Name: Fortune Feimster & Bob Discuss Facing Disappointment, Shifting Your Dreams, & Why Honesty is Funny
Uploaded: 2021-02-15T18:00:01.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Fortune Feimster & Bob Discuss Facing Disappointment, Shifting Your Dreams, & Why Honesty is Funny' from Bob Saget on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-02-15. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Fortune Feimster & Bob Discuss Facing Disappointment, Shifting Your Dreams, & Why Honesty is Funny' from Bob Saget on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-02-15. Transcript available.

Fortune Feimster & Bob Discuss Facing Disappointment, Shifting Your Dreams, & Why Honesty is Funny

All right, this is a really fun episode. They all are, right? But this one's
cool. This is,
well, they're all cool, right? Fortune Feimster is my guest, and I just adore
her. And if you
love her work, love her stand-up, you know, from her new special Sweet and Salty,
had it right off the top of my head, and she's got a new movie coming out
that looks great with Kristen Wiig, and it's Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.
So if you're going to choose a location, it's just better than Palms. And she's
so talented,
and she's been on so many things. My God, Office Christmas Party, Yes Day, so
many things. My
God, The Mindy Project, Drunk History, Workaholics, you know, tons of shows,
tons. And she's an angel,
and she's hilarious, and she's sweet. And she's originally from North Carolina.
So that's one
of the things she's been on. You know what to do with this podcast. You rate,
review, you subscribe,
you follow. You do that. You can go to the YouTube page that bears my name. And
I hope to see you there.
Here comes Fortune Feimster.
Bob!
Oh, Fortune, I am so happy already. I need you so bad right now.
Well, I'm here for you, bud.
Oh, man. Oh, man.
What I... And it doesn't even matter when we run this, because every six hours,
all hell breaks loose.
Oh, no, right?
Right. You look great. You're all pinky. I like it.
Thank you. I have on a pink sweatshirt.
It's beautiful. Now, you can't bleach that. You just have to wash that with
colors, light colors.
Yeah, you got to wash it and hope that it doesn't turn all the rest of your
clothes pink.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind that. Anything, because I'm always in a darker shade of
pale.
You look great.
Oh, you look better, and you know it. You know it's true.
Well, it's good to see you. What a treat.
You too.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks for saying yes right away. And we did it on short notice.
Yes. And I just need as many loving, fun, smart people around me as possible.
It's, you know, that's the times we're in. Any positive, I don't know, influx
of anything is much needed.
I know. And I want to apologize to you, because last time we talked on a
podcast was when I was on
yours and Tom Papa's podcast, which is no more, because now you have, of course,
Sincerely Fortune, the new podcast.
Well, so I have Sincerely Fortune, which is my podcast, and then Tom and I do
the daily radio show for Sirius XM for Netflix.
So we still do that every morning.
Was that the one that I was on where I was incredibly, what you didn't know was
I had come off of a night of not being able to stop watching the news and then
watched it again in the morning.
And then when I got to you guys, it was very hard for me to dig out and be
humorous.
It was weird. You didn't know that backstory, but that's my hall pass.
But, you know, we've, I mean, we've been doing this show for a year and a half
and, you know, some people come on and tell jokes, whatever.
But honestly, since the start of the pandemic, a lot of people would come on, a
lot of comics would come on just being like, I don't feel funny right now.
And, you know, worried. And so we just sort of would commiserate with each
other.
And I think this time has taught us that you don't have to be entertaining or
be making people laugh every second because you're just trying to take care of
yourself.
Yeah. And I'm doing what you're doing, which is trying to bring solace to
others as well.
Which is why here in conversation with people just hanging.
Yeah, that's great.
I mean, I've been doing what you've been doing. I mean, I'll have somebody I
had Bill Maher on and it was, you know, he's scared and concerned.
And yeah.
But then you're you're a festive, wonderful, happy person.
And you're you've got so many projects.
I mean, your IMDb list is longer than most people that have worked for 70 years.
Well, I guess I just say yes a lot.
That's what I was going to get to.
Yeah, maybe I should say no some here and there.
Well, I like to work.
I'm a big workaholic.
And so that's part of it.
And and I I just started I've been doing stand up for 13 years, but I just
started doing a lot more acting in the last like eight.
And and I've really love it.
And so when I get offered opportunities, even if it's a small opportunity, I
like to do it when I can, because I like to learn and I like I'm trying to just
get better.
So I feel like you get better by doing.
That's exactly correct.
And you're really good.
You're really natural and really funny.
I appreciate that.
Well, you know, I can't I can't just gloat and lap you up and down like a
little happy showbiz dog.
You're just really, you know, we met when at the University of Central Florida,
we did.
Yeah, I got to open for you.
It was really cool.
I got to have you as a feature opener or whatever you call it.
I know.
I always confuse.
Right.
You were so good.
I mean, I knew you were good.
I'd already seen your stuff.
You know, no, it was cool to get the opportunity.
I mean, you have such a big, loyal fan base and people know you from, you know,
a number of different things that you've done.
So it was cool to to just be in that orbit.
Well, you've been out touring your your sweet and salty special on Netflix is
really funny.
And it's you.
I mean, that's what's that's what I like to do is be myself as much as I can.
But yeah, sometimes I put a bravado character on.
But we all do.
We do, you know, but you've got some just wonderful stories in it.
If people haven't seen it on Netflix, they need to watch it.
I mean, I'll wait.
They can pause us.
Yeah.
Go watch right now.
No, it's definitely the journey, my journey, a bit of my journey and just
coming from the south and a small town and not knowing who the heck I was and
trying to figure it out and kind of trying on different things to see if maybe
I'm this kind of person.
Maybe I'm that kind of person and the the funny that comes with getting it
wrong and then the triumph of finally getting it right or figuring it out, you
know, and and leading up to finally the aha moment of all this is who I am.
And it was fun to share that very personal story with people.
Well, honesty is so funny, too.
Yes.
And being free is also funny because you're sharing your delight.
Because all anybody's trying to do is find out who they are, whether they know
it or not.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you're trying and you're trying to find acceptance, like, who are my people?
Where do I belong?
And I have some funny, you know, my mom's a big part of my stand up and people
seem to enjoy the stories about her because it's very relatable to their own
mothers.
So anything that people can grab onto and, you know, see themselves in a part
of my story is also a cool thing.
Now, you were in a debutante.
What the hell?
Oh, no, it's so Southern.
What a journey, though, for you.
Yeah, because part of my part of my story is that my family used to have a lot
of money and they lost it all through a series of bad business things and
whatnot.
And then by the time I came up, we had we're very poor.
So I had a mother that, you know, was used to the finer things in life, a
father that grew up in a trailer.
And then I was sort of in this middle ground world of like, you know, not
having money, but my mom wanting me to be a debutante.
And so I had to like rub elbows with these very, you know, high society people.
And I felt I'm like lining softball fields and picking up trash and then going
from there to, you know, eating cucumber sandwiches.
It was like so bizarre.
And my producer, Wanda Sykes and Paige Hurwitz produce my special.
And they were like, you have they've known these stories about me forever.
And I never talked about them in stand up.
And they were like, you have to tell that part of your story like that.
Yeah, so unique and weird.
I'm glad I did because it ended up being something that people were just like,
you were a debutante.
I know.
I'm like, yeah, I had the white gloves and the big wedding dress.
I came out to society twice.
Was it three times now or is it twice?
Twice, twice.
It's exhausting.
I mean, I kind of came out and, you know, it was like, oh, he's not that clean
cut guy.
That was a big, that was a big, a bit jarring for people.
You were so synonymous with Danny Tanner.
And you told me you watched me growing up.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
I was a huge Full House fan.
Still am.
I can barely remember doing it.
I'm sure.
Well, y'all had a lot of episodes.
And then suddenly everyone's like, Bob's dirty.
Bob cusses.
Bob talks about dicks and vaginas.
And you're like, what?
I mean, is there a lot more to talk about?
Apparently not.
I wasn't a debutante, so I can't talk about that.
But ironically, I was about to do a new special and working on all new stuff.
And then the pandemic hit.
So, and it was more stories.
It was more stuff that I wanted to tell.
Because I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, which was very racist and difficult for
me being a Jewish kid.
Oh, yeah.
Were you, did you go through any of, any persecution or are you, not really,
not at that time in your life?
I mean, I, I didn't come out until I was 25, which, uh, it's kind of crazy in
hindsight to think.
Because, you know, I'm sure anyone could have looked at me at eight years old
and be like, yeah, this kid's probably lesbian.
You just kind of, some, some of us wear it a little bit more than others.
Um, but I didn't know, I didn't know that about my journey.
So, I, I don't know what the reaction would have been growing up if I had, like,
my wife came out.
She was 15 when she came out.
She really, and she was in Michigan.
Um, you know, she experienced some things.
And, and so I don't know what it would have been like to experience that in
high school.
I think it wouldn't, that it would not have been easy.
Um, so I got a little lucky in that I didn't come out until I was living in Los
Angeles and in LA, you know.
Nobody thinks twice about it.
Right.
And then, and then I got another, I got through another loophole with it in, in
regards to my home state in that by the, by the time I came out, I have a
starting to do television.
And it's kind of that thing where they're like, uh, I don't, I don't love gay
people, but you're funny.
And I like you on that show.
So, you know, it almost bridges that gap.
Um, and I will say to, to, to give credit to my hometown of Belmont, uh, they
have been nothing but lovely and accepting of me from day one.
And so I, I got very lucky in, in that I grew up in a town like I did.
Did you go through a lot of troubles in your later teenage years and through
college since you, you had it internalized you, so you didn't let anyone know
till 25, right?
Yeah.
How did, how did you deal with it?
Were you, were you on the brink?
Well, it wasn't like I, I mean, it was a different time.
There wasn't a lot of representation.
So I genuinely did not know I was gay.
Like it wasn't like I was aware of it and was hiding it.
I knew that something was different about myself.
I knew that I didn't connect with guys in the way in, you know, like I'd meet a
guy and we'd immediately high five.
You know, we didn't have that, the pheromones chemistry thing.
Um, and, and I always knew I was angsty towards my friends, some of my friends
who were girls and I never knew where that intensity, like what I was like, I
must just really love being a best friend.
Um, that's why you, you play one a lot.
Yeah.
Um, and so it more was angst, uh, but I didn't get in trouble because I, I
actually, because I wasn't getting, uh, because I wasn't the object of
affection for people, I found my validation through overachieving.
I was on all the sports teams.
I was on president of the clubs.
I was straight A student.
And so that's how I got my fill of, you know, quote unquote love or whatever
attention.
Um, so I went kind of the opposite direction.
Right.
And your, and your parents were cool.
Are they both around?
They are.
Yeah.
Luckily, both my parents are still alive.
Um, very, they're very cool.
I mean, North Carolina, uh, is fairly conservative.
T