What in the World?!: A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings

Leanne Morgan is an author, actor, and stand-up comedian from rural Tennessee. What in the World!? is a memoir that traces her life from early childhood to finally “making it” in comedy later in life.

From an early age, Morgan was eager to “dazzle,” and her family’s store was her first “personal stage” where her mother would sit her on the counter to tell customers stories while she checked out their groceries. Morgan performed every chance she got and didn’t let little things like not having access to dance lessons stop her from stomping around the living room and putting on shows for unsuspecting salesmen and delivery people. Morgan’s early confidence was “spoken into [her]” by her mother and other relatives, who constantly told her she was “special” and “so funny” (5). However, her childhood confidence began to dissolve when she entered young adulthood and faced the reality that being pretty and charming wasn’t enough to succeed. The pillars of her identity were being “cute and fun;” her small-town high school lacked academic rigor, and Morgan had further neglected her studies in favor of fixing her hair and putting on “her face.” Morgan went through a period of feeling “directionless,” dropping out of college to marry a “crazy boy.