I'm Every Woman
Netflix · 2023 · 74 min
A Southern grandmother's cozy, slow-drawled guide to aging.
Leanne Morgan on stage feels less like a traditional stand-up comic and more like a neighbor who came over, poured a giant glass of sweet tea, and started telling you secrets about her marriage. Her comedy thrives on the quiet absurdities of middle-aged domesticity. She spends a significant portion of her set detailing her absolute devotion to giant, high-waisted Vanity Fair underwear, the baffling weight of her brawny grandbaby, and the Southern ritual of the Jell-O salad. It is an act built entirely on the unhurried rhythms of a woman who has spent decades observing family life from her kitchen in East Tennessee.
Filmed at the Lexington Opera House in Kentucky during her 100-city The Big Panty tour, this 2023 Netflix release marked a massive breakout for Morgan at the age of 57. Though she had been working the road for over two decades, originally starting her career by telling jokes at home jewelry parties to make extra money, this was her first major platform special. The release was a major success, quickly becoming one of Netflix’s most-viewed stand-up specials of the year and cementing her late-stage career resurgence.
While some comedy critics occasionally debate whether her long-form storytelling counts as standard joke-writing, the crowd in Lexington offers a definitive answer. Morgan holds the theater in complete captivity with her thick drawl and self-deprecating perspective on aging, menopause, and her husband’s frugal habits. This breakthrough hour eventually secured her a multi-project deal with the streamer, including a sitcom co-created with Chuck Lorre.
The set list
-
Wearing a girdle and feeling back fat slip out
Notes she was cute in the 1980s, playfully wishing she could blame COVID or Vladimir Putin for her present physical state.
-
Household staple of Jell-O salad
Recalls making Jell-O salad a family staple, especially during the pandemic when caring for elderly parents.
-
Thirty-year marriage to her Type A husband Chuck
Contrasts his industrious history of running a Burger King at 15 with her own underachieving, fun-loving nature, and jokes about him being underfoot during the pandemic.
-
Oldest son raising 200 chickens in college
Contrasts her son's work ethic with the 'horrible things' she was doing at the University of Tennessee in 1983.
-
Aging, menopause, and dating in her 50s
Wonders how single friends date men who all use CPAP machines and warns women in their 30s about perimenopause sweats.
-
Buying pilot lessons for her husband
Regrets the gift because he now wants to fly her to gigs in tiny planes that weigh passengers before boarding.
-
Taking Dexatrim supplements at age 17
Reflects on taking dietary speed with her family and how her parenting standards slacked off by the third child.
How it plays
- Tone
- Warm, relatable, welcoming, conversational, and self-directed without being mean-spirited or cynical.
- On stage
- Nurturing, family-friendly, self-deprecating Southern woman, authentic and relatable, proudly wearing big panties and a girdle.
- Pace
- Well-paced, spot-on comedic timing, utilizing slight physical movements and swaying rather than frantic energy.
- About
- motherhood and parenting, marriage and relationships, aging and menopause, Jell-O salad and family food traditions, body image and underwear, COVID-19 pandemic life
What the critics said
Praised as a relatable, smart, welcoming, and hilarious special that showcases her sharp observations on family life, aging, and Southern motherhood.
In the room: Warm and affirmed, engaging closely with Morgan's self-deprecating anecdotes and approval-seeking rapport.
Backstory
Taped when she was 57 years old as a grandmother living in Tennessee, reflecting on decades of marriage, raising three kids into adulthood, pandemic experiences, and aging.
Details
- Released
- Runtime
- 74 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Manny Rodriguez
- Honors
- Top ten comedy specials on Netflix
- Topics
- Before
- So Yummy (2018)
- After
- Unspeakable Things (2025)
More from Leanne Morgan
-
Unspeakable Things
Netflix
-
So Yummy
Comedy Dynamics
If you liked this
-
Kathleen Madigan Hunting Bigfoot
Prime Video
-
Kathleen Madigan Bothering Jesus
Netflix
-
Cristela Alonzo Middle Classy
Netflix
-
Cristela Alonzo The Half Hour
Comedy Central
