“I’m a church-going grandmama from the south who is in menopause with a weak pelvic floor,” comedian Leanne Morgan laughingly told us in her sweet, Tennessee accent on the set of her new multi-cam sitcom premiering July 31. That kind of real talk made Morgan’s “I’m Every Woman” Netflix stand-up special a hit – so much of a hit that the streamer ordered two more of those specials, plus these 16 scripted episodes produced by the legendary Chuck Lorre.

On Leanne, Morgan plays a fictionalized version of herself, a 60-something Knoxvillian restarting her life after hubs/college sweetheart, Bill (Ryan Stiles), leaves her for another woman. Younger, wilder sis Carol (comedy vet Kristen Johnston, a one-liner queen) helps Leanne put down the lasagna, get out of bed, deal with her adult kids and aging parents, and start dating.

Morgan says, “I have a love interest with Tim Daly. The weeks he’s here, I eat Altoids and lose weight.”

On set, Morgan and Johnston kept us laughing while spilling more about the show and what it means to be making TV for women in their 50s.

How did this show come to be?

Leanne Morgan: I always dreamed of this since I was a little bitty girl. I’ve had development deals before, but that never got anywhere, honey. I was in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I would get in a deep depression thinking I was going to be a movie star and then it wouldn’t happen. I look back on it and I think, oh my gosh, this is how it was meant to be. Chuck Lorre. Have you ever?

Kristen Johnston: I had such a great time on Mom and became really good friends with Susan McMartin and Nick Bakay, and obviously Chuck. He called me a year ago and was like, “Do you know Leanne Morgan?” I’m not a big standup person, so I didn’t. And he was like, “We’re going to do a show about her and her sister.” I watched it and called him after 15 minutes. I was like, she is brilliant. There’s something about her that is so magical. My respect and love for her has only grown since working with her.

Morgan: I loved Kristen on 3rd Rock from the Sun and everything she’s ever been in. When they said, “We think y’all are going to have a wonderful chemistry,” I was tickled to death.

Let’s hear more about these sisters.

Morgan: Leanne has made Carol live with her because she’s been so torn up over her husband leaving. She’s trying to find herself. She’s finding out, I don’t have to have a man and I can be my own person. Leanne’s got this daughter, honey, that’s off the chain, I guess is what the young people call it, and is out doing God knows what, but Leanne loves her and is trying to be patient.

Johnston: Carol has her own heartbreak and has just come back from Chicago. It’s the two of us trying to forge through our 50s and survive, basically. I love the dynamic — Leanne’s very charming and fun and darling and kind of very southern, and Carol’s got a city edge, a darker, edgier vibe. Leanne is in Carol’s eyes so perfect. Carol feels like it’s her life’s goal to kind of take her down a couple notches.

Are your characters like you?

Morgan: Chuck Morgan and I are so boring. Really and truly. There’s times that I could, honey, whip him. He is a very attentive man, very introverted, very quiet. And then he married me. So yes, we do have conflict. But Chuck Lorre said, I think we need a twist of my husband leaving me after 30-something years. But a lot of the stuff really has happened to me. That’s what’s going to be so sweet about this.

Johnston: I have a family, but I don’t have kids. I have four dogs. My life is very similar to Carol in that way. I have been where she is. A woman in your 50s to not have kids? You feel like people think your life doesn’t have meaning. But it does, in a different way, for me. My family are so important to me, and friendships, and my mom. There’s just so much that gives me so much joy. Carol’s not at that place where she’s figured it out yet.

What did you have to learn?

Morgan: It was a big challenge for me learning blocking and all that business. If you’ll notice, they put a bunch of pros around me, and that helps.

Johnston: I’m trying to be her guide without freaking her out. It helped forge a very sisterly relationship, really fast. Just total trust and total relying only on each other. I’ve done a general Southern accent for The Righteous Gemstones, but this is specific to Knoxville. We had a dialect coach the first week but once you’re around Leanne, you start talking like her.

Why will audiences love this series?

Morgan: I do think that women out in the middle of the United States will relate to this because so many women find themselves at my age, if they haven’t gone through a divorce and they’re still with their husbands, they’re like, what am I going to do now?

Johnston:  When I did Mom, there is a huge community of women that have hit their 50s in the last few years, and they are starving for something that connects to them. [They’re saying] “Why is nothing [on TV] for me? I don’t want to watch a high school show or a show about people killing each other.” When I did Mom, I heard from so many women that were so excited to see themselves represented by a bunch of women friends. I would’ve done [that show] for the rest of my life. I feel like this is a kind of a weird offshoot of it, even though it’s not about recovery, but it is about women of a certain age and their experience in a very funny way. Hopefully people who connected to Mom will connect to this.

Leanne, Series Premiere, Thursday, July 31, Netflix