Transcript
Mike Birbiglia (0:00)
Have you ever had jokes in your specials or your tour where people have pushed back on it and said, hey, I wish you wouldn't talk about this.
Fortune Feimster (0:08)
I am gay. That's just part of who I am. So any. I'm not setting out to tell gay stories. Sure it is. Just like I'm telling you a story about being married. I happen to be gay, so that's just gonna be part of it.
Mike Birbiglia (0:24)
Right.
Fortune Feimster (0:24)
But because I'm gay, I'm telling. According to this person, I'm now telling a gay story.
Mike Birbiglia (0:29)
Really?
Fortune Feimster (0:29)
Yeah. So they were like too many G stories. You're just thr. Like shoving it down everyone's throats. And she goes, and your merch was gay and it was too gay.
Mike Birbiglia (0:43)
What's your merch? That makes me wonder, what's your merch?
Fortune Feimster (0:47)
Just all this. Everything's gay.
Mike Birbiglia (0:55)
That is the voice of the great Fortune Fester. Love Fortune. We wanted to have her on for so long. Awesome comic, great storyteller, improviser, actor. You might know her from the handsome podcast, which she co hosts with Tig Notaro and May Martin Tigg, who you've heard on here. May, who I really hope will hear on here in the future. Or you might know her from Netflix as a joke radio. She co hosts a show with Tom Papa. Fortune's a riot. She has a new special out on Netflix called Crushing It. And indeed, this special is. Is Crushing it. Love the special. Yeah, we have a great talk today about how to be a storyteller and stand up. Especially when you're starting out, you're getting five minute spots and it's not long enough to win over the crowd and do a story, and it's just really cool conversation. If you're able to see Fortune on tour, you should absolutely do it. She just announced this week her tour, which is called Taking Care of Biscuits. Love the title. Thanks everybody who came out to my shows this week. I was all across Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina. Definitely donate if you can, to the Manna Food bank and other relief organizations in Asheville and other parts of North Carolina. They're doing great, but they still could use your help. Love visiting there. That's gonna do it for my shows in 2024. Thank you everybody who came out to see the show. We are nearing our finale in March at the Beacon Theater, which is going to be called the Good Life. The Police have the Ride tour has been almost 70 cities. We have about 10 left. I'll be in Iowa City in January at the Englert Theater, which I Love. We just had a third show on January 11th. Instead of trekking all over the Midwest, I'm staying three nights in Iowa City. You know why? Selfish. Love that town. Great town. Beautiful. One of America's gems. February 1st, I'm in Pickering, Ontario, at the Pickering Casino Resort, which looks really cool. February 4th and 5th, I'm in Baltimore. Baltimore, Center Stage, which Ira Glass has told me is where he grew up going to see theater. So I'm really excited for that. It's like a cool little intimate 500 seat theater in Baltimore. February 21st, I'm in Northampton. February 23rd, I'm in Burlington, Vermont. I love this chat with Fortune famester. Today. We break down a few of the specific stories in her special Crushing it on Netflix, including her honeymoon with her wife to a place where it is technically illegal to be gay. We talk about that. We talk about growing up in an allegedly haunted house, which sounds actually haunted, if you believe in that sort of thing. She talks about her journey of coming out. It was great to have an in depth conversation with her. She's a very warm person, very funny person. I think you're going to love my conversation with the great Fortune Feimster. Your opening story is about your honeymoon. You got married a couple years ago and you realized, I think you realized on the flight to Maldives that it's illegal to be gay in Maldives. You must get the question of how was that not researched in advance of the honeymoon?