At age 63, Leanne Morgan bud Karen Mills headlines first solo theater tour

by Fulton Watch News Feed

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mills fondly recalls her formative stand-up years at the Punchline in the 1990s doing open mics and opening for folks like Nashville’s Henry Cho, pre-“Daily Show” Jon Stewart and pre-”Blue Collar Comedy Tour” Ron White.

She said co-owner Dave Montesano told her to stop telling basic set-up/punchline jokes and start telling more stories. He recommended she take a comedy writing class led by Jeff Justice, which Justice has been doing for 34 years.

Justice, in an interview this week, said when he learned Mills was a great college basketball player, he was stunned she had never used that material on stage. He convinced her to begin mining her own life for jokes.

“She turned into a great storyteller,” Justice said. “She can take day-to-day normal things and make funny stories out of them. And she never quit. She is true perseverance in this business.”

Mills kept grinding away at the business. In 2004, during a Southern Fried Chicks comedy tour, she and Morgan became best buds.

Morgan almost called it quits in 2019 after selling 20 tickets in Chicago, Mills recalled. Morgan decided to hire a couple of young social media dudes to market her on social media. It worked. Clips from a YouTube special Morgan posted went viral on TikTok and Instagram. After the pandemic hit, Morgan kept doing videos and built an audience.

By the time Morgan was able to get back on the road, she was able to move enough tickets to sell out theaters. And she brought Mills along with her.

“I’ve done almost 90% of her dates,” Mills said. “I was at the Fox Theatre last year when she headlined. That was a thrill for me. The Fox is so special to me having started in Atlanta. It was a dream come true.”

Mills survived ovarian cancer in…

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