Comedian Leanne Morgan Says Her Utah Ski-Lift Fall Felt Like a Sign From God

Stand-up comedian Leanne Morgan, now 60, is back on Netflix with a new hourlong comedy special filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she talks openly about family life, her late rise to fame, and a chaotic ski-lift fall in Utah that she believes carried a powerful message. The special arrived a few months after the release of her first sitcom and continues her momentum as one of comedy’s most relatable voices.

Morgan explains that she grew up in a tiny town of about 500 people on the Kentucky–Tennessee border and always considered herself more of a beach person than a mountain person. She jokes that she would happily live by the ocean “if I hit it big someday,” but says her husband Chuck doesn’t indulge that dream. She also recalls that early in their marriage, Chuck insisted she learn how to ski and even bought her a high-quality ski outfit that she ended up wearing for 15 years because of how expensive it was.

Her first skiing attempt happened in Beaver Creek, Colorado, where she joined a beginner class taught by a man she swears looked exactly like Mitt Romney. Morgan hoped to be the “young, cute, fun, ski girl,” but a harsh cold front quickly froze those expectations. She remembers snow blasting sideways and visibility so poor she could barely see her own hand. The instructor told the group he might have to check their noses for frostbite if they made it down the mountain because the temperature had hit 19 below zero, leaving her wondering why anyone considered this fun.

Morgan says her next ski trip was even tougher because her children were only 3, 5, and 7 at the time. Chuck announced he was taking the whole family from Tennessee to Colorado for a week of snow skiing, which she compares—only half-jokingly—to working in a coal mine. Because of her husband’s strict budgeting, they rented an apartment three towns away from the mountain, forcing them to wake the kids extremely early each morning to prepare for the ski lift. She describes dressing three half-asleep children in multiple layers as so exhausting it felt like she had “hoed an acre of tobacco.”

Despite the rocky experiences, the family continued going skiing every year because Chuck and the kids loved it. Morgan says her own skiing journey officially ended at age 47 during a trip to Alta, Utah, where she once again wore the same tight ski outfit Chuck had bought years earlier. Although she intended to ski, something went wrong on the lift and she fell off into the snow while the chairs kept moving above her. She stayed on the ground until a long-haired resort worker approached and told her to get up.

Morgan says she barely remembers how she stood up or made it to the top of the mountain, but her son witnessed everything and kept reassuring her she was fine. She insisted she wasn’t and told him, “God spoke to me.” She clarified that it wasn’t an audible voice but something she felt strongly in her heart urging her to “get off these things” and spend the rest of the week sitting at the pizza shack instead.

Near the end of her special, Morgan also reflects on her Christian faith and how it has guided her family. She and Chuck were both raised in church and wanted the same for their children, even though she admits their family is far from perfect. She says faith kept them grounded through dysfunction and tells her audience, “Hallelujah, we have the Lord.”