I first met Fortune at Chelsea Lately in 2013. For those of you not acquainted with Chelsea’s show, it was made up of a roundtable that was not physically round, with guests talking the funny-ha-ha about current celebrity-driven shenanigans. There were a handful of roundtable regulars, and Fortune was one of my favorites.

Her southern accent reminds me of home and her humor is my flavor of funny. She seems like a genuinely nice person, because she is. And I think that comedians give a voice to all those things that most of us are thinking, but are too afraid to say. They are the clearest barometer to measure how society is ticking; they can clearly spot what I refer to as the “trinity of nonsense.”

News.

Politicians.

Religious leaders.

And Fortune is as gay as the day is long.

…I know, difficult to believe (he said sarcastically).

And I’m going to say something that might sound horrible, but I’m kind of tired of the argument about gay rights, gay marriage, or gay equality. The news is full of headlines that shouldn’t exist. That the Supreme Court got involved is insane. That “we” as a society have to give it any time at all is beyond all reason to me.

Why do I say this?

…because being gay isn’t a real problem.

It’s a fabricated problem.

Children starving. That’s an actual problem. I know it’s cliché, but clearly – the people in charge are still making wrong decisions.

Other made up problems….

Racism, Sexism, War.

Unless we as people give these problems life…

…they cannot exist!

It seems kind of dumb to put that much energy into something that’s made up, doesn’t it? On the other hand, treating folks horribly over made-up problems actually IS a problem.

While I’m not trying to downplay the struggle of the gay community, my point is that they should never have gone through it.

Ultimately, I’m left wondering what we will do when faced with actual issues. Will we have the tools, the knowledge or the wisdom to heal and/or combat a global threat, for example? Will folks still scream like lunatics in the streets warning us that the “Gays are taking over” when they are waist deep in frigid water as the oceans flood our coastal cities?

I wonder…but for now, let’s focus on the moment.

…without further ado, Fortune Feimster…

Q: What is your favorite sandwich and who makes the best one?

F.F.  My favorite sandwich is a BLT.  It always seemed like such a wussy sandwich until I tried one at a place in Los Angeles called Joan’s On Third. I don’t know what they do to that sandwich, but it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth… and I’ve had a lot of things in my mouth.

Q: What is your favorite meal your mom makes?

F.F.  I know she won’t like me saying this, but my mom is a terrible cook. I wish I could say she mastered at least one meal, but she did not. When she did attempt to cook, she always made BBQ chicken. I think that’s why I hate BBQ chicken to this day.

Q: How did you meet your best friend?

F.F. I have several best friends. Yes, I’m one of those. And I met a couple of them during my six years studying and performing at the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. Some I met in college. One was my roommate for seven years.

Q: When or how did you find what you wanted to do?

F.F.  I stumbled into comedy. I had done acting in college, but I wasn’t very good. Or at least I didn’t resonate with the kind of material we were doing, which was not comedy. But two years after moving to Los Angeles, I decided to take some improv classes as a way to make friends… and the rest is history.

Q: How did you pursue it?

F.F. I immediately fell in love with making people laugh, so I kept studying improv and kept moving up through the Groundlings school. Then I started my own improv and sketch comedy group just to have more experience performing. But I became really passionate about it once I started doing standup. From there I was getting on stage five to six nights a week. I was constantly writing and working on material and trying to prepare myself for when I would finally get an opportunity to do this for a living.

Q: Did you have a mentor/mentors in pursuing it?

F.F.  I had a lot of people help me along the way. I had some incredible teachers at Groundlings, which helped me build a really strong foundation and they made me a better actor. Then I had a comedian friend named Lisa Joffrey who insisted I start doing standup after she came to a sketch comedy show of mine. She introduced me to a standup named Adam Barnhardt who taught a class, and after I completed his course, he let me do 10 minutes a week on his show at The Comedy Store for a whole year. That kind of stage time is huge for somebody starting out. In general, the staff at The Comedy Store was very supportive of me and made me a regular fairly quickly. As I was coming up through the ranks, I was hoping to catch a break, but nobody in a position to give me a job seemed to get what I did. Finally Chelsea Handler took a chance on me by making me a writer on her show and putting me on television and I’ve had a career ever since.

Q: What do you dream of doing or are you doing it?

F.F.  I’ve wanted to be an actor for a very long time, but for some reason I thought I didn’t have what it takes. In college it seemed like the goal for most people was to be a future Meryl Streep, someone who emotionally digs deep and morphs into various complex characters. But I realized as I got older that not all of us who perform want to be Meryl Streep and that’s okay. Some of us just want to entertain people and make them laugh, and the longer I live in Los Angeles, I’ve seen that you can do that and still be a successful actor.  Now I’m proud to say that I’m acting full-time on “The Mindy Project” and doing various guest roles on TV, so my dream has become a reality. (And just for the record, I couldn’t be Meryl Streep if I tried so I’m glad I lowered the bar!)

Q: What would your 15-year-old self say to you now?

F.F. I think my 15-year-old self would be in shock! My parents divorced when I was young. My brothers and I lived with our mom, who was a teacher trying to provide for all four of us on a small salary. I come from a tiny town in North Carolina, and as far as I was concerned, Los Angeles was on another planet and surely too far for someone like me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I could be living 3,000 miles away from home and actually finding success in a very cutthroat business. So I would tell myself to chill the eff out. Oh, and I would tell myself to stop eating so much cake!!! For the love of God, why do you like so much sugar!?!

Q: If life were a person, what would you say?

F.F.  I would tell them that they are very difficult to understand and full of surprises but ultimately I’m grateful they exist. And then I would give them a big high five.

Q:  If you were in charge of the world and you have no restrictions, real or imagined, what is the one thing you would give it?

F.F.  It sounds so cliché, but I would give it peace. I would make it impossible for us to kill each other using weapons and violence. I want people to be able to go to school or to a movie and know that they are going to make it back home alive afterwards.

Q: Has morality disintegrated to the point that we now need Yelp for people?

F.F.  Morality can seem quite bleak when you look online and see the awful things people say to each other, and all the people who are dying at the hands of one another. People can be so mean and negative. But then I go into all of these cities to do standup and I meet the most wonderful people. They are kind and full of life and hope. They do good things for the world. And that’s when I breathe a sigh of relief.

Q: How is society getting things right?

F.F.  We still have a lot of people out there doing good things for each other. You just don’t hear about it as much as the bad stuff. And if you have any doubts, just remember that you can now buy Girl Scout cookies online!

Q:  What do people need in order to see each other as equals?

F.F.  Everyone needs to quit thinking that their way is the right way and the only way. Not one person is better than the other. Except for Beyonce! She’s better than all of us.

Q: Do we still need religion?

F.F. Religion is so complicated because so many people believe so many different things and wars are started and rights are taken away because one group of people thinks their way is the most righteous and they will do ANYTHING to protect that. I see the need and the good in believing in something greater than all of us; something that gives us hope and strength in the time of need; something that lets us know we’re not alone. Quite frankly, it’s a beautiful thing and should be sacred to those who believe in it. I just wish it didn’t make us turn on each other. Maybe one day we’ll realize that there’s enough room in the world for all of our beliefs and me believing in one thing doesn’t mean your belief is any less valid.

Q: Do you have hope for the future?

F.F.  Yes. I’ll always have hope. Otherwise what are we doing here?

Hot topic of the week:

This is an open discussion. Could be Gay marriage or the Confederate flag, or Donald Trump, for example.

F.F.  I just want Donald Trump to go away. It feels like he’s bringing out the worst in this country. The more radical he becomes, the more support he gets, and it’s horrifying. Could he just fire himself already?