Comedian and actor Fortune Feimster is coming to our region this week during a busy time in her burgeoning career.
Feimster will perform Thursday at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and Friday at the Flynn Center in Burlington, Vermont. A few days after that, her new Netflix special “Good Fortune” debuts. And we’re all waiting to see how working with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the forthcoming action series “Fubar” went.
Feimster has previously been seen on “The Mindy Project,” “Workaholics,” “2 Broke Girls,” the “L Word” reboot and many more, plus the podcast “Sincerely Fortune.”
I have to imagine you've got a lot of excitement right now with this Netflix special about to drop?
Oh, yeah, it's really cool to finally see it coming out. I've been working on it for the last 2.5 years, since my last special 'Sweet & Salty.' So yeah, I'm counting down the days. One more week!
Where and when did you record this special?
I recorded it in June, at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. So we held on to it for a little bit longer than usual, just because I was filming in Toronto, like you said, and then we wanted to finish up this tour and do these dates in the Northeast, because it's an area I haven't gotten into as much. So, I'm really excited to get up there to Troy and Burlington and all those pretty places, especially here in the fall.
I always like to ask comedians what they do during the day when they're in a city and they're not performing until the evening. What's your plan?
Well, I have a radio show that I do now with Tom Papa. So, that takes up a few hours of hours of the day. Now we have it set up so when he and I are touring, we just put our computer equipment in the hotel and I usually do that in the afternoon and then I always like to hit up some local spots like coffee, I like to find a local coffee shop and try that. Then usually I have time to do a dinner somewhere in a local spot and just sort of walk around the downtown area of the cities and kind of get to know it a little bit. So yeah, it's nice, you get to get to know a little glimpses of all these cities all over the country.
We interviewed Tom Papa on the show a few months ago, and he really strikes me as, like, a perfectionist in his comedy. How did the two of you get together and what do you find that works between the two of you?
Well, we have met through some mutual friends back in the day and didn't know each other well, but was always, you know, enjoy seeing each other, we randomly were sitting beside each other on a plane once coming back from Montreal, so we got to know each other a little bit better then and then this opportunity came up and Netflix wanted to do a radio show. And they just thought we'd be a good pair. We, I think, you know, both have a more positive perspective. We keep it friendly and you know, just want to chat with people and get to know them and they just felt like our energy would match up. And so yeah, here we are, man, over three years later.
He said something that really stuck with me, which is that he has thought about or worked on his act, like, pretty much every day for 40 years and that's what it takes.
Yeah, I mean, Tom is very, he's big on writing. He writes all the time. He writes books. He's always writing stand-up. He's been at it for a long time. So yeah, he's, in stand-up, very well respected when it comes to his writing because it takes it very seriously.
So let me follow up and ask you about the filming you were doing in Toronto for the last few months. First of all, how did you like living there?
It was great. I've never, filmed anything that long. As far as being away from my own home, I've, you know, filmed seasons of things, that was always in Los Angeles. But this is the first time living in another country to film for five months. So, we really got to know that area a lot and really love the people. They're just so friendly. And as far as shooting the TV show, it was one of the best experiences I've had on set. It's like, such a top-notch crew. They took such good care of us and Arnold was great to work with just had so many nuggets of wisdom and funny jokes, and we were always laughing and just every day was fun.
And your role you play, what is it, an FBI agent?
CIA agent. Yeah. It's a whole big action series, I never thought I'd be doing something like that, you know, it was definitely out of my wheelhouse at first, but I quickly grew to love it because every day was learning something new, and you're on your feet a lot and filming these crazy scenes with explosions. And it's just a lot more exciting than anything I've done, as far as like, sitcoms, which I love. It's just a whole different beast. So, I enjoyed just kind of sinking my teeth into something new.
Did you have to do stunts for it?
I did some but I also had a stunt double, so if anything got too dicey, I had a professional there to take over, which was nice. But I got to do a lot of stuff on my own and then whenever involves, you know, jumping through explosions or something like that I tapped out.
What's your approach to acting? How do you get into a role like this?
I just wanted to be prepared. I wanted to go to set and you know, know my lines, it was a lot more material than I had done before because it was, you know, every episode is a longer episode and it's for Netflix, so no commercials. And so, there's a lot of dialogue and a lot of movement with that dialogue, a lot of like, things you had to memorize as far as like your writing on a board or equations or things like that. So, I just tried to, I try to always be ahead of what we were filming, and my wife would run lines with me a lot and I'd get on my feet and walk around and pace around and try to say the lines as quickly as possible, so it felt very authentic. Because you know, if you're playing a CIA agent, you're saying all of this, I don't know what you'd call it, you know, technical stuff you want to, yeah, you want to really, you want it to look like you really know what you're talking about. That this is something you've done for a long time, and that you're an expert in that field. So, I really took the whole thing very seriously and tried to be as prepared as possible.
What was Arnold like? I mean, he's a figure who's been in all of our lives for so long. And, you know, to a certain degree, it's like, you know the persona of him more than anything else.
Yeah, I mean, at first, when you're meeting him, you're just thinking of him as that persona, like guy that you've seen for decades, and all these huge movies and the governor of California, you know, so many different things that he's done. And so, at first, you're kind of like, whoa, but then, you know, you sit down with him, and he starts asking about your life and getting to know you. And then you just get to know the guy and he, he's very giving and gracious and really, you know, was good to the crew. And just, you know, he's always happy to be meeting people and talking to people, he has a genuine curiosity about people's lives. So, it was me watching him just interact with everybody, because you know, a lot of people on set had a lot of respect for him and he respected them in return. And so, it made for like, a really nice set, like a very close set. Everybody had a lot of love for each other, which it was, I don't know, it just made going to work really good.
Do you see yourself doing a lot more acting and bigger roles or is comedy still like your number one priority?
I mean, I definitely want to keep pushing myself in the acting world. I think this opened up a lot within me of wanting to take on roles that I haven't done before. Once I did this, I was like, oh, that's something I never thought I could do and I did it and I really loved it. What else is there? So, I would love to keep exploring other types of projects. But, you know, comedy is what I love and that's always what will be my main focus and stand up is like, one of the greatest jobs. Just getting to make people laugh is such an incredible feeling. So, I always want to have both. I always want you know, there to be acting in my life and I also want to be touring and doing stand up and creating these, you know, stories that eventually come out into special that I can share with people. I like, I like them both. I feel like I have the best of both worlds.
In your first Netflix comedy special, you talked about arriving in L.A., I think you were 23 or, you know, early 20s and it wasn't clear what you would do or where you would go. What drew you there in the first place from North Carolina?
Um, I, you know, came out to work and just sort of get to know the business and kind of have a life experience. I had never lived in LA and this was like, oh, let's, you know, let's see what that's about, you know. I wasn't sure I would stay, I just thought maybe I'd come out here and, you know, like I said, have a life experience. But I stuck it out and I really liked the weather and the West Coast vibe, I was like, well, I could see myself staying here. And then I ended up taking improv classes at the Groundlings, as kind of a hobby and it quickly became a passion. Like, I never knew, you know, comedy was something you could do for a living and I was surrounded all of a sudden by all these other artistic people and funny people. And I was like, well, I have never experienced anything like this in my life and I loved it. So, from that day forward, I had a very strong vision of doing comedy and getting better at it and trying to make a living at it and I never looked back.
What did your family think when you made that leap?
I mean, obviously, you know, your parents worry that like, how are you going to be able to make a living with this? Is it sustainable? It's hard. It's a difficult business. You know, it’s so beyond anything we had known anything about. It was like, totally new territory that, you know, they couldn't really give me advice in because none of us knew anything about it. So, I think they just, you know, worried but wished and hoped for the best and were always, you know, supportive whenever that new stuff would happen and would, you know, just rooting me on to figure it out. It took a while. But eventually I did.
Was there a moment where you felt established or, you know, you could call yourself a success in the industry where things seemed to click in?
I think when I stopped worrying as much was when I got a writer's job at 'Chelsea Lately,' that was my first big break where I knew I could pay my bills and breathe for a minute. So that was a big, a big step for me and I felt like, OK, you know, this is the opportunity I've been waiting for. And it started to open up a lot of doors. And then from there, I just kept working. So, I think, you know, I was really grateful for that opportunity and I don't know, like when you stop and think like, “Oh, I've made it,” you know, because I feel like it's a business that you're always like, looking to what's the next thing? What's the next thing? You're always kind of hustling. It's just kind of the nature of the beast.
Well, you mentioned your parents not long ago. How's Ginger doing?
She's good. She's same ‘ol, same ‘ol in North Carolina. I'm going see her right around Thanksgiving and she's excited for this special to come out. She got to see some of the early shows. So, she's excited to see how this all comes together. But yeah, she's great.
She's on your podcasts sometimes and I mean, she's funny, and maybe in a different way than you are. Is that where you get your sense of humor from?
Yeah, I mean, I think my family in general has a good sense of humor. We always use laughing and humor as a way to get through harder times. And we always kind of looked at things with that, more of that lens that, you know, finding the funny in things, and yeah, my mom is quite a character. Sometimes she means to be funny. Sometimes she doesn't. But she definitely gives me a lot of material. That's for sure. I can, you know, take these things that she's done in the past and turn them into these silly stories and she kind of shakes her head now like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that. But she finds the humor in it too.
Did you ever ask for like a blessing or permission to talk about your family and your public performance?
I am mainly just talking about my parents and I think yeah, I mean, they'll kind of tell me if there's something that they wouldn't want me to share. But for the most part, it's all kind of stuff that we all joke about with each other anyway, so they get a kick out of just being talked about. But I feel like I have a good grasp of where the line is. I try to be very respectful.
OK, let's do a lightning round. And you don't have to answer any of these if you don't want to. Did your wife Jax do an Arnold impression while running lines?
No, she never, she never did. I would do impressions of him sometimes, like I would do “It's not a tumor!”
'Kindergarten Cop.' I don't know why, but I've seen that movie so many times. I think my babysitter had it. It was one of the ones that was on VHS.
Oh, yeah. It's funny. When I was in Toronto I watched it. It was a trip.
When's the last time you ate at a Hooters and/or Chili's?
Oh, man, actually I ate at Chili's not that long ago, like three weeks ago. And Hooters, it's been a minute. I think, when I was home in February, we went there. Even though my mom said she's never eaten at Hooters we know that's not true. She said, 'Bring me some wings.'
Did you?
Heck yeah.
Any chance that Tim will be showing up in Troy or Burlington?
Ah, Tim will not, but Brenda sometimes will do a little something the beginning of the show, but so far Tim is still...we haven’t seen him. I don't know if we ever will or not.
