Comedy Show Review: Butch 101, with Fortune Feimster

What power do we truly have over our own persona? In her latest stand up show, 2 Sweet 2 Salty, Fortune Feimster takes this question and puts it through a philosophical gay wringer powered by Fireball shots and Instagram trolls.

The show is a follow up to her first one hour stand up special, Sweet and Salty, which premiered on Netflix last year. Feimster sticks to her autobiographical storytelling style in this new show, but moves on from stories about her life growing up as a lesbian in devout methodist family in a small southern town. In this new set Feimster discusses how her life has changed during these last two years living through a global pandemic. She focuses in and takes you through her personal struggles being perceived as a butch lesbian, despite the fact that appearance is where the descriptor stops being true of Feimster. 

Being butch is most often discussed in lesbian culture, and typically describes a woman with strong masculine traits. Feimster narrates tales of her perceived inadequacies as a partner to her now wife Jax, who has a history of dating butch women. She takes you through her impressively unromantic engagement, intimate and hastily planned zoom wedding, and medical drama with her son Biggie, a middle aged Pomeranian. At each turn Feimster bucks the butch descriptor by wearing her emotions on her flannel sleeve, and having absolutely no clue of how even the basics of car mechanics work.

The beauty in Fiemster’s performance is her genuine vulnerability and pride. “I’m an out gay Southern woman who has people from all backgrounds coming to her shows in cities all across the country,” Fiemster said. “That’s incredible. There’s a time when that would have never happened.” 

When looking out at the crowd at one of Fiemster’s shows you would be hard pressed to find an entire row of people who all looked alike. “…I’ve always said representation is important and even though we’ve come a long way, we still have a ways to go.” When asked about her feelings on the importance of performing in red states, Fiemster explained:  “I want to perform in red states because those are the places that need this kind of visibility the most. Hearing my story has the potential to open minds. And if it doesn’t, I hope it at the very least makes people laugh.” 

Feimster is currently performing live all across the US and Canada now through May of 2022. A full listing of dates and available tickets can be found on her website www.fortunefiemster.com