Episode Transcript
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The world loves us when we are good, better,
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best life now? My name is Kate Bowler, and
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I know about life's unexpected turns
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On my show, Everything Happens, I sit down
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Listen to Everything Happens, wherever you
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1:03
Lemonada.
1:07
Okay, actually, can you
1:10
just pretend
1:13
that you're listening to a fully complete
1:15
theme song
1:25
here? I'm going to be honest,
1:27
I got really in my head, and I tried to make it perfect, and I couldn't. So
1:30
this is going to be the theme song right here.
1:38
Hello and welcome to another episode of Funny Cause It's
1:40
True. I'm Elise Myers. I am so lucky
1:43
to be talking to my guest today, Fortune Feimster.
1:45
She is someone that I have wanted to chat with on this podcast
1:48
for a while now, so today feels a little
1:50
bit like a dream come true, like personally for
1:52
me. We had a blast diving into character
1:54
alter egos, hoarding wigs, and her start
1:56
at the Groundlings Theater. Fortune is
1:58
a dynamic onscreen person. and somehow
2:01
talking to her in real life in like a conversation
2:03
is even better. We talked about Fortune's
2:05
transition from entertainment journalism to stand-up
2:07
comedy, the ups and downs of life as
2:09
an actor and a writer, and also her life before
2:11
comedy. So two things that are funny because they're
2:13
true. Number one, Fortune was in a
2:15
well-known theater and sketch group called The Groundlings,
2:18
which I mentioned in my intro, but
2:20
the entire time she talks about it, I for
2:22
sure thought she was saying growlings. So
2:25
I said growlings so confidently
2:28
without a single hesitation in my voice, and
2:29
then I didn't find out until the listen back that
2:32
that was wrong. So perfect. And
2:35
number two, I got an unexpected sneak peek
2:37
in how Chelsea Handler hires her staff. So that's really
2:39
fun.
2:40
All right, let's get into it.
2:46
Okay, Fortune, we made it. We did it. Look at us. It's
2:48
funny because I follow your TikTok a lot
2:51
and you have these characters you do where... What
2:54
is it? Barbara or no? Oh, Brenda. Brenda,
2:56
yeah. You
2:58
have the pearls, you do the blonde wig,
3:01
and I really want to know how that started.
3:04
Yeah, it's this character that I created
3:07
on set one day. I was
3:09
filming something and they were way behind,
3:11
and
3:12
acting is all about just being
3:15
able to sit around for six hours, six to eight
3:17
hours before you do anything. And
3:20
they had me dressed up in this crazy outfit
3:22
like denim and turquoise.
3:26
They straighten my hair because everyone thinks
3:28
it's hilarious to see me with straight hair. Why?
3:30
Any comedy show, they're like, and now we should straighten
3:33
your hair. And I'm like, okay. Okay.
3:36
I don't know. I guess because it's different than
3:39
my hair that I've had forever. Which
3:42
isn't the best thing to internalize as a child
3:44
because then you just believe your curly hair is pretty much garbage,
3:46
but it's fine. I'm still working it out in
3:48
adulthood.
3:48
So I was dressed like
3:51
this and bored. And
3:53
I was like, I'm just going to start, you
3:56
know, entertaining myself. So I started
3:58
filming videos just kind of making it. up this voice
4:01
like hey y'all it's me
4:03
Brenda I'm just chillin
4:05
here yelling at my husband
4:07
Tim and
4:10
what I loved about it was just like she would
4:13
love them and then hate them and then love them and
4:15
hate them which I guess is how I see
4:17
women and straight marriages. Hi y'all
4:22
it's me Brenda you know where I
4:25
am my cousin Sheila is doing my
4:27
hair oh my god
4:30
Tim is gonna be so excited. Tim Tim
4:32
Tim
4:34
get on
4:36
in here uh his
4:38
buddies just showed up with beer I thought
4:41
we were gonna have a little us time Tim
4:44
I told them to come back later I swear
4:47
I just put the kids to bed and also
4:50
I grew up in North Carolina with a lot of women like that
4:53
and so I posted these videos
4:55
online and everyone was like more Brenda
4:57
so anytime I do anything everyone's
4:59
like more Brenda you're like what have I done
5:01
just alter ego baby
5:05
I was wondering cuz I know that you've shared photos
5:07
of your childhood in your specials and
5:09
you've talked a little bit about being a debutant oh
5:11
gosh yes so I didn't know if maybe
5:14
that had something to do with it well I hated
5:16
the debutant days my mom
5:19
forced
5:19
me to do it and I want to know part of
5:21
it because you know they're trying to back
5:24
back then teach you to be a lady to have manners
5:27
which again is
5:28
kind of the opposite it's a
5:31
lot me I'm like in tennis shoes and
5:33
all these like luncheons
5:35
my mom made me do National Charity League
5:38
when I was in high school to kind of get like
5:40
extra curriculars on my you
5:42
know applications when I go to college I
5:45
made it to maybe one and a half events
5:47
because everyone was so mean it was
5:50
not a good
5:50
experience but
5:52
funny enough I so I studied at the ground
5:55
wings I was at the ground wings theater in Los
5:57
Angeles for like seven years
5:59
it's a for anybody who doesn't
6:01
know it's a very famous improv
6:03
and sketch comedy school where like Will
6:06
Ferrell Kristen Wiig Melissa
6:08
McCarthy Phil Hartman all these people
6:10
went there and and we're in this
6:13
group Anyway, the
6:15
whole school is all about
6:17
creating characters Like if you
6:19
went there and you kept going up the ladder you just
6:21
accumulated more and more wigs more
6:24
and more costumes and
6:26
I even though I like
6:30
You know on the tomboy side. I When
6:34
I play characters don't mind
6:36
Being a lady Yeah,
6:39
and like being really dolled up to
6:41
me. It's like fun I put on
6:43
heels and my my wrists start
6:46
changing and I'm lighter
6:48
and I'm talking different and I
6:50
Don't know. So yeah, I kind of gravitate
6:52
towards these Dainty
6:56
like lady characters sometimes maybe
6:58
because it's so opposite, you know Is that
7:00
something you'd wanted to do for your whole
7:02
life or was it something you found later? I'm
7:05
something I found later, you know from a tiny
7:07
town of like 9,000 people and I
7:12
just didn't know you could
7:14
do any of this for living if you
7:16
had told me that You know, I would
7:18
be a comedian one day. I'd be like, that's not
7:20
a job. That's not real Real
7:23
job. Yeah, so I um,
7:26
I don't know I moved to LA
7:28
kind of for this life experience Really
7:31
didn't expect to be here that
7:33
long but I did theater in
7:35
college, but it wasn't great at it But
7:38
we also weren't doing comedy So
7:40
I don't know if that also was part of
7:42
it. You're like, I don't want to be in Sweeney Todd Like
7:46
my accent was even thicker back then and I'm
7:49
trying
7:49
to do Here like
7:51
come on monologues
7:56
I'm all like can we do steel magnolias?
7:58
Yeah, they're like no
7:59
Check off. But
8:03
you did performing and stuff when you were younger.
8:06
Yeah. But still kind of naive
8:08
about it. So when I moved to LA, I
8:10
saw that the school had fun classes.
8:14
Anyone can do this.
8:15
So I was like, I'm going to do that just
8:17
to make friends and have something
8:19
to do. And so it was really a hobby
8:22
at first, but quickly
8:24
became a passion. And then
8:26
once I got in the thick
8:28
of it, I was like, oh, this is it. Like
8:32
comedy is like my path.
8:35
Did it ever make you want to go on SNL being
8:37
there? Yeah, I tested twice for SNL.
8:41
What was that process like? I mean, you
8:43
know, the most exciting and most terrifying
8:45
experience ever. I
8:48
grew up on SNL even though I
8:50
didn't think I could be a comedian
8:52
for a living. SNL was like
8:55
my happy place. Same.
8:59
Yeah. I recorded it and would like learn all the sketches
9:02
and which we called them skits. I
9:06
would learn them and then perform them for
9:08
my friends. Just
9:10
kind of, you know, softball practice or
9:12
something.
9:13
Oh, I used to sing to my softball team. I
9:16
was just in it because I wanted the uniform and I thought it was cute.
9:19
So I, whenever like we would just be sitting in practice,
9:22
I would just sing. I would sing Colby
9:24
Collet. So I resonate with
9:26
this very hard. You would perform SNL
9:28
skits for your friends? Yeah, Mary Catherine Gallagher
9:31
days. I
9:34
dressed up like that for like our senior
9:36
year performance and I
9:39
love like the cheerleaders, like all the
9:41
silly
9:42
characters is what I gravitated
9:44
towards. So
9:47
yeah, so I just thought it was kind
9:49
of a pipe dream, but like the
9:52
more I went up the ladder at the crowning, I was
9:54
like, wait, this is like maybe
9:56
not a pipe dream and a possibility
9:59
of starting
9:59
to meet people that were in SNL.
10:02
I started to meet managers
10:04
who rep people for there. And
10:07
I
10:09
had a friend, this is like the craziest story
10:11
because here I am in the middle of Hollywood trying to make all
10:13
this happen. And a friend
10:16
on, maybe, I don't know if it was MySpace or
10:18
Facebook, it was 2009. And
10:22
she was like, oh, my friend is a producer
10:25
at SNL. This is like a friend from home, my
10:27
tiny town of 9,000 people. She's
10:29
like, oh, my friend's a producer at SNL. She's like,
10:32
she said, if you
10:34
make a tape, she'll watch it. And I go, what?
10:38
And she goes, yeah, she told me, if you
10:40
make a tape, she'll watch it. And I was like, oh my
10:42
gosh, that can't be real.
10:45
She goes, we went to college together, we were sorority
10:47
sisters. And that's what she said.
10:49
And I said, all right, I didn't even have a manager, I didn't have
10:51
an agent, I had nothing. I was in the groundlings
10:54
in the advanced program. That doesn't just happen.
10:57
Yeah, so I like
10:58
went at home, I'm like doing
11:00
what I think is funny in front of a white wall.
11:03
Oh no, crazy characters, my roommate's filming
11:06
it. And I
11:08
sent it in, didn't think it
11:11
would ever see the light of day. Months
11:14
went by, and it was like near
11:17
the end of summer, I think. I'd just
11:19
gotten a manager, like, I'm telling you, like a week
11:22
into having a manager, and I get
11:24
a phone call. It's like three o'clock
11:26
in the afternoon,
11:28
and it's this producer from SNL.
11:31
And I'm like, what? She's
11:33
like, hey, it's Lindsay from Saturday
11:35
Night Live. And I was like,
11:37
what? And she was
11:39
like. It hangs up, no it isn't. She
11:43
was like, I've been trying to get
11:45
them to watch your tape for like two months.
11:47
It's been sitting here, I've loved it.
11:49
I finally got them to sign off on
11:51
it, and we
11:53
want you to come audition
11:55
for Sign Out Live. Oh my gosh.
11:57
I was like, are you kidding?
11:59
one of those unreal
12:01
like this like you're in an alternate universe situation.
12:04
Yeah. Um, she goes, the only
12:06
catch is, um,
12:08
you have to be on a plane tonight and audition
12:11
to our morning. And I was like, well,
12:14
what? So I called this like random
12:16
manager who was like, wait, what happened?
12:18
And I go, I don't understand either, but this
12:21
is happening. So I had to like
12:23
quickly come up with like
12:25
an audition in like a couple hours
12:28
before I got on plane, which in hindsight
12:30
I think was better because I didn't have all the
12:32
build up and all the time to stress. Yeah.
12:35
So I get on plane the next day. I'm like,
12:38
I'm reading everyone's story about SNL
12:40
and what they did. And like a lot of them went
12:42
to this church and like said a prayer and lit
12:44
a candle. I was
12:47
definitely expecting fortune
12:49
to talk about how she like read up on how
12:52
to prepare your jokes and your characters.
12:54
Um, but I did not expect her to go into
12:57
saying a prayer and lighting a candle in a church.
12:59
Then I, yeah,
13:02
went to the studios and,
13:05
uh, they put in hair and makeup because
13:07
they film it
13:09
and I'm in the dress, someone's dressing
13:11
room. I don't remember at the time. And
13:13
then,
13:14
um, that, that was the
13:16
year of like Kristen Wiig was there
13:18
and Bill Hader and, um,
13:20
but they were, they were quite a few years
13:22
into it.
13:23
Um, they were looking for like the new generation
13:26
after them. And I went
13:29
auditioned and just
13:31
like got shot out of the cannon. I had
13:33
no fears because I was so like,
13:36
this is, you didn't even know what to do. I didn't know. Yeah. I didn't know
13:39
what to expect and just went, and
13:41
it's kind of that, um, old, like
13:44
old school Broadway thing you see where there's
13:46
like a table in the back and it's dark
13:49
and they just highlight little lamps. It
13:51
was like that. That was Lauren and Seth Meyers.
13:54
Um, and whoever else, Marcy
13:57
Klein watching
13:58
you do this thing. And I. I remember I had
14:00
layers of costumes, so
14:03
like, I think I went from like Richard Simmons
14:05
to like the Hooters of Idris,
14:07
to like all these crazy characters. And
14:10
like
14:12
the crew was like, that was awesome.
14:14
The other like people auditioning
14:16
were like, you were in the pocket. It was
14:19
so good. And so I really
14:21
was like, oh my God, like what if
14:23
I got this? And you go home and
14:26
you wait and then you see
14:28
on the internet like
14:29
three weeks later that they've hired three
14:31
new people and you're not one of them. And
14:34
that's how you find out. Really
14:36
no one even calls you to tell you? No one calls you, no.
14:40
It's so old school, but yeah, so,
14:43
but the, but they were like, listen,
14:45
people try like he often times
14:48
have, has people audition
14:50
two times, three times, four times. This
14:52
is not
14:53
the end of the road. So go,
14:55
okay. And so like six months later,
14:57
Lorne and Kristen
15:00
Wiig
15:01
and Seth Meyers and a bunch of people come
15:03
to our Sunday company show and
15:05
they see us all perform live. Did
15:08
you know they were coming ahead of time?
15:10
I think we found out like 10 minutes before
15:12
and we were like, what was that like?
15:14
Terrifying, terrifying. You're just like, you're,
15:17
you're just so nervous, but you got to just, you
15:20
know, your instincts kick in to just like
15:22
push through. And I was doing this Girl
15:25
Scout character at the time who
15:28
eats all the cookies that she's supposed to sell.
15:31
I used to do that for my
15:33
chocolate bars in middle school. I was like
15:35
my biggest customer.
15:37
My parents hated
15:40
when they saw me bring home those white boxes
15:42
of chocolate bars. They knew they would be buying
15:44
me out of the entire box. I was genuinely
15:47
my best customer. I
15:50
like have me as her being interrogated
15:52
by like the Girl Scouts. And
15:56
I just grabbed like a book bag in the, they
15:58
have like a costume closet.
15:59
And afterwards, Kristen Wiig was like, I kept
16:02
staring at your book bag. She goes, that's my childhood
16:04
book bag. I said, what? Whoa.
16:07
She goes, after I, when I, right
16:09
before I got SNL, I just, you know, brought a bunch of like,
16:12
props and things and threw them in the costume
16:14
closet. She goes, that's my childhood book
16:17
bag. I said, that's so
16:19
wild. Oh my gosh. And then
16:21
they brought nine of us out that
16:24
summer from that group, because we had a
16:26
really strong group to
16:29
come audition again. But the
16:31
problem is you've given them all your A material
16:33
already twice. He's seen
16:36
me now audition on video, audition
16:38
in person,
16:39
and then characters on stage.
16:42
I got to do all new stuff from all that. I would
16:44
say that audition was good, but
16:46
not as good as the previous year
16:48
and just didn't get it. And,
16:50
you know, it's devastating at the time because
16:53
you think that's, that
16:55
was it. That was my chance and
16:58
now it's gone. And that was the dream
17:00
for so long. So you're like, what's the new
17:02
dream?
17:04
Okay, we have to take a quick break, but when we come
17:06
back, Fortune tells us how she re-imagined
17:08
her dream after not making it to SNL.
17:18
I would love to take a second to tell you guys about
17:20
Tara, the founder of Dreamland Baby. If
17:23
you're a fan of this show, then you've heard me talk about
17:25
Dreamland Baby before, but essentially it's
17:27
a game changer for any parent with babies. So
17:30
Tara was a new mom when she founded Dreamland
17:32
Baby. Essentially she was so fed
17:34
up with how few solutions there were out there to
17:36
help get her baby to sleep that she went out and designed
17:38
her own. The doctor approved award-winning
17:41
Dreamland Baby weighted sleep sack. She'd
17:43
go on to be featured in Forbes for it and even
17:45
make a deal on Shark Tank. So far she's
17:47
helped over 500,000 parents out, keeping
17:50
their baby sleeping soundly and restoring
17:52
a lot of sleep to them in the process. The
17:55
sleep sack evenly distributes weight from your baby's
17:57
top to bottom, kind of like how weighted blankets
18:00
help adults sleep, the SleepSack's CoverCalm
18:02
technology helps babies unlock deeper
18:04
sleep too. The SleepSack can be worn three
18:06
ways, both arms in, one arm out,
18:09
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18:11
cotton, super easy
18:13
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18:31
This episode of Funny Cause It's True is brought to you
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by Poise Ultra Thins. So as you know
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19:43
So how do you even begin to pivot
19:46
after not getting a callback for SNL? Because
19:48
I feel like that would be so hard to reimagine
19:51
what comes next.
19:52
I mean, this business, you
19:55
get so many nos that you just learn to
19:57
kind of, it sucks. You
19:59
cry.
19:59
and your dreams are
20:02
shattered, but you just have to like, you
20:04
have to pivot. There's no option. So
20:06
I think I just, you know,
20:08
picked myself up, I'm a bootstraps,
20:11
got back out there, you know, but you
20:13
know, what was harder is that that year, I
20:16
just was broke. I was so
20:18
broke and
20:20
was really coming to a time in
20:22
my, like a real crossroads
20:24
in my career of like, can I do this
20:27
because I can't pay my bills.
20:30
Then the other part of you is like, you
20:32
got this. Whatever you gotta
20:34
do, you're gonna figure it out. So
20:36
then you just start having new goals. I started focusing
20:39
on standup more. I was like, okay,
20:41
that was a pinnacle of sketch.
20:44
Let me see where this standup road takes
20:47
me. But it gave me like a
20:49
little bit of exposure and it gave me a TV credit,
20:51
which I needed.
20:52
And then that led to Chelsea
20:55
Lately six months later, which is what
20:57
really opened the doors. I
21:00
was like, I've never written for TV, but you know,
21:02
I was a journalist for seven years. While
21:05
I was out here in LA,
21:07
my day job was being an entertainment
21:09
journalist. I kind of fell into it. I
21:12
know, very good. What a great
21:14
day job. Usually it's like, I
21:16
was a server or I delivered pizzas, but
21:19
she went straight to entertainment journalism. I love
21:21
it. I know, so random.
21:23
I just, in 2003, I started
21:25
writing for like a woman
21:28
I met through a friend who was
21:30
like, do you wanna cover like events
21:32
for me around the town? I heard
21:34
you can write. And I was like, I guess,
21:36
yeah.
21:37
What are some of the biggest celebrities that you
21:39
ever covered? I mean, that
21:41
was back when like Lindsay Lohan
21:44
was so popular in Paris Hilton. Those were those
21:46
days that like Nicole Richie who had some days.
21:48
So, Anna Nicole
21:50
Smith, I would see all
21:52
of those guys that read carpets and
21:55
every those people. But my, oh, I always
21:57
loved the like legends. Like I
21:59
interviewed Julia.
21:59
Andrew's twice that like blew
22:02
my mind. I went to the re-premiere
22:05
of Mary Poppins and interviewed her and
22:07
watched Dick Van Dyke watch himself
22:11
in Mary Poppins and sing along. Shut
22:13
up. It was crazy, like things
22:15
like that. Betty White was one of the first people
22:18
I interviewed on the phone. I love
22:20
that you had that like background that
22:22
you could then go and have this confidence
22:24
of like, I can't actually do this. And
22:27
then so do you feel like that really did prepare you
22:29
well for writing for somebody else? Well,
22:31
it prepared me for just like
22:34
the actual writing part of it. The joke
22:36
part of it was hard. So
22:39
to fast forward very quickly, I got
22:42
that that meeting led to a meeting with Chelsea.
22:44
They whittled it down to like eight people. And
22:47
I happened to be first,
22:49
which I think is the only reason I got this job. It's
22:52
because Chelsea- Like you made the impression. No,
22:54
she hates meetings. Oh,
22:58
she hates meetings. And back then, I
23:00
saw her hire someone for her sitcom
23:02
because she didn't want to drive back over the hill.
23:05
She goes, yeah, just hire that person. I'm
23:07
not coming back over there. And I was like, oh,
23:09
God. So that's why I really think- She's
23:11
like, I've got too many things to do. I'm a busy woman.
23:14
Sorry. I think
23:16
I got the job because she liked me and I
23:18
was the first one. But I mean, that's
23:20
also a huge testament to you though. Like I'm
23:22
sure some of it was that she's like, I just didn't want to
23:24
sit through the other ones. But in luck,
23:26
I mean, you weren't bad. Like, you know
23:29
what I mean? Like you were good enough for her
23:31
to be like, I feel good with this. Let's do it. Well,
23:33
I think she remembered- Well,
23:35
because I brought up that Hooters character.
23:37
I used to play this Hooters character named
23:39
Darlene Witherspoon. And she,
23:42
Jo Koy
23:43
had shown her that he had
23:45
seen it on YouTube.
23:47
This was like early, early YouTube days.
23:51
And he saw it and showed it to her like
23:53
a year before I came
23:55
in there. So I think
23:56
everything started coming back. Oh, that's the
23:58
girl.
23:59
from that video, because he said they
24:02
laughed about it for like 30
24:04
minutes. So
24:06
it was just all these things coming together. It
24:09
did feel meant
24:12
to be in a weird way. Do you think you
24:14
would have ended up in a different spot if you would have
24:16
actually made it on SNL versus the
24:19
route you took with Chelsea lately and all that?
24:21
Yeah, I've thought about that. I've worked with a
24:23
lot of SNL people since. Tina
24:26
Fey and I,
24:28
we, I did
24:29
a pilot for her and then she ended up,
24:32
I sold a pilot with her. So
24:34
I got to work with her. Chris
24:37
Redd was on SNL, he was on that sitcom
24:40
that we hired him before he, that was kind of his
24:42
first break. And I did another
24:44
sitcom at one point and
24:47
Lauren was part of that.
24:49
So I met him and he sent me
24:51
flowers. So that world's
24:53
still,
24:54
I'm still around that
24:57
world. Time for another break.
24:59
When we come back, Fortune tells us more about her
25:01
pilot with Tina Fey.
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27:18
You brought up Tina Fey, and I wanted to ask
27:20
because I saw that you had written a pilot with
27:22
her, and it basically got all
27:24
the way to the end until it didn't
27:27
continue. And I really
27:29
wanted to ask you about that process because
27:31
I couldn't imagine
27:34
making it all the way through, writing it, shooting
27:36
it, all that. Like, what did that process
27:38
look like and what did it feel like for it to just
27:41
not happen? Oh, that was one of the
27:43
greatest and hardest experiences. That
27:45
was probably a harder rejection than the
27:48
SNL.
27:50
Wow. I think because I got
27:53
to actually experience what it was like.
27:56
I got a taste of it. Yeah. One
27:58
of the coolest experiences.
27:59
It was so crazy to see my name
28:02
all over, you know, offices. Was
28:05
this the first pilot that you wrote? Not the
28:07
first one I wrote. The first one that I
28:09
had sold another show before that, but it didn't
28:11
get picked up to get shot. This
28:14
is the first one I filmed. Wow.
28:17
And because my name was in the title, it was
28:19
everywhere. Offices, you
28:22
know, golf carts,
28:25
costumes, like, oh, it was like
28:28
the most wonderful
28:30
amazing experience. And
28:32
I had like we had so much fun shooting it.
28:34
It was super funny.
28:36
And I don't know if I would say
28:38
it
28:39
was a little bit before its time because
28:41
my character was gay and in the
28:43
South. It might have
28:45
been like a year or two too soon. But
28:50
we did everything right. We did everything right.
28:52
And it still didn't work.
28:54
Like they said, no, the president called
28:57
me of the network and he
28:59
was like, it was so close. And I'm like, I don't.
29:01
Yeah, you're like, that's not helpful
29:04
for me. Yeah. So, you know, you
29:06
never know on any if it had been a year
29:08
later, a year before, maybe
29:10
it could have gone.
29:12
Who knows? But yeah. And
29:14
so when I got that, no, that
29:16
was a like because I because it's my
29:18
story. I wrote it. Totally. It's
29:21
everything felt very personal. I just
29:23
like cried like a baby. Oh,
29:26
my gosh. I would do the same. I was
29:29
like, that's why I was so curious to hear about that
29:31
process because it isn't like you're writing fictional
29:34
people or for someone else. Like, yeah,
29:36
that was your life story in a way.
29:38
Yeah. So to get all the way there and
29:40
then for it to be a no, like,
29:43
do you do you own that? Like, how
29:45
does that work? Can you go use that somewhere
29:47
else? Because for me, I'd be like, I'm just putting it on YouTube.
29:49
I don't know. Right. I'm just giving it
29:51
away. I just want people to see it. I don't know.
29:53
It's true. You're when you've shot it. Um,
29:56
I could take the I could take. I mean,
29:58
it's my story. Yeah.
29:59
Everyone's always told me I should take my story
30:02
and make a more like a not
30:04
a dark comedy but not as like
30:07
not the like cheery network
30:09
version of it. I guess within this world
30:11
like with what you do, is there
30:14
anything that you do for fun with
30:16
your craft that isn't for work
30:18
that isn't for you know getting the approval of
30:21
studios? Like what do you do to exercise this
30:23
craft just as a hobby if you
30:25
do? Oh wow um I
30:27
don't even there's not even really any time
30:29
um Would it be maybe social
30:31
media? Yeah I mean the
30:34
Brenda things are like when I do that
30:36
character I also have this
30:37
character Deb who is a
30:39
spin instructor who never actually
30:41
gets on a bike. She just
30:43
sits at her desk and
30:46
plays music and she goes get on
30:49
your bikes and she
30:52
she does her hands like
30:54
she's spinning and
30:55
um I
30:58
just love the idea of like she only cares
31:00
about playing music telling
31:02
you to bike
31:05
and also points out all the food stops.
31:08
Oh there's a pandax rest. Oh my gosh.
31:10
Yeah keep rolling come on keep rolling you haven't
31:12
earned it yet but
31:15
I do love those crab ringoons you know that kind
31:17
of thing. So that's that
31:19
stuff's fun for me because it takes
31:22
it takes me back to those growlings
31:24
days. Yeah. Which were you know even
31:27
though it was like you're in a bubble it's kind of
31:29
it was stressful it was like very carefree
31:31
the the
31:32
business part of the business
31:34
hadn't taken over. Yeah. Now
31:37
I'm very much in a business
31:40
and I love it I love that I get to make
31:42
people laugh I'm on a national
31:44
tour right now. So
31:48
most of my weekends are spent you know in these
31:50
really beautiful awesome theaters but
31:53
yeah it's a cool job I mean if
31:55
I were just an actor um you
31:59
just kind of or in your bubble
32:01
and
32:03
You know LA is sort of a
32:04
lot of people's home base But a lot of people are going
32:06
off to film different places now, but you don't
32:08
really have that interaction with People
32:11
and so I love stand-up
32:13
because I'm in every town
32:16
every city I'm in restaurants
32:19
and Airports with people all the
32:21
time I meet people every day and people
32:24
are really lovely so
32:26
when I see like
32:27
You know, there's so much negativity online
32:29
and there's so much going on in the news
32:32
and I go Oh man, that's so bleak out there
32:34
and then I go on the road and Meets
32:38
the nicest people and I go, okay We're
32:41
okay people are so good people are so nice
32:44
What has been a moment in this in this tour where
32:46
you found that you're like?
32:48
This is a highlight like I want to remember this forever.
32:50
Oh Man, there's been
32:53
quite a few of those You know,
32:56
it's When I had
32:59
my first Netflix special sweet
33:01
and salty come out I was I had
33:03
only been doing clubs and Then
33:06
that came out and I was it did
33:08
really well and we put this tour
33:10
up and it sold out right away And I was like, oh my god, that's
33:12
like Never happened to
33:14
me before and then the world shut down
33:17
the pandemic happened. So that had
33:19
been the break I had been waiting for forever
33:21
and you go. Okay. Well,
33:23
I have to hope that it'll be
33:26
there and Whenever this you
33:28
know, I don't
33:28
know who knew we'd still be dealing with this Is
33:32
this the tour that you were supposed to
33:34
know? This is the second one so
33:37
we so it was a year later that
33:39
tour picked back up and And
33:43
During the pandemic all these people
33:45
said at home and so like
33:47
Four times the amount of people that would have
33:49
seen it saw it and so when
33:52
the tour picked back up a year later
33:54
The the venues almost
33:57
tripled
33:58
in size from what I was gonna do
33:59
I was doing like could you ever have imagined
34:02
no in the outcome? Mm-hmm Cuz
34:05
you know it felt like such a like oh there
34:07
it went That was my that was my break
34:09
and that's gone and you know Those were like 500
34:11
600 seat theaters, which I was like, oh my god,
34:14
this is like crazy He's it and then
34:16
it went to like, you know, two
34:18
two to three thousand seat theaters and I
34:21
have chills. Oh my god Denver
34:24
like all these like really unbelievable
34:26
places where there's like a room like 3000 people
34:29
in a room. I was like that sound of
34:31
like cheering and laughing was like
34:34
gave me
34:34
chills It was like this
34:36
is I never thought I could do this
34:39
and then I've been really lucky that the tour
34:41
this tour started because then So
34:44
I filmed my next special good fortune. It
34:47
came out in the fall and this
34:49
is the tour After
34:51
that it's a whole new hour though. Nothing
34:54
that people have seen on on TV
34:58
I'm going to eventually film this
35:00
and
35:00
I'm just taking my time. I don't
35:03
want to rush it. I just feel like
35:05
everybody's just like clamoring to
35:07
get content out there and
35:09
That's great. Cuz you know, the the beast
35:12
wants the content as you know, I can't
35:14
imagine how much you have to put
35:15
out But I
35:17
just I just want it to be good.
35:20
So I want to take my time with it. I
35:23
would much rather put out
35:25
One thing that I am so proud
35:28
of and I personally would sit down and watch
35:31
Myself even though it's me, you know Like
35:34
and want to show people then put
35:36
stuff out where I feel like I'm just like
35:38
buying my time And I'm putting
35:40
the coins in the machine and like hoping one day I'll get like
35:42
tickets out I don't know if that made no sense But but
35:45
I feel like you feel
35:47
like you're like I just don't people to forget about me I
35:50
know that's the thing everybody you
35:52
feel like if you
35:53
Don't do something for like a minute.
35:56
I have like really successful stand-up friends
35:59
who are crushing
35:59
it. They're selling so many
36:02
tickets. And I go, are you going to take
36:04
a minute? Like one person's tours
36:06
ending. I go, are you going to take a minute? And
36:09
they were like, I'm worried I'll
36:11
fall behind. And I'm like, you're
36:13
like 10
36:13
steps ahead of everybody already.
36:15
That you're not you're good, but
36:18
you got to take care of yourself. And I'm
36:20
guilty of it too. Like,
36:21
I'm a workhorse, you know, I,
36:23
yeah, I'm really trying to work
36:25
on work life balance. I thought you
36:27
said work for a second. I don't
36:29
know. I've never heard of that. I've
36:32
never heard that one. I
36:36
take everything. No, I was
36:38
just talking to Ron Funches and he said something that has
36:40
stuck with me
36:45
since he said, you have to know
36:47
when you've won because a lot of people
36:50
just keep pushing forward and they want to be the best
36:52
and they want to like, you
36:53
know, not forgotten. And they
36:56
don't know when to celebrate when they've won
36:58
and they can be so successful, but like unhappy
37:00
in this job where you're literally getting paid to make people
37:02
laugh. And that really resonated
37:05
with me because I've always struggled
37:07
to kind of stop and like appreciate what
37:09
I've done. And, and I'm in
37:12
a season of my life where I'm pregnant. So physically,
37:14
I am very limited in what
37:16
I can give my energy and my time to. And I have had
37:19
to,
37:19
not because I want to like stop
37:21
and really appreciate what's going on and know when to take a break
37:23
and knowing when you've won is like,
37:26
that is advice that is really
37:29
good advice. Cause we're all,
37:31
we're all guilty of it. Everyone's sort
37:34
of that SNL mentality of you're only as
37:36
good as your last sketch. We fill that with everything.
37:38
You're only as good as your last special as your
37:40
last TikTok is your last song
37:43
is your last, whatever. You're like, when
37:45
is it enough? But it is up
37:47
to you to be like, I'm
37:49
feel good about myself. I'm
37:51
doing things that I love and that
37:54
make me happy and it's doing well.
37:56
And that should be enough. I can't wait to see
37:58
it. All your character working on your own.
37:59
you're talking about, I really want to get
38:02
to do something with you in person. Because I love that
38:04
your characters are so incredible and I
38:06
am not good at characters because
38:08
I'm so hyper literal that I love them
38:10
and I can appreciate them and I can do anything that anyone has
38:12
the idea about. But I'm like bad at workshopping those
38:14
characters. Because I'm like, all I know how to do is me. So
38:17
I just want to study what you do. Thank
38:19
you. But I want to study what you do and be able
38:21
to do it someday because it's you are just such
38:23
an inspiration to me. So it's cool that I
38:25
got to like you talk about it. Well, I'm always enjoying
38:28
your videos and impressed that
38:29
you're singing and then
38:32
all of a sudden like doing fun videos.
38:34
No, Neesh. I just decided to not have any. I love
38:36
it though. You're very talented. It's
38:38
fun to watch. Thank
38:39
you. That's
38:45
it for my conversation with Fortune Feimster. Thank
38:47
you so much for listening. If you want to catch
38:49
Fortune Live, check out her dates for her Live Laugh
38:51
Love Tour. And if you like this show, give
38:53
us a rating and a review. It helps other people find
38:55
us. All right. We'll be back next week with more funny
38:57
because it's true.
38:58
Bye.
39:01
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