Host Lauren Chen sits down with comedian Rachel Feinstein for her second appearance on the First Date podcast in this wide-ranging, candid conversation that prioritizes storytelling over traditional dating discussion. Feinstein, a New York-based comic touring nationally and married to a New York City firefighter with whom she has a six-year-old daughter, shares deeply personal and humorous stories about marriage, motherhood, and the realities of bombing on stage. The episode's standout moment comes when Feinstein reveals she accidentally threw away her husband's original Nintendo console with all its games during a spring cleaning mishap, a transgression he still holds against her. The conversation veers through territory including protective parenting failures, early adolescent embarrassments, and the psychological aftermath of catastrophic comedy performances. Chen contributes her own story of bombing at a London comedy club while remaining bizarrely confident about her material despite audience silence. The episode also features extended discussion about comedian Joe DeRosa, with both women playfully roasting him throughout. Feinstein discusses living in Queens, balancing touring with family life while eight months pregnant with her second child, and her experiences dealing with brutal online comments. The conversation reveals the unglamorous realities of comedy careers, including Chen's experience following a special needs choir singing the national anthem at a corporate gig and Feinstein's encounter with a hack opener whose main bit involved calling himself the Beaver Hunter.
Rachel Feinstein recounted performing on a TV show in Amsterdam with fellow comedian Joe DeRosa where they both bombed catastrophically. The production was so desperate to cut away from DeRosa's failed performance that editors resorted to showing footage of an audience member drinking from an empty glass because they had run out of other cutaway options.
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