with my, with my kids.

• 58:24Speaker 01

  Because they're competitive?

• 58:25Jefferson Fisher?

  Oh, my gosh, yeah, they're, they're competitive. Yeah, it's, we play, we tried Monopoly, uh, introduced Monopoly. It about went as well as it.

• 58:34Speaker 01

  Everybody followed.

• 58:35Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, it was, eh, eh, any game, any game, Uno, you name it. Um, but yeah, it's, it's a lot, it's a lot of that. But no, the show is, uh, fantastic because I think it's also hitting, uh, I s- I feel like it's hitting, uh, a section that just is not being talked about. And also just in terms of just sitcoms that are out. Uh, but it is also clean. It's also, like you said, not twisted. And it has so much of like your flavor to it, although the story is not yours.

• 59:06Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 59:06Jefferson Fisher?

  Um, it allows, I think, everybody to go, I see, I, I see that family member. I see that grandmother. I see that person, that uncle, that whatever. That there's really.

• 59:18Speaker 01

  And honey, how many people? How many people have been left? I didn't, because he wanted, you know, the premise to be that my husband had left me after thirty four years and had, and had an affair and got somebody pregnant. And I was like, that's harsh. And, but I didn't want it based on my real life. You know, Chuck and I are together. I didn't want that because that would be weird. But he said, we've got to have conflict land. And he goes, I think that the most important thing for people is to, everybody goes through something bad.

• 59:47Jefferson Fisher?

  Mm hmm.

• 59:48Speaker 01

  Whether it's an illness, loss of job, you're, you get a divorce, whatever. And he said, um, people need to know that you can pull yourself up out of it with the help of your family and friends. And at first I kind of thought it and I was like, I don't know if I want, I mean, this, um, but I, it has. I have people come up to me in airports and all the time. I had two women last night at Zany say to me, our husbands have walked off and left us after thirty something years, but we're okay, we're okay, and we love your show. And I have that all the time. I just didn't realize how many people had gone through that.

• 1:00:27Jefferson Fisher?

  Hmm.

• 1:00:28Speaker 01

  And after a long marriage and it ends, and people have found hope out of that, that they can find love again or that they can, they'll be okay. And in that's sweet.

• 1:00:38Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:39Speaker 01

  And I just thought, you know, Chuck Lorre came up with a premise, but he knows what he's doing. And so that ended up being, um, something that people could relate to. And even if it wasn't a divorce, you know, everybody goes through valleys.

• 1:00:52Jefferson Fisher?

  Sure.

• 1:00:54Speaker 01

  In their life. And so that's good. And then the sister, my sister relationship, that people compare that to Lucy and Ethel. I don't, I don't, you know, I'm in love with Lucille Ball. I don't, I wouldn't dare even say that. But it's really sweet what people said about it.

• 1:01:10Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:10Speaker 01

  And critics like it. And it won an Emmy.

• 1:01:13Jefferson Fisher?

  It did.

• 1:01:13Speaker 01

  And it was up for two Emmys. I've got, I've got the best crew in the, in the world. They've all been with Chuck Lorre. They've done all these unbelievable shows. And they wanted it to be authentic to me. Chuck Lorre's saying, he came to Knoxville and sat on my back porch and had lunch. And he said, I, I, and I told him, I go, people always want to stereotype the South and like that we're down to it, that we're, you know, pitiful people, uneducated people, that, and that we're struggling. And I go, I don't, that's not what's authentic to me. And I don't want to portray the South like that.

• 1:01:45Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 1:01:45Speaker 01

  And so that's why he brought in people, the people that got nominated for an Emmy, the set design. And they want, they actually went to Knoxville, the, the house that you see when my show comes on is a house in Knoxville, in a neighborhood. And they, the set design is very Southern living and very beautiful fabrics and a beautiful kitchen.

• 1:02:06Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:06Speaker 01

  Uh huh. And they wanted that to honor me that way. And then the script, they gave me the script, but for every, uh, um, I get it on Sunday. And they say, you, Lynn, you, we, you know, we're not Southern. You go through here and tell us what you would say, what you wouldn't say. And I can punch it up. They'll take my jokes.

• 1:02:25Jefferson Fisher?

  Yep.

• 1:02:26Speaker 01

  You know, we'll try them. And so it's all very collaborative. It's very sweet. And they've all been very sweet about, because I wanted church scenes.

• 1:02:34Jefferson Fisher?

  Yes.

• 1:02:35Speaker 01

  You know, and they, um, and a lot of them, you know, weren't raised in the, you know, a little country church.

• 1:02:42Jefferson Fisher?

  Right.

• 1:02:42Speaker 01

  So they are very open to what I have to say. And I think they nailed it. I mean, I think they've really gotten my voice, especially in the second season. You know, it takes time.

• 1:02:51Jefferson Fisher?

  For sure.

• 1:02:51Speaker 01

  For everybody to learn how to work together. And I've got the, and writing staff, and we all giggle and have a ball. And everybody all say it. I mean, it's really been sweet.

• 1:02:59Jefferson Fisher?

  Well, you, you do amazing with it. I can tell you, as, as a Southerner, it's, I think it hits.

• 1:03:05Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:03:05Jefferson Fisher?

  I re- I re- I really do. And I know it resonates. I'm one of many voices that resonates. Also, Sierra, the other night, uh, was cackling at her phone. And rarely does she cackle at her phone. That's why I'm like, okay, something's really funny. And she goes, I just had to bring up Leanne's CrossFit bit again. And she was just rolling, uh, at it. So I can tell you, your stuff resonates.

• 1:03:30Speaker 01

  Well, killer. Thank you.

• 1:03:31Jefferson Fisher?

  I sure will. It resonates, uh, resonates with everybody. I want everybody who's listening to watch, we got season two.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  Season two.

• 1:03:39Jefferson Fisher?

  Of Leanne.

• 1:03:40Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. And I'm going to be out in a movie.

• 1:03:42Jefferson Fisher?

  Yes.

• 1:03:43Speaker 01

  In February twenty seven with Glenn Powell, a Judd Apatow movie called The Comeback King.

• 1:03:50Jefferson Fisher?

  That's gonna be awesome.

• 1:03:51Speaker 01

  And I think it's gonna be hilarious, hilarious.

• 1:03:55Jefferson Fisher?

  He's a, he's a, um, long corn, UT Austin.

• 1:03:57Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, he is. Oh, yeah, he was at the UT Tennessee game the other day.

• 1:04:01Jefferson Fisher?

  That's right.

• 1:04:01Speaker 01

  And I didn't get to go. Chuck Morgan met him.

• 1:04:03Jefferson Fisher?

  I watched the game. I'm a, uh, we went to University of Texas.

• 1:04:06Speaker 01

  I know. And honey, Archman and that doll.

• 1:04:09Jefferson Fisher?

  I know it.

• 1:04:10Speaker 01

  If we can't win, I want y'all to win. I thought we did pretty well against y'all. Y'all number one.

• 1:04:15Jefferson Fisher?

  But, but y'all did good.

• 1:04:16Speaker 01

  We did.

• 1:04:17Jefferson Fisher?

  I would say.

• 1:04:17Speaker 01

  We did. I was, I wasn't so torn up as I thought I was going to be. But yeah, and Peyton Manning, God love him, because he mentors that baby, Arch.

• 1:04:25Jefferson Fisher?

  That's right. That whole family.

• 1:04:26Speaker 01

  You know, that was hard for him and the whole darling.

• 1:04:28Jefferson Fisher?

  That whole, yeah, for sure. But yeah, I think you're gonna, uh, I've not met Glenn, but I've heard he's.

• 1:04:34Speaker 01

  Darling.

• 1:04:34Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, I've, I've heard he's.

• 1:04:35Speaker 01

  Down to earth.

• 1:04:37Jefferson Fisher?

  His whole family. I've heard his, his family is fantastic.

• 1:04:39Speaker 01

  He brings his mom and daddy everywhere.

• 1:04:41Jefferson Fisher?

  Yes.

• 1:04:42Speaker 01

  Loves his sisters. Precious.

• 1:04:45Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:45Speaker 01

  But Texas boys are sweet.

• 1:04:47Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:47Speaker 01

  Texas boys are sweet. And my, my middle child's living up in New York and she's dating and doing. But I go, mm, you want to, I think you might want a Southern boy.

• 1:04:58Jefferson Fisher?

  Get you something.

• 1:04:59Speaker 01

  Because they want to marry and have babies and stuff. And honey, we're all about babies. But those Texas boys are sweet. And Glenn Powell is very sweet. And, and then I'll do another special at the end of this tour. I'll shoot another one.

• 1:05:13Jefferson Fisher?

  When's the end of this tour?

• 1:05:14Speaker 01

  Prob- at the end of two thousand twenty seven, probably. So I'll tour all next year and people can go to leannmorgan.com for tickets. Don't go to a third party. Don't Google.

• 1:05:24Jefferson Fisher?

  No third party.

• 1:05:25Speaker 01

  No third party.

• 1:05:26Jefferson Fisher?

  Leann Morgan dot com?

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  It'll be, something will be messed up. I'm telling you, go to leannmorgan.com for tickets.

• 1:05:31Jefferson Fisher?

  We're gonna be putting all the links on there.

• 1:05:32Speaker 01

  Yes. And we're about to announce two thousand twenty seven dates. They're not out yet, but we're about to announce them.

• 1:05:39Jefferson Fisher?

  That's exciting. Can't wait. Thank you so much for spending time with me.

• 1:05:43Speaker 01

  Honey, you angel, thank you for having me, you doll.

• 1:05:47Jefferson Fisher?

  It's really been wonderful.

• 1:05:48Speaker 01

  I could talk to you for four more hours.

• 1:05:50Jefferson Fisher?

  Same, same. I feel, I feel like, uh, I don't know what it is about at least, um, Southern people, because it's like, I feel like we grew up in the same house. Uh, everybody's, you know, I grew up.

• 1:06:05Speaker 01

  Around a bunch of family. I grew up with all my aunts, uncles, grandparents.

• 1:06:10Jefferson Fisher?

  We had a Walmart and Chili's. That's about, and a KFC Taco Bell duo.

• 1:06:15Speaker 01

  Well, that's kind of hope to do, honey.

• 1:06:16Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:17Speaker 01

  I'm from a town of five hundred people. Now, now that you're living in Tennessee.

• 1:06:21Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:22Speaker 01

  There is a legend. It's a demon. I like to call it a demon because I'm a believer. I was raised in this little town. It's on the Kentucky Tennessee border. The Bell Witch. It's part of Tennessee history because Andrew Jackson.

• 1:06:40Speaker 01

  Came to investigate and his wagon wheels locked up and he couldn't turn around. Nashville was the capital at the time. And as it is now, but it was, they were thinking about it being Adams where I was raised because of dark fire tobacco and such rich farmland.

• 1:06:54Jefferson Fisher?

  Okay.

• 1:06:55Speaker 01

  The Bell Witch during the 1800s, there's been movies about it. Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek did a movie. There's been several plays written, books in Tennessee history. Little children used to have to write a book report on it in fourth grade. They don't anymore. But that's where I was raised with this demon, the Bell Witch. So you can Google that and learn about it's fascinating. And it was the Bell family and, and Mr. Bell had run for president in the Whig party. So anyway, now that you're in Tennessee and that's my people. Um, that's what, where I'm from, what that's known for. And there is a museum in the schoolhouse and the Bell Witch has got more room than I do.

• 1:07:40Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:41Speaker 01

  So they're trying to change that. They asked for my prom dress, we'll see.

• 1:07:45Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:45Speaker 01

  But anyway, um, the Bell Witch.

• 1:07:48Jefferson Fisher?

  I, yeah, I, I see how this goes. I give you Glenn Powell from Texas, you give me the Bell Witch. Even trade, even trade.

• 1:07:56Speaker 01

  Don't turn around in a mirror and say her name 12 times. I'm just telling you, or three times, whatever it was.

• 1:08:01Jefferson Fisher?

  I don't do scary, and to be honest with you, I'm, I.

• 1:08:04Speaker 01

  I don't like scary.

• 1:08:05Jefferson Fisher?

  I'm not a Halloween person.

• 1:08:06Speaker 01

  I'm not a Halloween person.

• 1:08:08Jefferson Fisher?

  If you give, if you put out in your front yard, some type of skeleton, or you dress up as some kind of scary zombie or just some demonic, I can't do it.

• 1:08:20Speaker 01

  I can't do it, honey. My children went to a fall festival at the church.

• 1:08:23Jefferson Fisher?

  That's right.

• 1:08:24Speaker 01

  Now, I've got these grandbabies and they put on dinosaur outfits. And I make sure that I've got little sweet pumpkins out front. I like a hay bale.

• 1:08:34Jefferson Fisher?

  I'm good with pumpkins, I'm good with hay.

• 1:08:36Speaker 01

  Uh huh. But nobody, there's not going to be any kind of dance and grim reaper and all that mess. I'm not doing all that.

• 1:08:43Jefferson Fisher?

  My mom always said that's yucky. That was, that was her word. It's, that's yucky. Like she just won't, and I, I don't like it either. I don't understand how people can like all this skeleton. So when we drive around.

• 1:08:55Speaker 01

  And in LA, I was shooting when, and it's all, Halloween's a big deal. Not Christmas some, but not like it's Halloween. And I don't know if because people made horror movies out there. I don't know what it is.

• 1:09:09Jefferson Fisher?

  I don't like that.

• 1:09:10Speaker 01

  But it's in the yards, big, huge skeletons. And I'm not into that either.

• 1:09:14Jefferson Fisher?

  Okay, well, good. I'm, I'm at least.

• 1:09:16Speaker 01

  But, and I wouldn't, I didn't want to be raised with a demon. I'm just telling you, I was raised with a demon.

• 1:09:21Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah, well, I can say, um, also as a believer, that it is so evident how God has had his hand over your life from truly day one and the babies you've raised and the people you've touched.

• 1:09:36Speaker 01

  Thank you, Jefferson. He has loved me in my darkest hour.

• 1:09:40Jefferson Fisher?

  Same here.

• 1:09:40Speaker 01

  No matter what.

• 1:09:42Jefferson Fisher?

  Same here. I, I've, I've told so many people, I've, I have been the one he left the 99 for so many times. And, um, I know that what you share is so much deeper, um, of what has to be felt at home and what you have to, not just the decisions, but just the amount of things on your shoulders. I can just, it's just evident. And maybe even you can't see it.

• 1:10:12Speaker 01

  Thank you, my darling. And I always in my comedy, I've talked about, you know, I made terrible mistakes in the eighties, um, but I've been redeemed.

• 1:10:20Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:20Speaker 01

  And I want people to know, and I look, people ask me, what would you say to your 17 year old self, you know, flailing at the University of Tennessee and making terrible grades and just lost.

• 1:10:30Jefferson Fisher?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:31Speaker 01

  I'd say, it's going to be okay, honey. And look, God's with you through the whole thing.

• 1:10:35Jefferson Fisher?

  That's right.

• 1:10:36Speaker 01

  And, um, so I, I, I've done churches, I've done comedy in churches, but I wanted to be mainstream because I thought maybe I can plant a seed. You know, I can be in a comedy club and talk about my Sunday school class, or my kids go to this school or whatever, or their Bible teacher doesn't believe in Halloween. Um, just something, because I wanted to be real, like Johnny Cash. I always thought about Johnny Cash as a believer and we talked about prison and he talked about being addicted and all that. I want to be real and I want to be honest with people. And I want to, but I want to, um, so that I can share what is, look at what's happened

• 1:11:15Speaker 01

  in my life and I've got, I'm okay and I'm loved and they are loved and, you know, God never leaves you.

• 1:11:23Jefferson Fisher?

  Nope.

• 1:11:24Speaker 01

  We may leave him, Jesus doesn't leave us, you know?

• 1:11:28Jefferson Fisher?

  That's right. I, um, that hits me because how I, there was a point in my life where I just, I had to be rescued, you know, I truly had to be rescued. And, um, there's a guy who called me, you probably know him, but, um, it was, it was, um, I don't know if we'll share this later, but it was Chip Gaines of Chip and Joanna.

• 1:11:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:11:57Jefferson Fisher?

  And he called me and said, hey, you don't know me and I just need to tell you that you don't know it, but I see your content and you're, you're, you're planting seeds, he said, and I feel like God just told me you need to call him and just know him and tell him this. He said, I don't really have anything else to say other than just tell you that. And what he said was that old adage of always be preaching the gospel and rarely use words. And I, um, or if necessary, use words. And so what I can say, uh, without a doubt is, um, you talk a lot about humor, you, you

• 1:12:41Jefferson Fisher?

  also plant a lot of seeds, Leah.

• 1:12:43Speaker 01

  Thank you, my darling.

• 1:12:44Jefferson Fisher?

  Thank you for coming with me.