EDGE Interview: Big Laughs, Bigger Biscuits - Fortune Feimster’s Comedy is Comfort Food for the Soul

Beloved comedian, actress, and host, Fortune Feimster returns to Netflix with her latest comedy special, Fortune Feimster: Crushing It. In her signature upbeat style, she shares hilarious stories from her life, including her “romantic” honeymoon with her wife and no longer being her mom’s surrogate husband. With her unique comedic perspective and infectious energy, Feimster invites audiences into her world where laughter and love reign supreme. The special follows the success of her two previous Netflix specials, Good Fortune (2022) and Sweet & Salty (2020), both of which garnered Critics' Choice nominations.

She is currently in production on Will Ferrell’s Untitled Netflix Golf Comedy Series and on her national “Takin’ Care of Biscuits" tour. She can also currently be seen in season 2 of the Netflix action-comedy series FUBAR, where she stars alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. This fall she will lend her voice to “Nibbles” in Disney’s highly anticipated sequel, Zootopia 2.  In addition to standup and acting, Feimster hosts the popular podcast Handsome with fellow comedians and friends Tig Notaro and Mae Martin. Launched in August 2023, the show has already amassed over 20 million downloads. She can also be heard every morning on Sirius XM co-hosting Netflix’s “What A Joke with Papa and Fortune” radio show.  After a stint as a successful entertainment journalist, she rose to fame as a writer and panelist on E!’s hit show Chelsea Lately. She has appeared in numerous television series including The Mindy Project, Champions, and Kenan, along with guest roles on Claws, Nora from Queens, and Life In Pieces. Fortune is also known for her film appearances in Yes Day, Office Christmas Party, and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, as well as her voice work in The Simpsons, Soul, and Bless the Harts. 

With her lighting up stages on her whirlwind tour, we caught up with Fortune to chat about comedy, childhood, and the joy of chasing biscuits across America.

EDGE: What new areas of your life are you exploring for the "Takin' Care of Biscuits" tour

FF: With all of my previous shows, I’ve picked up where I left off. Each special that I've put out represents where I was in life at that point in time. I touch on things that are happening in my current life, which differ from where I was when the last special came out. For this show, I'm digging back into that nostalgia factor with some fun childhood stories. It's something I did in my show, Sweet & Salty, and people really enjoyed it. It's been a treat talking about those silly childhood things, and I hope people will find my stories relatable to their own lives. It's just a fun and hopefully relatable show that I think with a name like Takin' care of Biscuits sort of alludes to.

EDGE: Sounds like a nod to your Southern roots. How does your Southern background continue to influence your comedy?

FF: You see the influences the most when I talk about my childhood, just because a lot of those stories are so ridiculous. It feels like these cannot be true, but they are. They're all from having a quirky southern mother who just looked at life a little differently and thought certain things were fun. I talk about her bidding on a tour of the Frito-Lay factory for my friends and me, and taking our Girl Scout troop to a haunted house. There's something about growing up in the South, where quirkiness was a part of daily life, that made me have these childhood experiences that didn't feel real. Now, as the comic, it's comedy gold.

EDGE: What are you most looking forward to about this tour?

FF: I started this tour before the summer and then took a little break. Every tour is long. Every tour is a hundred cities and 150 shows. It goes for about a year and a half. So, you have to gear up as if you're prepping for baseball season. It's a lot of traveling, hotels, and planes. The reward is so great because I get to visit these beautiful theaters in various cities, meet awesome people, and hear them laugh. To get the reaction to the new material is such a treat because I often think I'll never be able to write anything again after your last special. I have no more ideas, so then I have to dig deep into the well. When I present it to an audience and it works, I am excited. This is going to be awesome. The material for this tour has been super fun, and I'm excited to move into the next phase and share it with everybody.

EDGE: What’s your favorite part about performing live comedy?

FF: The reactions. I think I'm so lucky because I have a really amazing fan base. The people who attend my shows are truly lovely. Every venue I go to, without fail, the people who work there are kind, and everybody is so lovely. I always find fans to be polite, high-energy, light, and fun. That makes me so proud because it feels like a reflection of what I'm putting out there. Creating work that attracts those kinds of warm, kind, and amazing people means a lot.

EDGE: With biscuit in the title, what is your favorite way to eat them?

FF: With my hands. That is the one thing I thought about after naming the tour -- I'm going to get biscuits in every city, which I love, but it's also a curse because I'm trying to be healthier and not get out of control. And already, I've received some good biscuits. I am very much enjoying the different biscuits in every city we visit.

EDGE: If Biggie could talk, what secrets would he spill about you? 

FF: Oh gosh. I don't have a lot of secrets. I really don't. I'm boring. I wish there were. He'd probably tell y'all about how much I love food, but that wouldn't be hard for anyone to guess. I've been treading water in the morning per the encouragement of my handsome co-host, Nita, and he comes out there and sits with me. So he would probably tell you that, but I also stop to check my phone a lot and lounge around the pool more than I should.

EDGE: What do you personally get out of acting that stand-up doesn’t give you?

FF: It's a nice change of direction for me because I am always on a tour, and to be on the road is pretty hardcore, and it starts to get a bit daunting. Being able to pivot for a couple of months and stay in one place, working on material that others have written for me, is enjoyable. That's kind of a nice change to just deliver what's handed to me. It works a different muscle, and it's a group effort. It's fun to be around a cast because the road can be pretty solitary. I love to do that for a couple of months and then go back on the road, which always reinvigorates me. I really like the combo of the two. I don't think I would want to do just one or just one or the other. I like them both. They complement each other very well because they're so different. It's fun acting, and I've been doing it steadily now for the last 10 years, beginning with The Mindy Project. I have been really lucky to be a part of some really cool movies and to appear in some fun television shows. I'm about to dig into some more acting stuff this year, so I love it. 

EDGE: Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming movie/TV shows?

FF: I can tell you that I am in a movie called Judgment Day with Will Ferrell. I'm not sure when it will be released, but we filmed it this summer. I have a small part in The Dink, an upcoming movie about Pickleball that Jake Johnson did. I also voice Nibbles Maplestick, a beaver in Zootopia 2, coming out Thanksgiving weekend. Then there are some things that I've just booked that haven't been announced yet, but will be a very cool project that people will be excited to see. 

To explore Fortune’s latest tour schedule and learn more about her, visit www.fortunefeimster.com