Handsome Podcast – "Chris Colfer Asks About Past Lives"

Hosts: Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, Mae Martin
Date: October 14, 2025
Special Guest: Chris Colfer

Episode Overview

In this playful and heartfelt episode of Handsome, comedians Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin reunite to field a metaphysical question from Emmy and Grammy-nominated actor and author Chris Colfer: Do you believe in past lives? Their conversation navigates personal stories, metaphysical musing, dreams of murder (thanks, Mae), and plenty of banter, all while offering real vulnerability around identity and creative work. The group also dishes on their recent projects, emotional connections, and what reincarnation could mean for relationships, soulmates, and even pirates.

Main Discussion & Insights

Catching Up: Life, Work, and Biceps

• Location banter: Tig is in Mississippi ("the Gulf of America"), Fortune's in Washington D.C., and Mae just returned from Toronto.
  • [03:23] Tig: "I'll be honest, I do still call it the Gulf of Mexico."
• Project congrats: Mae celebrates their Netflix show's global success, highlighting how surreal it is to be #1 in places like Croatia and Norway.
  • [06:08] Mae: "It's number one in Croatia... It's number one in Norway."
• Fun on set stories: Discussion of Mae's role as a cop, the avoidance of "copaganda," and the subtle art of driving convincingly on screen.
  • [07:00] Mae: "I feel weird about, but I will say it's not a copaganda show."
• The biceps secret: Fortune and Tig tease Mae about their (probably enhanced) on-screen biceps.
  • [11:05] Fortune: "Whoever filmed May going down those steps really caught those biceps, hello. Hello."
  • [11:22] Mae confides: "I haven't told anyone this...the makeup woman said, should I just put a little brown shadow under the tricep?"

Emotional Reactions & Creative Vulnerability

• Come See Me in the Good Light: Mae describes being deeply moved by Tig’s new film, sharing a cathartic, "heaving, sobbing" reaction after a screening.
  • [13:37] Mae: "I feel forever changed from watching it. So I just. Everybody's got to watch it. It unlocked something where I was actually...like, heaving sobbing..."
  • [14:18] Tig: "You hugged me and held on for a good five minutes."
• On grief and remembrance: Tig reflects on seeing Andrea (from the film) on screen after their passing, and the emotional synchronicities experienced with Andrea's surviving partner, Meg.
  • [22:02] Tig: "It is very different to see now that Andrea's gone, but I somehow fall into this...it makes me feel like Andrea's still there when I'm watching the movie."
  • [23:54] Tig: "Guess what the first song was? ...That song." (referring to Andrea and Meg's Shania Twain song)
  • [24:15] "Meg was like, Andrea clearly went to London with the Notaro Allen family."
• The role of humor in heavy moments: The group notes how both Mae's Netflix show and Tig's film balance laughter and deep emotion.

Lighthearted Detours: Animation, Tea, and Accents

• Fortune as the voice of a fridge: Fortune shares she voices a refrigerator in the new Gabby's Dollhouse movie, alongside Gloria Estefan and Kristen Wiig.
  • [26:04] "I am currently playing the voice of a refrigerator on Gabby's Dollhouse."
• On British high tea with kids in London: Tig recounts taking Max and Finn to endless tea-times while in England; the family's knack for adapting to travel and embracing British traditions.
• Accents, childhood tapes, and evolving comedic voices: Mae admits to a "weird voice" phase at 14 caught on video.

The Main Event: Chris Colfer's Question on Past Lives

[38:56] Chris Colfer:
"Do you believe in past lives? If so, who do you think you were? And if spiritualists are correct and time doesn't exist on the other side, is it possible that more than one person is walking around with the same soul at one time? And is that what the true meaning of soulmates and soul groups is?"

Reactions & Discussion

Mae Martin (Believer, Existential Forager)

• [41:01] "Energy can't be created or destroyed. We know this scientifically."
• Views reincarnation as "source energy," with individuals as "little droplets" that can take on many forms (even vapor).
• Imagines "old souls" as having lived more lives; fantasizes about glasses that could reveal how many lives someone's soul has experienced.
  • [44:07] "I wish...special glasses you put them on and it would show how many lives everyone's on."
• Recurring dreams of hiding bodies are interpreted as imposter syndrome, not a dark omen of past-life crime.
  • [51:28] "If my dreams are anything to go by...I was a murderer...I've hidden the bodies badly."
• Wants to release feelings of guilt and shame at a forthcoming wellness retreat ("institution").

Fortune Feimster (Believer, Farmer/Sidekick Meme)

• [42:11] "I'm gonna assume I was some sort of farmhand. Oh."
• Envisions her past life as the "farm boy" from The Princess Bride.
• Leans into the notion of soul recognition and déjà vu with new people.
  • [44:55] "Sometimes you meet people you know, where you're like, I know this person. Like I. They are so familiar to me."

Tig Notaro (Content Skeptic, Animal at Heart)

• [44:59] "Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's one of those things where I be so cool if that exists...I can follow that thought and be like, yeah, that makes sense."
• Would choose to return as a cat or bird ("my brain did not go to a person"), aligning with her love for animals and veganism.
  • [47:54] "A cat or a bird."
  • [48:19] "...I don't connect with being a human in my past life."
• Ponders why past life tales always seem set centuries ago, not just in the 1970s or more recent decades.

Discussion of Soulmates and Shared Souls

• The trio muses on "soul groups," "shared souls," and the simulation hypothesis: maybe some people feel so familiar because they're coded by the same "algorithm" or soul blueprint.
  • [45:33] Mae: "A lot of people are into simulation theory because it feels like there are only a handful of algorithmic types of people."
• On the possibility of sharing a soul or two people embodying the same spirit simultaneously, Mae floats soulmates as a potential literal interpretation.
  • [46:13] Fortune: "I've never thought about. I don't know. I just always assumed one soul was kind of bouncing around at one at a time."

Imaginary Past Life Scenarios

• The group imagines themselves in olden days as pirates, assigning themselves playful roles aboard a ship (Mae as "cabin boy," Tig as "captain," Fortune as the fun instigator).
  • [46:49] Mae: "What position would we all have on the ship? I think I'd be cabin boy, obviously."
• Discusses whether having lived more past lives would make one wiser ("I want someone who's on life 20, 30").

Chris Colfer's Answer (and Fakeout)

[60:26] Chris Colfer:
"My answer? No. I don't think the universe would put more than one of me in any place at one time."

• The hosts are surprised by Chris's swift, no-nonsense answer.
  • [60:37] Tig: "I would have bet my life that there was going to be an in depth answer here...man, did he move it along."
  • [60:45] Fortune: "He sure did move it along."
• Fortune jokingly speculates that in a past life, Chris must have been "a pretty little lady...an opera singer."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [09:41] Mae, after hastily traveling to her parents’ basement: "I had brought my synthesizer...I packed in such a way, and I thought, should I bring that?...Haven't used it yet. To this day, I haven't used it."
• [13:37] Mae, on Tig’s film: "I feel forever changed from watching it...it unlocked something where I was actually, like, heaving sobbing and, like, couldn't hang out after."
• [22:02] Tig, on Andrea’s presence in the film: "It makes me feel like Andrea's still there when I'm watching the movie...I can feel Andrea so much. It's crazy."
• [46:07] Tig, on imagined pirate past lives: "I can drive a boat. I can drive a motorcycle."
• [47:54] Tig, on past lives: "A cat or a bird."
• [51:28] Mae, about recurring murder dreams: "If my dreams are anything to go by...I've hidden the bodies badly."
• [58:09] Tig, on hate from transphobes: "For once and for all, if you don't have anything nice to say or any interest, move it along. If you don't like the show or the movie or the podcast or any, just go find the comedian. Go find something else."
• [60:26] Chris Colfer’s definitive answer: "No. I don't think the universe would put more than one of me in any place at one time."
• [60:45] Fortune, delighted with Chris's brevity: "He sure did move it along."

Key Timestamps

• [02:03-06:49] — Banter: Where are you now? Netflix projects, tanks vs. sweatshirts, and Mae’s Cop Show issues
• [09:41-10:06] — Mae’s Toronto trip and the unexplained synth
• [11:05-12:11] — The secret to Mae’s biceps
• [13:34-15:12] — Mae’s emotional breakdown at Tig’s film, Come See Me in the Good Light
• [22:02-24:15] — Andrea's legacy and emotional signs
• [26:04-28:07] — Fortune as Gabby’s Dollhouse refrigerator, Gloria Estefan fandom
• [38:56] — Chris Colfer sends in his metaphysical question
• [41:01-44:20] — The philosophical debate: energy, souls, and simulated people
• [47:54-48:19] — Tig: “A cat or a bird. ...I don't connect with being a human in my past life.”
• [51:28-53:00] — Mae’s murder dreams & recurring guilt
• [58:09-59:05] — Responding to transphobia: “Move it along.”
• [60:26] — Chris Colfer’s minimalist answer to his own question

Tone & Style

True to form, the episode is warm, irreverent, and honest, moving fluidly between cheesy jokes, genuine reflection, and supportive connection. The hosts navigate both the playful and the profound: they are as likely to riff on being reincarnated as a vapor or refrigerator as they are to share raw truths about creative vulnerability, grief, and identity. The tone is lightly snarky, effusive in support, and peppered with sincerely silly asides.

Final Thoughts

The episode covers everything from biceps and pirate ships to metaphysics and gender identity. The central theme — whether we’ve all been here before — becomes a backdrop for a deeper conversation about meaning, recognition, making peace with oneself, and moving on from those who just don’t get it. Chris Colfer’s abrupt “No” delights everyone, and the episode ends with the hosts hyping upcoming shows and playfully affirming each other’s journeys — in this life and maybe, just maybe, in one or two before.