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Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (January 21, 2011): Fortune Feimster heads to “Chelsea Lately,” “Skins” needs to tone it down

THIS JUST IN: FORTUNE FEIMSTER JOINS CHELSEA LATELY

Out comic and AfterEllen.com vlogger Fortune Feimster recently became a full-time member of the Chelsea Lately writing staff. This week, we ask her a few questions about the gig while she’s still taking our calls.

AfterEllen.com: Tell us all about your new gig. What exactly do you do over there?

Fortune Feimster: I am a full-time writer, but I just started so I’m still figuring out my exact job. We basically help come up with the topics that are going to be discussed in each episode and then brainstorm jokes for each topic. It’s a very collaborative place so everybody pitches in. I know the job will expand the longer I’m there, but for right now, it’s all about updating my Twitter.

AE: Are there any other out lesbians on the writing staff?

FF: Not that I know of, but there’s still time!

AE: Chelsea Handler makes fun of a lot of celebrities. On which stars do you think you’ll be able to provide the most expertise? Are you going to represent by throwing in helpful tidbits about gay/lesbian pop culture?

FF: There isn’t one particular star that I’m an expert on (Justin Bieber), but I was an entertainment journalist for seven years so I know a lot of little random things about different celebrities. I’m just glad I can finally put that to good use. I’ll try to throw in helpful gay and lesbian tidbits when I can just so I can say the word tidbits.

AE: What was it like for you appearing on the show as part of her opening monologue this week? Did you mind playing along with a joke about your appearance?

FF: I was excited to do it. I thought it was a really funny bit. Part of what I like about Chelsea’s group of writers is that no one takes themselves too seriously. Being able to laugh at yourself is almost part of the gig. I just thought it was cool that Chelsea was even taking the time to introduce me on air as the new writer. If dressing like Brad is how it’s gotta happen, then so be it!

AE: Will we see you on the panel?

FF:They have all said that Chelsea really likes having her writers involved on screen as well, so I think after I’ve been there for a while, it is certainly a possibility. I’ll be getting my vests ready just in case!

AE: What’s the most exciting thing about your new job?

FF: Getting paid! Not many people get to make a salary doing what they love so I consider myself very lucky. Oh, and that thing about making people laugh is pretty cool too.

AE: In a wrestling match, who would win, you or Chuy?

FF: Definitely Chuy because he has a lower center of gravity. All he has to do is aim for my knees and I’m a goner.

AE: Do you think Chelsea is going to make you get a new haircut?

FF: Of course she wouldn’t make me get a new haircut because she’s a smart woman and she knows perfection when she sees it. My wardrobe, on the other hand, is a whole different story!

AE: You’re doing stand-up comedy this year at the Dinah Shore Weekend. I was at the event last year when you popped your Dinah cherry. Please tell the class about your first Dinah experience.

FF: My first Dinah experience was certainly one to remember. I hosted a dance contest with your lovely wife Bridget [McManus] out by the infamous pool area. We were wearing leotards because obviously that’s what all the cool girls wear, and then all of a sudden in the middle of the contest, a girl jumped up on stage just so she could flash me. I of course spent the rest of the weekend trying to find her.

AE: You’re performing this year along with Suzanne Westenhoefer and Paula Poundstone. Which of the three of you is the funniest?

FF:

Ah, that is so not fair! We’re all so different. Well, Suzanne and Paula certainly win the prize for being the most experienced. They both have been doing this a lot longer than I have so I’m pretty darn lucky just to get to be in the same show with them. Luckily we’re all funny or else people would be in for a really crappy show.

AE: What essentials are you taking to Dinah this year?

FF: Is there like a Dinah survival kit that I don’t know about because a few other people have asked me that as well? I’m gonna take with me what I take to all lesbian events … food, sunscreen, and power tools. Hey, you never know when you’ll need to change a flat!

AE: Any advice for Dinah virgins?

FF: For God’s sake, wear a leotard!

Chelsea Lately airs Monday through Friday on E! at 11 PM. Keep up with Fortune and get more info on her stand-up comedy dates via Twitter and her Facebook page.

– by Karman Kregloe

Anyone But Me creators Susan Miller and Tina Cesa Ward are creating more magic. This time it’s in the form of the new webseries Bestsellers. In the series, according to the series Facebook page, ” Five professional women, members of an eclectic book club discuss more about their own lives during their weekly gatherings than of the characters in the books they’re reading.”

Check out a clip below:

The series stars Alice Barden, Mandy Bruno, Catherine Curtin, Natalie Kuhn, and Dena Tyler. Miller tells us, “Yes, one of the five main characters is a lesbian.” Care to guess which one?

The series premieres January 31 on www.thebestsellers.tv/.

Director Cheryl Dunye (Watermelon Woman, The Owls) says you don’t need to go to film school if you want to be a filmmaker:

Finally, this week Meghan McCain visited The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss gun control, and says she wants Maddow to accompany her to the gun show. No, not to her muscles, to the actual gun show (i.e. to the next NRA convention). Would you believe it won’t be Maddow’s first time hanging out with the NRA? Jump to the 6:25 mark for the McCain/Maddow conversation.

MTV execs want the producers of Skins to tone it down with the whole sex and drugs thing because the show may be violating federal child pornography statutes. Unfortunately, a good number of the viewers are tuning in exclusively for the whole sex and drugs thing.

Iron Chef Cat Cora‘s snazzy new line of cookware is now available. Will using it guarantee that your food will tase like hers? Highly unlikely.

AfterEllen.com Across the Page columnist Heather Aimee O’Neill has won the 2010 Gold Line Press Poetry Chapbook Competition with her manuscript Memory Future. Congrats Heather!

Please take a moment to vote for your favorite video in Logo’s Anti-Bullying PSA Contest. Voting continues through January 25.

Check out Trish’s overview of the queer films playing at Sundance this year. We’ll be updating you on Sundance news as the film festival continues, including reports from the festival by our special assignment vloggers Dee Rees and Nekissa Cooper, whose film Pariah premiered there this week.

DC Comics has delayed the release of Batwoman #1 until April.

It’s been a big news week for rocker Melissa Etheridge. She went public with her relationship with Nurse Jackie creator Linda Wallem and announced that she’ll be participating in Canadian Music Week as a keynote speaker in the singer/songwriter music seminar on March 12 in Toronto. She also announced that from February 1-6 she’ll be playing the role of “St. Jimmy” (the lead male role played by Billie Jo Armstrong for the remainder of the month) in American Idiot on Broadway. She told the Hollywood Reporter, “I definitely have to be in shape because it’s a lot of young folks running around on that stage. Young, pretty and skinny, so I’m going to be a bit more voluptuous than the previous Jimmys … But yoga always gets me through everything.” Etheridge also confirmed what Wallem initially told us in a 2009 interview, that they are collaborating on a Broadway musical of their own.

By the way, Nurse Jackie returns to Showtime on Monday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Check out metal star Otep‘s essay in Blurt about “a debauched night of sex, drugs and handcuffed homophobia.”

The Kids Are All Right star Julianne Moore will receive the Hasty Pudding Award this year.

On our sibling site, 365Gay.com, this week’s “Ask the Expert” column includes a burning question from a lesbian reader who wants to know how she can plan her wedding around football season. And you thought you had problems …

If you’re in the mood for some Glee spoilers, read TVGuide.com’s exclusive on the Valentine’s Day episode set list. But if you’re in the mood to read about a Brittana duet, then don’t bother. In other sucktastic Glee news, the show will turn Rent‘s lesbian duet, “Take Me or Leave Me” into a “diva-off” between Amber Riley and Lea Michele rather than a, well, lesbian duet sung by Heather Morris and Naya Rivera. Finally, show creator Ryan Murphy this week told Entertainment Weekly that he’ll be pairing Santana (Rivera) with Sam (Chord Overstreet) on the show because he “got bored.” Had enough of our depressing Glee updates yet? Of course, there’s always this news …

Over on Oprah.com, out filmmaker Miranda July has created a special project “meant to spark your imagination and illustrate a curious paradox: the freedom to be found in working within creative constraints.” So give it a whirl and send the results to Oprah. Queer women represent!

Jezebel.com reports that CNN’s Piers Morgan asked Condoleeza Rice a batch of presumptuous (and insipid) questions, including “If I was going to woo you, how would I do that?” We think that’s a pretty big “if.”

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected].

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