Fortune Feimster was about to embark on a new stage in her stand-up career in 2020, when the COVID pandemic hit. 

The former co-star of Chelsea Lately explains, “It was jarring because I had just finished my Netflix special, Sweet and Salty. It had just come out. We put up a whole new tour. We had, like six months of shows sell out immediately. It was this huge like celebratory feeling of like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m making this big jump to theaters, and going from like being so busy’ to — nothing.”

She laughs, “You certainly don’t realize what a workaholic you are — especially in my case — you know, until I had to stop…And once I…I stopped being antsy and I let myself just chill, those ideas and jokes just started coming to me like in a way that I haven’t experienced in so long. I wrote a whole new hour in a couple of months.”

Some of that material is now on the road, in 2 Sweet 2 Salty, Fortune’s new nationwide tour. 

ABC Audio wondered if she’s finding her line of work tougher in the days of cancel culture. However, she steers away from social commentary in her stand-up. “I want to make people laugh, my stuff is very silly. I want people to leave my show feeling better than when they got there,” she replies.

And one thing that’s got Fortune feeling pretty good lately is the relationship that blossomed between her Chelsea Lately co-stars Chelsea Handler and comic Jo Koi. “[I]nstead of her yelling at him now she’s kissing on him, so, times you know…it’s come full circle. They just had to tease each other all these years to finally start smooching,” Fortune says with a laugh.

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