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The world loves us when we are good, better,

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best. But what if you're not living your

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best life now? My name is Kate Bowler, and

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with incredible, wise, usually

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in their own difficult times.

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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

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17:50

their baby sleeping soundly and restoring

17:52

a lot of sleep to them in the process. The

17:55

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17:57

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18:00

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18:02

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18:04

sleep too. The SleepSack can be worn three

18:06

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18:09

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18:11

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18:13

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18:17

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18:23

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18:25

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18:31

This episode of Funny Cause It's True is brought to you

18:33

by Poise Ultra Thins. So as you know

18:35

on this show, I try to be as honest with everyone

18:38

as I possibly can about my life experiences,

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both good and bad, including how things

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were for me after the birth of my son. I

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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.

25:10

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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.

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