Comedian Leanne Morgan’s Netflix special dropped in early April, but it wasn’t until a doom-scrolling evening that I came across it. And once I did, I couldn’t look away.
I am not a fan of most female comics. I do not find they accurately represent me, my dry, irreverent (sometimes awkwardly dark) sense of humor, and still embody my family values. In fact, most female comics annoy the crap out of me because I want them to grow up and get over their awkward insecurities and be powerful. But Leanne Morgan’s special has changed my entire perspective on this unique demographic, and she is still making me giggle weeks after watching her special “I’m Every Woman.”
If you’re like me, you’d never heard of Morgan before this special. Despite a 22-year career in comedy, Morgan’s work never made it over the pond, and she’s been sheltered from my site since moving to the U.S. But boy, am I grateful that God brought her into my life.
Morgan is a powerful southern woman, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. Hailing from Tennessee, her accent is a thick drawl that you can’t help but be absorbed by. From within that drawl comes an honest, refreshing breath of clean air in a world so dark and murky it’s sometimes hard to remember that we’re allowed to laugh.
The preview Netflix chose to show me was of Morgan talking about a diet pill she, her sister and mother took way back when. When she asked the audience whether they remember the particular pill (I did not), the entire place roared in response. So Morgan explained how that pill was basically crack.
As the audience screamed laughing, I realized that Morgan is tapping into a demographic of women who are largely ignored by the mainstream media: the archetype American woman. (RELATED: ‘1923’: Your Acting Icons Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before (REVIEW AND SPOILERS)
In this one special, she presents a viewpoint and identity that is heavily glossed over by Hollywood. She welcomes millions of American women into the mainstream, and is so good at it that every man I know who’s seen the special absolutely loved it too.
And she’s not done yet. Morgan is also appearing in the Pure Flix feature “Sun Moon,” about a woman who gets left at the altar, so escapes to Taiwan to heal her agony. The trailer for it is pretty darn beautiful and laugh-out-loud funny too.
Morgan is an inspiration already, and I really, really, really want to be her when I grow up (just not on stage, because that scares me). Watch the trailer for “I’m Every Woman” here, and then go watch the full special. It’ll make you feel so, so good about life: