It’s confessional storytelling comedy at its finest. You can feel the Fortune.
Fortune Feimster — a writer as well as a charismatic actress and comedian who has appeared in such TV shows as Chelsea Lately, The Mindy Project and 2 Broke Girls as well as movies like Office Christmas Party and Father of the Year, among other projects — brings her warmth and confessional comedy to McDonald Theatre for two shows Jan. 5.
Fortune has built a uniquely innovative and inclusive career for the past 20 years, touching lives and highlighting the fact that no matter your age, background or sexual orientation, common ground is just a joke away.
A native of North Carolina — and she tells a wonderful story of her dog, her Southern grandma and Kentucky Fried Chicken — Fortune handles with care the ups and downs of life as a lesbian and a full-bodied woman in this society.
In a standup show in Netflix in 2023, she relates about her time as a kid on the swim team and how she was handed the team uniform, a green one-piece speedo. “Normally, I wear a XXXL t-shirt, with the sleeves cut off, and a pair of sweatpants. I still swim in that to this day. I call it my lesbian swimsuit.”
In a 2022 stand-up routine, Fortune ruefully notes that she’s “not butch.”
“If you saw me and your car was broken down, you might assume I can fix your car. I got that look about me ‘cause that is what a butch lady can do. She can literally put your car on her back and walk it to a service station… Magical, but that is not me.
“And men are the most mystified by this information. They come up to me constantly at, like, Home Depot, because they assume I work there. They’re like, ‘Uh, what’s up, dude? Um, where are the nails?’ I’m like, ‘Ooh, I’m here for a potted plant.’”
You can hear Fortune daily on Sirius XM with comedian-actor Tom Papa on Netflix’s “What a Joke with Papa and Fortune.” She also hosts a weekly podcast with her wife, Jax, called “Sincerely Fortune.”
Before that, though, catch her in Eugene. You will be fortunate.